We started off the morning with me finding out my gun was frozen solid when we had 2 ruddy ducks come in. (they are the small ones.) They were the only birds we had come in range.
My friend and I pulled out and went to get breakfast. We set out to a spot further up river. We didn't quite know where to hunt, so we found a small island about a 1/4 mile from the boat ramp and threw out 2 1/2 dozen decoys and sat on a log. The rest of the day was insane. We had ducks coming in from all directions for the rest of the day.
The icing on my cake were the Redheads. There are very few on this lake, and they are very hard to hunt. My friend was in the boat trying to dispatch a wounded gadwall and I had 2 divers fly into our spread. I shot one right when his feet touched the water and saw that he wouldn't be flying away and turned to shoot the other duck, which was already on his way out. I knew I hit him, but he didn't look like he was hurt. I focused back on the first bird, and saw the red head as he was swimming out. I turned into a shaky, nervous wreck. These two birds being divers, they will dive when wounded and can be almost impossible to kill. My friend motored the boat out and picked up BOTH redheads. The one that has the darker head was the one I thought I didn't hurt. He flew about 75 yards and crumpled.
Not many people around here are lucky enough to kill one, much less two in the same day. To say I am ecstatic is an understatement. The one with the darker head is the biggest we have EVER seen in out combined 40 years of hunting. He is going on the wall to say the least. To finish out the day, we shot more gadwalls and 2 huge bluebills. All in all, we both had 6 birds each and a total of 5 birds that had every right to go to the taxidermist. This was my first time in 3 years of hunting to limit out.
In the picture you will see the 2 readheads, 2 bluebills, 1 ringneck, 5 gadwalls, and 2 ruddies.
My friend and I pulled out and went to get breakfast. We set out to a spot further up river. We didn't quite know where to hunt, so we found a small island about a 1/4 mile from the boat ramp and threw out 2 1/2 dozen decoys and sat on a log. The rest of the day was insane. We had ducks coming in from all directions for the rest of the day.
The icing on my cake were the Redheads. There are very few on this lake, and they are very hard to hunt. My friend was in the boat trying to dispatch a wounded gadwall and I had 2 divers fly into our spread. I shot one right when his feet touched the water and saw that he wouldn't be flying away and turned to shoot the other duck, which was already on his way out. I knew I hit him, but he didn't look like he was hurt. I focused back on the first bird, and saw the red head as he was swimming out. I turned into a shaky, nervous wreck. These two birds being divers, they will dive when wounded and can be almost impossible to kill. My friend motored the boat out and picked up BOTH redheads. The one that has the darker head was the one I thought I didn't hurt. He flew about 75 yards and crumpled.
Not many people around here are lucky enough to kill one, much less two in the same day. To say I am ecstatic is an understatement. The one with the darker head is the biggest we have EVER seen in out combined 40 years of hunting. He is going on the wall to say the least. To finish out the day, we shot more gadwalls and 2 huge bluebills. All in all, we both had 6 birds each and a total of 5 birds that had every right to go to the taxidermist. This was my first time in 3 years of hunting to limit out.
In the picture you will see the 2 readheads, 2 bluebills, 1 ringneck, 5 gadwalls, and 2 ruddies.
