by Woodsbum
Well, today I took off and went out to try and get some ducks. It was not even close to productive. Not only did I not even get a shot, but I saw a some total of 8 ducks. The closest were about 200 yards away. I guess I should have brought Anti Aircraft rather than a 12 gauge….
It was a great day to spend with my pup, though.
Angus the lazy lab.
He did really good, though. Last year he was running around EVERYWHERE and it was impossible to keep him mellow. This year he stayed right next to me and just hung out. He did act a little annoyed about his gonads soaking in the mud, but it didn’t cause him to go running around wild or fidget. Angus was a very good boy.
Although we didn’t see anything of note, I did get a chance to pull out my decoys for the first time this year.
Decoys
In this next picture you will see something pretty funny. I COMPLETELY forgot that I had picked up 4 duck butts at the end of last year. Of course I thought I needed some for this season so what did I do? I picked up 4 more. Luckily, my father is going to buy 4 from me when he comes down a little later in the season. Until then I think I will run them just because it makes me laugh.
Duck butts everywhere!
The idea of 8/20 mallard decoys being duck butts just humors me a lot. All decoys counted I run about 30-32 in total between the various species. Mind you that my spread does change over the course of the season. It morphs to meet the behaviors of the ducks. Some seasons produce more ducks with a half circle, V pattern sometimes, J pattern at others, blah, blah, blah…. Over my many years of hunting I have discovered 1 thing that always rings true. If you don’t adapt to your game you will always come home empty handed.
Angus and I will head back out again tomorrow. The migrating flocks have not really come in yet, but we might be able to pull in a couple locals. I will try out a more staggered and spread out design to see how that works.
Wish us luck!
