2009 Waterfowl Journal
There is a good reason why this is my first waterfowl journal entry for the 2009 season; it has been a rough season so far! I was hopeful the cool weather we had during the October year-end bass tournament championships would translate to a great start to the duck season. Since then the temperatures have been predominately mild, apparently keeping the peak of the migration in a holding pattern to the north.
I have made a few trips so far, with Dave Gaulden and I drawing in at Grand Pass the week before the firearms deer season. However, the birds that were using the area had been shot at enough to learn when the 1:00 pm close kicks in, as we managed only four birds although there were a ton in the refuge pools.
We followed that by a trip to Four Rivers last week, although the results were even worse. We hunted from daylight to dusk and only shot two birds. Correction, I shot at two birds and Dave killed two birds. Same thing as at the Pass; the birds knew when shooting hours were over as we watched thousands come back into the shooting pools as we picked up.
That brings us to this week where we planned to try and draw in at Grand Pass on Monday. After checking the forecast, we decided to put off our attempt until Tuesday, where Rex Watkins joined Dave and I for a 4:15 am draw. Results, Rex was back in bed by 6:30 and Dave and I got to go back to work! Bill Shields joined our trio for a repeat attempt on Wednesday and managed to draw #16 which meant we were hunting. Even better, the pool we hoped to hunt was still available when our number came around.
The pool held only one party and is basically a walk-in spot. We actually used Dave's boat to tow my layout boat along a levy in an adjacent pool then pulled mine over the ridge, loaded it full of our gear, and slogged our way to our spot. Bill had hunted the pool a week early with good sucess, but the wind had shifted. We tried to pull off a little crosswind setup which would allow us to utilize a thick stand of corn for cover, but the birds simply did not want to work that setup. We managed a few, then decided to shift a little as the ducks were wanting to circle over open water more than over the corn. The move got us another duck or two, but with time running out, Bill made the suggestion to relocate to the far side of the pool to get the wind in our favor. More sloshing around and dragging all of our gear across the spot, but as soon as we set up the birds starting working the way they are supposed to.
End result; we managed 16 ducks with the majority of them coming in the last hour after our change of setup. The big mallards don't seem to have showed up in great numbers, as we had a mixed bag of teal, shoverers, gadwalls, one mallard, and a widgeon. My shooting still hasn't improved, but I managed five birds, the same as Dave. He is leading in our little head-to-head competion by five birds, but I've been hammering the farmpond at home in hopes of getting a few bonus birds prior to our next trip to Grand Pass.
With half the season still in front of us, don't pass up a chance at a great deal on a duck boat or motor from Smithville Marine. They also offer a full service shop to keep you on the water and chasing birds if you should experience trouble. Click the link for store hours and inventory details.
Posted by Mark Thompson, who is proud to support Smithville Marine, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha Motors, Mustad, 724Outdoors.com, Dave’s Custom Baits, and The Buck Stops Here Taxidermy .
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
