We made it to/from Arkansas safe and sound for their last weekend of duck hunting. Here is a quick synopsis, as well as some pictures
Day 1 (Friday)
Mark put us on the X! Mother nature didn’t cooperate (freezing rain, sleet, snow, wind, marsh freezing), but the ducks did! While they didn’t always finish the best (wind was slightly into our face), we kept modifying the spread to get our ducks. We finished with 30: 10 mallards, 8 gadwalls, 6 widgeons, 5 green wing teal, & 1 spoonie. Pictures 1 & 2
Day 2 (Saturday)
Things turned nasty (8″ snow) overnight on top of the sleet/freezing rain we already had, so we didn’t even bother trying to get out in the morning. We hooked the boat up and headed for Mark’s favorite opening in the woods. The sun came out, but the birds didn’t cooperate. 1 suicide drake was all we had to show for our effort. Oh well, it was good to finally see flooded hardwood bottoms in person. Pictures 3 & 4
Day 3 (Sunday)
The temperature dropped to 9F overnight (who knew in AR!), so we slept in to give the roads and fields a chance to thaw in the warm sunshine of the day. We found ducks keeping a hole open in a flooded field and set up. As usual, they shied away from the treeline, but we were still able to scratch out 22 birds, including 2 beautiful drake pintails and 2 specks. The wigeons and gadwalls from Friday had completely disappeared, but the pintails, mallards, and teal were still around. Pictures 5 – 9.
One evening, we got to meet Charles Petty, the 2009 senior duck calling champion. Pretty cool, and a really nice guy.
I took some video as well of the 3 hunts. I am warning you now – it is NOT professional! I did not have a tripod and that little camera is a lot tougher to control (keep still) than I ever imagined. Here is the link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GFH2nHintM
Only 7 months until bird season starts back up! I can’t wait! Wake me up when September starts! Jeff
However, it still looks like you did pretty good considering the conditions.