Today's scull
Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 9:21 pmYesterday I was the recipient of a horrible cold and my temperature spiked at 100.4. I had a lousy night thanks to a never ending headache. This morning I got up, took a shower and felt pretty good. No more fever, and my headache was down to a tolerable level. I took that as a sign from God that I was supposed to do duck hunting, so I stuck the scull boat in the truck, loaded my gear and headed to the lake. Hey, when God tells you to do something, ya gotta listen, right?
When I checked the lake yesterday there was no-one hunting and quite a few birds. When I got to there this morning there was 3 people hunting a the birds were scattered. One of the hunters was a friend of mine and he and his partner were at the ramp with their boat. I figured they were done. Well, they were done hunting, but the were going to run around the lake to see if they could find and dead coots. Seems there's been coots dying there this year. Great, just what any sculler wants...someone running around the lake spooking birds. Oh well.
As they putted off, I grabbed the binoculars and checked out the large cove at the ramp. Directly across the water from the ramp was a pair of canvasback drakes three feet from the shore. OK, target acquired. I got to within twenty yards of them before they started to swim off. I sat up, picked the brighter colored bird, an killed him. One down.
From there I headed north toward a grassy cove that always hold birds. As I made my way through I could see there was some teal about 40 yards and a bunch of others at about one hundred yards. As I closed in on the closest three birds I came to a grinding halt twenty five yards from a hen. The grass had grabbed me and I was stuck. I sat up and killed the hen teal and all the other birds jumped. I laid back down in case something came my way, but the birds all rose...then circled and landed right where they started. Hmm. My shooting had dislodged me, so I just continued moving forward until I ran out of water, sat up and killed two more teal.
From there I went back to the boat ramp cove and at the far end were some wigeon. I made a long scull on them and was closing on a pair when once again the grass grabbed me and I stopped. Rats! I sat up and killed one of the birds, retrieved him and kayak paddled around a point to another cove behind the hill where the boat ramp was. I glassed the shore and saw a half dozen wigeon right by the edge so I started after them. As I got closer I could see through the binoculars that there were at least fifty wigeon feeding in the grass just off the edge. Nice. At 75 yards a hawk flew over and all the wigeon jumped out into the water. I sat still, and when the hawk left the birds moved right back into the grass. I continued along and at twenty five yards they all stuck their heads up and launched. I picked out a nice drake, pulled the trigger, and two drakes fell, thereby completing the limit.
So once again I'm back at home eating chicken noodle soup, and feeling like garbage, but at least I got some ducks!
What the lake gave today:
My "car":
When I checked the lake yesterday there was no-one hunting and quite a few birds. When I got to there this morning there was 3 people hunting a the birds were scattered. One of the hunters was a friend of mine and he and his partner were at the ramp with their boat. I figured they were done. Well, they were done hunting, but the were going to run around the lake to see if they could find and dead coots. Seems there's been coots dying there this year. Great, just what any sculler wants...someone running around the lake spooking birds. Oh well.
As they putted off, I grabbed the binoculars and checked out the large cove at the ramp. Directly across the water from the ramp was a pair of canvasback drakes three feet from the shore. OK, target acquired. I got to within twenty yards of them before they started to swim off. I sat up, picked the brighter colored bird, an killed him. One down.
From there I headed north toward a grassy cove that always hold birds. As I made my way through I could see there was some teal about 40 yards and a bunch of others at about one hundred yards. As I closed in on the closest three birds I came to a grinding halt twenty five yards from a hen. The grass had grabbed me and I was stuck. I sat up and killed the hen teal and all the other birds jumped. I laid back down in case something came my way, but the birds all rose...then circled and landed right where they started. Hmm. My shooting had dislodged me, so I just continued moving forward until I ran out of water, sat up and killed two more teal.
From there I went back to the boat ramp cove and at the far end were some wigeon. I made a long scull on them and was closing on a pair when once again the grass grabbed me and I stopped. Rats! I sat up and killed one of the birds, retrieved him and kayak paddled around a point to another cove behind the hill where the boat ramp was. I glassed the shore and saw a half dozen wigeon right by the edge so I started after them. As I got closer I could see through the binoculars that there were at least fifty wigeon feeding in the grass just off the edge. Nice. At 75 yards a hawk flew over and all the wigeon jumped out into the water. I sat still, and when the hawk left the birds moved right back into the grass. I continued along and at twenty five yards they all stuck their heads up and launched. I picked out a nice drake, pulled the trigger, and two drakes fell, thereby completing the limit.
So once again I'm back at home eating chicken noodle soup, and feeling like garbage, but at least I got some ducks!
What the lake gave today:
My "car":
I don't even get up early. Yesterday I left the house at 0900 and was home by 1430. When sculling, the only 3 o'clock is a position off the bow. 