By Bob Zettler
December 7, 2008
It was suppose to be deer second season for me but as that ole dark cloud cast a shadow over what I had hoped for and didn’t materialize, I decided to go duck hunting – and with the cold weather, I once again had to turn to friends for a spot to hunt instead of hitting the public places I could hoof it to like when I was younger.
The first morning of the four days was set for western Illinois along the Mississippi and I didn’t have to arrive until after 7 AM as my host didn’t get off work until then. I stopped for food to bring for the crew and met him at the ramp right on schedule and was greeted by a totally iced waterway. It was almost 2 inches thick but the first load of hunters had already made it out so we headed to the blind.
I wish I could have brought a movie camera along to capture the spray of ice, chunks and frozen water particles thrown up behind Dan as we made our way to the blind since it was spectacular. That rooster tail was 20 to 30 feet up into the air and the chunks would just fall back onto the ice and slide away as we cut our path.
Now Dan has one heck of a boat and the 35 HP mud-motor was worth its weight in gold that morning as he was able to circle around and through the decoys to create a 50-yard wide hole in front of the blind. Combine that with the Mallard Machine placed 15-yards in front and we had open water that would hopefully entice every duck and goose down for a meeting with their maker!
This is a nine-hole blind that blends in well with the surroundings and provides excellent protection for its occupants what with a stove/heater and stools. No wind issues inside this one and all we needed were the ducks to do their thing.
Wasn’t too long before a lone Gadwall winged nearby and over the right end of the blind whereby Dan’s guests rose up and pummeled it with steel. While no one called the shot and the bird did not immediately fall, it was mortally wounded and fell on the ice behind us where Dan went out later to retrieve by boat.
With the ice continuing to form around the decoys, Dan used the boat after retrieving the Gadwall to open it all up again to where there was clear and open water with no icy slush or chunks floating around so it looked as if the ducks had been keeping it open naturally.
We then had three Mallards drop in and light right in the decoys whereupon we shot and all three stayed with the farthest falling not more than 15 to 20 yards out and the closest within 8 yards.
But with the cold temperatures and very few ducks flying, we decided to call it early and began to pick up decoys to avoid them being frozen in the ice as the end of the season approached. And while his guests left for their own reasons, Dan and I took out all but maybe 18 and made it back to the ramp before Noon so he could get some sleep and I could make it home to return the next day to try it again – did I mention it was 14 degrees when we arrived and it only made it to 24 by the time we left?
The next morning I get up and am out the door before 5 AM and the roads are clear but it is a tad cooler than the day before as it was now 9 degrees! I arrived early and even had a selection of sausage biscuits for everyone (if the other three showed up) and when we looked at the ice and couldn’t get the boat started; we decided to call it a day before it started. It was a long drive back home…
For the next day, I all of a sudden had invites for three very different areas of the state but decided to head to Rend Lake as I was trying to set up something for my friends down there and we needed to chat. The forecast had snow on the agenda so I decided to leave very early and headed out the door around 1:30 AM for the 150 mile trip…just in case.
I didn’t see the first flurries until the Litchfield area and made it safely to our favorite Huck’s in Mt. Vernon on time but not before picking up some sausage biscuits for everyone; as besides Nick, there would be his 7-year old son Loa, John and his father, which made for three generations of hunters for that Saturday morning hunt on a public lake.
As we left Huck’s, the snow arrived in force and it began to get nasty. Oh yeah, that’s what I like! Arrived at the boat ramp and we were the only ones there and the time was 4:45 AM. It seems John overslept but he and his Dad arrived before 5 AM and we headed out in Nick’s War Eagle.
Wow, was that snow and wind blowing and with all of us hugging the floor of the duck boat, I could see Nick every now and then when he turned on his spotlight with waves of icy spray hitting him and coating his body turning it into a popsicle - a 6’ 4” camo clad popsicle! The temperature was 26 degrees with winds of 10 to 18 MPH out of the southwest…you all figure out the wind chill!
Unfortunately, his first spot was already taken as well as his second for it seems the word had gotten out on how well he and John had been doing, so we settled for the second runner-up and began to set decoys in the snowy, icy predawn darkness.
It was quite the spread what with Mallards, Goldeneyes, Ring Necks, Canvasbacks, Blue Bills, Canada geese and one lone Black Duck laid out with Nick’s precision. He even fine tuned it a couple of times moving one here, another back over there, and picking a couple up to place off to the side but it looked great to us when we were done a full hour before shooting time. We unloaded the gear and Nick took and parked the boat around the corner while we settled in along the rocks and amongst the cover where we were not more than a couple of feet from the water and no more than a couple of yards between us with Jon at one end and Nick at the other.
The snow began to let up as shooting time crept closer and we got more comfortable among the rocks and brush. Say what you will but this crew had a plan. And when their first couple of spots was taken, they had a number of backups. Then it wasn’t simply a case of throwing out decoys, as Nick placed and grouped them according to what he felt would work for the conditions, the location, the species he had been seeing and a whole litany of requisites. And as shooting time arrived, we could hear the hunters from where Nick and Jon had hunted the day before shoot and just hoped we would still get a chance…
It wasn’t too long, maybe a few minutes, before the Mergansers began to sweep past our decoys on their way to God only knows. And as they are fair game, shots were taken and while many did not find their target which might have been going Mach 1, a couple did and retrieves were made by boat and by dog as Nick had brought his Yellow Lab.
And as the snow was diminishing and the light increasing, we began to spot other, more desirable waterfowl within range of Nick and John’s calls – John’s Dad and I reframed from spoiling their efforts and didn’t call. A VERY wise choice…
Nick and John work well together as a team, whether they are calling birds, setting decoys, flagging or other type of waterfowling activities. They have been hunting together for some time and that includes most every day during the waterfowl season in the Southern Zone and even some in the Central Zone.
