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Been slow along the coast so far, but we finally got enough wind yesterday to get the birds off of the big water and into the bays. Had hunted Saturday and killed the only duck we had come by, a drake gadwall. Sunday was a different, with SE winds expected to pick up to 20-25 mph around midday. Picked up my stepson (Dustin), around 8:00 a.m., and headed to the causeway. Cut 2 bundles of cane and spent the next hour scouting areas. Finally decided on a spot, set up our spread, and waited for the wind to pick up. Around 11:30 a.m., as predicted, the winds started honking, and the birds started working off the big bay, and into the smaller bodies of water in the delta. Mostly gadwalls, and we had our share blind shy birds, but enough working to stool to kill a limit by 1:00 p.m. Ended the day with 11 gadwalls and 1 drake redhead, and by far, the best hunt on the causeway for me this year.
Dustin with our strap-o-birds

That's the kind of stuff only a man raised on the delta would know. Good job Deltaman!

Olly wrote:That's the kind of stuff only a man raised on the delta would know.

Or one who reads waterfowlforum.net.

Nice strap of birds, Deltaman! I can only hope for that on Saturday, or second split opener.

Almost forgot about the first bird we knocked down. It went down crippled so we pushed out of the blind and started easing towards the downed bird. Before we got close enough to finish it off, it jumped up and started flying away, struggling to make altitude. It was heading South towards the I-10 Bayway bridge, and I honestly thought that the bird was gonna hit the bridge head-on and fall to the water, when just as it reached the bridge, it barely gained enough altitude to clear the concrete..........but not the 18-wheeler that was doing 80 mph........ , we could hear the smack from where we were, and were just thankful that it didn't cause an accident. Not a great way to start a hunt, but apparently didn't hex us too bad .........and no, I did not count it in our bag limit.

Deltaman wrote:Almost forgot about the first bird we knocked down. It went down crippled so we pushed out of the blind and started easing towards the downed bird. Before we got close enough to finish it off, it jumped up and started flying away, struggling to make altitude. It was heading South towards the I-10 Bayway bridge, and I honestly thought that the bird was gonna hit the bridge head-on and fall to the water, when just as it reached the bridge, it barely gained enough altitude to clear the concrete..........but not the 18-wheeler that was doing 80 mph........ , we could hear the smack from where we were, and were just thankful that it didn't cause an accident. Not a great way to start a hunt, but apparently didn't hex us too bad .........and no, I did not count it in our bag limit.

Great hunt! and a helluva story on that crip gray

Nice. I eat gadwalls every chance I get but here they'r kind of spooky and won't decoy often.