Beginners luck

This morning I got introduced to the “real” experience of duck hunting in the LaCrosse area. We were at the ramp at 3:00 a.m. just to try and get our better spot. Well, the early bird didn’t get the worm as we were beaten to the spot. How early does a guy have to leave to get a decent spot ? Well we just resorted to plan B which was close to the original spot, but would not disturb the guys that beat us to the original spot. I learned that boats are very cold and uncomfortable to try and catch a 3-4 hour nap . After an hour of freezing I hit the land and settled in behind a nice stand of marsh grass, curled up and fell asleep. After seeing my first woodie drake I had really wanted to get one for the wall, but failed to get one during the first season. The guys that have graciously taken me out told me all week that I probably had missed my chance as they were most likely gone. As daylight was fast approaching, we had several ducks in the dekes but it was still a little early to shoot, but it was at least promising. When legal time arrived a duck came in from behind and 1 shot one hen woodie. My chance for a drake was looking good. A little later a drake wood came and landed right in the dekes in front of me. Here was my big chance, I stood up and hoped he would take off. He did and I nailed him . I was pretty pumped now as I almost walked on water to retreive him. I let out a , after seeing the awesome colors and noticing how he was still in great shape. I got back to the blind and laid him down with the hen, when something looked a little funny around his leg. Hot damn, I got my first woodie and he was banded to boot . I let out another whoop to show my excitement. Although the weather was “ducky”, the ducks were not too cooperative. There are definitely ducks here, but they are staying pretty tight to the reserve on the lake. While we were loading the boat there must have been at least 1000 birds on the water and in the area right by the landing. I can’t wait for tomorrow to do it all over again.

One more

One more

great story Wats

great story Wats

way to go Watson,
send a post picture when you get your mount back, are you going to get the pair done together or just the drake??
Jack…

way to go Watson,
send a post picture when you get your mount back, are you going to get the pair done together or just the drake??
Jack…

Great Job Watson
Once you’ve been duckin on the Miss. Your probably hooked for life

Great Job Watson
Once you’ve been duckin on the Miss. Your probably hooked for life

I am only getting the drake woodie mounted, but I have a green-wing teal and a spoonbill at the taxidermist right now. My only problem now is deciding how to get them done. I am pretty sure I am going to have the teal in a flying situation and the other 2 in a standing position. But I think I want the wood duck on some sort of wood pedestal and maybe the spoonbill on a piece of wood that can be mounted to the wall? I haven’t looked at the different options yet. A friend of mine is one of the taxidermists at the Brush Museum and Taxidermy and he took them up there for me since I work way to much during the week . I can’t wait to see what other ducks there are to see. The colors are just awesome.
One other thing about the other day that was pretty cool. The first season when we hunted, people would set up right on top of us almost every time out and I don’t know how many steel showers we took, but it was plain nuts. I have found that most, not all, people were in a sense rude in the marshes. But on Saturday morning, we busted a nice drake mallard and he dropped in the tall grass. We looked all over for this thing. While we were looking a guy started walking in our direction from a ways off. This guy took time out of his hunting to bring his dog over to recover the duck, which he found in no time . I wish we would have gotten his name, but a big Thank You goes to him and his dog. This guy was with a group that was all behind us. It actually wasn’t bad due to they weren’t “skybusting” every thing that flew through. They didn’t shoot unless they were in range and we did the same and it worked out great for all of us because the ducks we did see either went to them or circled and came to us.

I am only getting the drake woodie mounted, but I have a green-wing teal and a spoonbill at the taxidermist right now. My only problem now is deciding how to get them done. I am pretty sure I am going to have the teal in a flying situation and the other 2 in a standing position. But I think I want the wood duck on some sort of wood pedestal and maybe the spoonbill on a piece of wood that can be mounted to the wall? I haven’t looked at the different options yet. A friend of mine is one of the taxidermists at the Brush Museum and Taxidermy and he took them up there for me since I work way to much during the week . I can’t wait to see what other ducks there are to see. The colors are just awesome.
One other thing about the other day that was pretty cool. The first season when we hunted, people would set up right on top of us almost every time out and I don’t know how many steel showers we took, but it was plain nuts. I have found that most, not all, people were in a sense rude in the marshes. But on Saturday morning, we busted a nice drake mallard and he dropped in the tall grass. We looked all over for this thing. While we were looking a guy started walking in our direction from a ways off. This guy took time out of his hunting to bring his dog over to recover the duck, which he found in no time . I wish we would have gotten his name, but a big Thank You goes to him and his dog. This guy was with a group that was all behind us. It actually wasn’t bad due to they weren’t “skybusting” every thing that flew through. They didn’t shoot unless they were in range and we did the same and it worked out great for all of us because the ducks we did see either went to them or circled and came to us.