I thoroughly enjoy hunting with them even though I tend to get more than my fair share of abuse as it is in good fun and not mean-spirited. Even when I screw up I don’t get a blast of vitriol but usually an educational effort by Nick and I truly appreciate that part as it helps even this old coot learn even though I tend to relapse more times than I care to count…
Now I love the harsh weather to hunt waterfowl in as I fell it keeps them moving and prone to making mistakes – the waterfowl that is! Now in my nearly 30 years of hunting them, I have yet to kill a Drake Canvasback and this year that option would not be available to me as the season was closed by the FWS. And for the first time I can recall, we had Can’s not only swing close by but lite in the decoys! And I do not mean one or two but sometimes a half-dozen or more and most were Drakes!!! Talk about restraint…
Now this day felt like one of those special days from the get-go. The weather was prime old-fashioned waterfowling conditions, we were hunting on a public lake and had set ourselves up along a point that was covered with big rocks where we hunkered down amongst them trying not to break a leg of the icy formations or slip into the frigid waters, the company was excellent and we were only taking high-percentage shots as we usually did.
The dog was doing his job well but Nick would have to occasionally go to the boat and chase down cripples which were mostly Divers.
Now why is that I thought as I know that these guys can shoot and seldom have had a miss when we hunted Mallards? It turns out the physiology of the Goldeneyes (especially) and Blue Bills are a little different than most Puddle ducks and you can tell that the first time you pick one up. They seem pretty heavy for their size compared to their Mallard cousins and when you open them up you usually find a more generous layer of fat that seems to provide a better “armor” for their vital organs.
Unless we hit one and broke a wing it wasn’t unusual to have them get pummeled repeatedly as they screamed into and out of the decoys spread only to fall dead anywhere from 40 to a 100 yards out. And I mean stone dead. Even if we crippled one, unless one of their feet were broken too, they would dive only to pop up somewhere else and that could mean 50 or more yards away! This added an element of risk and surprise that enticed me to hope for another chance at one as soon as that one was either brought to bag or lost to the waves before either the dog or Nick in his boat could get to it before it disappeared…
There were two father-son teams this day as Nick had brought his seven year old son Loa and John brought his Dad who was close to my age. I had brought McDonald’s sausage biscuits for everyone and they hit the spot as I washed mine down with hot chocolate I had made before I left home.
I get a kick out of Loa as he seldom complains and when he does it isn’t about being cold, wanting to go home or the like but about not being to shoot a duck like the rest of us. And when he had finished his biscuit and found I had candy, well it was game on as he ate his way through a bag before we left. It was like adding jet fuel to a go-kart as this kid does not stop and is always doing something and he even mouth calls geese! He has his own duck call and has learned to BRRRRTTTT on it for those Divers we love too.
Nick should be one proud papa as he has been raising his son well and is one of the most patient fathers I have ever met – hands down.
Anyway, I digress as usual.
As the shots were being called on ducks as they were in our faces, whether it be Mallards, Goldeneyes, Blue Bills or even a Gadwall, there were plenty of opportunities for all of us to learn or practice our water-shot techniques to prevent losses or a trip to the boat for the chase as we were determined to bring our ducks to bag and limit our losses.
And as John was on an end where many fell crippled (from all our efforts) it came down to him to try and dispatch more than his share thus placing him in an ammo dilemma where we had to augment his supply and me with some ammo of my own to tease him about not coming prepared…
Now there came a volley where a number of Goldeneyes were dropped and as Nick went out in the boat he discovered one Hen was banded! Now this was right after he and John had talked about how they had taken a banded Hen Goldeneye the week before and how this freak occurrence would most likely not be repeated in our lifetimes.
Ain’t that something as this was the fifth or sixth band their group had harvested since the Southern Zone season opened and the second Goldeneye (both Hens) but in both cases no one could tell who shot what!
Now this day wasn’t without a little humor and a drama. First there was this Benny Hill type watercraft that must have had just a 7.5 HP motor on it that cruised by and over to the spillway and then back again. And since it was so slow, it took forever fighting its way through the water several hundred yards outside our decoys and provided us with a good laugh.
However, a little later we had another boat cut right outside the decoy edge at less than a 100 yards just as a flock came into and out of the decoys where shots were fired BUT NOT ANYWHERE NEAR that boat.
Well these guys slam on the anchor and roar back cussing at us for shooting at them as they had a young man in with them.
It was pointed out that no one had shot at them or near them, and, by the way, why had they cut the outside edge of our spread when they had plenty of water to go around. They provided an unusual answer and more words were thrown back and now forth.
And as I came around the corner, the boat finally motored off to the ramp where I assumed they expected we had put in the water from but hadn’t as this spot was not our original destination. Sure hope no one had their tires slashed in the parking lot that day because it wasn’t out vehicle…..
We went ahead and stuck it out to till 1 PM but most of the action was over by 10 AM where very few Mallards presented themselves but we had a grand day! And did you know there is a Universal Law that pick-up goes so quickly and better when you are successful? It really does…
And when we got back to the boat ramp, we were all entered into a drawing for the band with a coin toss. But since we had wind and some of us couldn’t catch their coin, it had to go twice. And the winner was…John’s Dad!
This had been his first hunt of the season and what I felt was a great decision was that he gave his son the band and the dad gets the FWS certificate when it comes. Makes for a new great memory. And since they had used the Internet to turn in the band number, they discovered it had been banded in Minnesota.
Ain’t life great some days!
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