and unloaded and headed south to my favorite spot. We were set up early and had time to reminisce. Once shooting time hit, very bird we saw was flaring and on a mission. We heard shooting right outside our spot. We stayed until 10:45, no love. When we headed out there was a group set up just outside our cove in a cloth blind with NO natural foliage to break up the outline, another group behind us and a couple of guys walking the cornfield next to us. Way too crowded! Going to spend this week looking for permission to hunt south and north of here. We got to my house where the lovely and talented Karen whipped up some provisions, and then we headed to the spot I call "The Secret Float." This is extreme duck hunting, two guys, one paddling and the other shooting. It is an old overgrown meadow that has been let alone for longer than I have been alive. The stream has cut deep into the banks. There are multiple beaver dams to drag the canoe over. It is a place that I hunt only about 3 times a year, so as to let the ducks rest. If over-hunted it would be ruined in short order. The foliage in this spot was spectacular!Ben had not been duck hunting in 6 years. I was one month post surgery and enjoying some return to normalcy in my breathing. The action started fast and furious, ducks on every corner, large groups behind every dam, and lots of birds working. In addition, there were geese circling, landing, and taking off just over the trees. Checking the google machine revealed two private ponds where the geese were going. I managed to paddle the entire day, by design, and let Ben shoot. We saw easily two hundred geese and at least that many ducks over the course of the afternoon. We could easily have had 2 limits if this had been a meat hunt. It was more of a visit with an old friend. We started into the flowage about noon, and came out about 5. Two tired, sore, happy men with ducks to bring home for dinner. We each brought home a couple of wood ducks. Karen sauteed mine with bacon and onions, and it was delicious. I settled on to the couch, Karen and Devon put a movie on, and I apparently crashed soon after. I woke up this morning , 12 hours later, refreshed and happy and smelling bacon and eggs cooking! Can't wait for the next visit to The Secret Float.
