Fish Catching Travel
If you stopped in expecting the Falcon story, sorry, this ain’t it. I got a call last night from my friend Chris who has been kind enough to teach me the duck hunting ropes. His only comment was this is an opportunity not to be missed. How right he was. Now I was tired from the last 5 days of fishing, and even though I had a day to recover, I could have easily hung around the house another day to catch up on things. But when Chris said it the way he did, it reminded me of when I call a few friends in this world and say come fishing right now.
So the next thing I know the alarm is going off at 3:30 am and I feel like 10 miles of bad road. Interesting how as I get a little long in the tooth it takes a lot longer to recover from 12 hours a day of fishing, plus 11 hours in the truck, in 5 days. But off I went. We headed out at 4:30 and met Clay at his farm. This place was approximately 4oo acres of duck hotel. Well maybe not a hotel, more like a small duck city. Our chosen spot was a small shallow pond in a marshy area. The decoys were already in place so it was simply a matter of climbing in the blind.
Before it was even legal shooting light the ducks began to land in the spread. And at exactly legal shooting a group came blasting in. Of course my shooting initially left something to be desired. And as this was my 5th or 6th duck hunting trip I would class myself as less than a novice. Fishing has taken up my spare time and with 3 moves in 7 years, I basically had nowhere to hunt. Consequently, I had not even fired a shot in 10 years before last fall.
But it did not matter. There were plenty of chances as ducks came in singles, small flights, and a few large groups. Some came in quick, and some set their wings, but no matter how they came, it was awesome. There is just something about daylight breaking a beautiful red as a group of ducks works the spread and then commit. Really something.
And it was nice to share the morning with a duck hunting pro. The way Clay would identify them simply by the way they flew still amazes me. I simply shot when he said, and did not manage to shoot anything I should not have. As you know the first time I went I was scared to death I might shoot an eagle or something. And I was really surprised at how little he called. And when he did, it was usually really soft, rarely did he really blow. So it is clear I have a lot to learn about this duck hunting thing.
Here is our limit. I took this with my phone, to bad I have no idea what happened to my camera or there would have been a different one. Hopefully it is in one of the trucks!
One thing that surprised me was when a duck landed in the spread, joined shortly after by another, then stayed on the pond through about 3 volleys. And if my memory is correct, one even stayed until the bitter end. Interesting considering his cohorts were falling from the sky deader than a hammer. We had widgeons, pin-tails, red heads, teal, and god knows what other kinds working the spread. There were several geese in the area, a hawk was working the marsh, and the gators were out sunning. A real outdoor moment.
Before I sat down to write this I checked my email and found this from my friend Aaron. He is a bass catching, Tilapia shooting, duck killing fool. Funny how hanging out with folks who are damn good at what they do ends up making you better at those things.
I got this from my friend Aaron Fite today. Nice bunch of ducks and one happy dog.
So what a day. I always enjoy time in the field with Chris, and getting to spend some of it in a duck blind with Clay only made it better. Clay is a real gentleman, and I appreciated it that he did not give me the appropriate amount of crap for my poor shooting. Thank god I finally got in the game and did my part. So a big thank you to both of them. There is nothing better than the outdoors!
Stop in tomorrow. I promise I will have the Falcon stuff up. Tough life when you can’t tell your fishing story because your duck hunting gets in the way. And one last thing, thanks to my wife wonderful wife Nancy for putting up with me. Nothing but gas bills, tackle bills, smelly fisherman sleeping all over the house, me gone for days, and she still loves me. Go figure.
Good Luck and Tight Lines.
