Date: October 23
Hunters: Gina & Myself
Time: Evening
Location: B&G Blind 3
Weather Conditions: Sunny, very warm, strong south wind.
Waterfowl Activity: For an evening hunt, quite a bit of wood duck activity, exactly one mallard and not a goose seen although some were heard.
I took my wife out for the last 2 hours. We had a great time. I think I've solved the problem of her getting up and out of the blind to shoot. Don't hunt from the blind.
I took some bag chairs, and we set up next to the blind back in the shadows and with enough cover we should be OK. We need to be stiller but she's only going to shoot fully committed if not landed ducks right out in front and she's set and ready for that. We put on masks to conceal us a little better. Given the birds we saw, I don't think they were aware of our presence. She was also a lot more comfortable and could watch the entire time without having to stand for the entire time.
And the wood ducks put on a pretty good show for us, which she really enjoyed. I would have gotten to take a couple cracks at a few of them, but nothing slowed down enough to give her time to shoot.
Shortly after we were set up, I see a mallard at about 400 yards just parachuting towards us in the 20ish mph wind with stronger gusts. About 150, it just decided to go elsewhere and couldn't be convinced otherwise. Last mallard of the evening.
We had wood ducks buzz us from left, right, behind. Had some come straight in front when about 5-6 popped up over the ridge about 60 yards in front of us, maple leafed down from about 20' to about 2' then decided they didn't want to land in the goose decoys and were gone.
We had a big bunch of geese heading right at us low and from the south making a ton of noise. So low I couldn't see them, but wasn't trying to poke up my head and see them either. These guys were the ones I hope for in the evening. Coming back for some water after a day in the dry fields. About 200 yards out. Silence
They must have dropped in a couple channels south of us
Birds By Species: DNS, but had a lot of fun.
Curses: Mud, mud, mud. Our lakes are very low. When I set my decoys, I had to shove my boat through the mud to get it in the boat hide. I actually used another boat left nearby on the shore to retrieve the birds, so I didn't have to mess with mine. Well the water dropped a little more since Friday morning when I set up. My wife joked that she thought I was going to have a heart attack getting the boat out of the mud
They also go forward a lot easier than backwards. I was plowing mud for about all of the 15' that it took to get to water
But the decoys are picked up because I don't think I will be able to get out the rest of the week and I had to pick up by Friday because Saturday we move to another blind.
Photo Ops:PXL_20221023_211047084_5.jpg
YOU MUST REGISTER TO VIEW THIS IMAGE.