Fish Catching Travel
Today there was some catching, but it was not the usual fishcatchingtravel.com suspects or methods. For me it was duck hunting, for the Shoedog it was deer hunting. My buddy Chris asked me for opening day on his duck lease and we were joined by his dad, Charlie, and one of his friends, Matt.
It was amazing, it was actually almost cold. It was the first real cold night this fall. Of course post front like that it was a mile high sky with a cold wind. Which I guess is a wash as far as duck weather is concerned, but it sure was hunting weather. His dad and I got the long end of the stick as we waited for a ride to the pond from another 4 wheeler, and Chris and Matt set things up. So for us it was walk to the blind and have a seat.
At exactly shooting time the area was filled with the sounds of gun fire all around us and for the next 3 hours the ducks came.
Chris and Link line em’ up.
If it had anything to do with the weather, or maybe just opening day, the ducks were not interested in working, and very few tried to land in the decoys. And with most of them Teal, they came in like little rockets. The few big ducks we saw, widgeons and pintails, had no interest in working the spread or settling in. But boy did the Teal come, flying high and moving, except for the 2 that flew about 5 feet over our heads before we saw them.
But neither the weather or some poor shooting stopped the ducks from coming, nor from dying at a pretty good pace. I believe Matt was the first to kill a duck, and he dropped 2 with one shot. Now that is a cool thing when it happens, but it was about to be relegated to a side note on the morning. Charlie, Chris’s dad, had not shot a duck so far, I am not sure he even shot more than a few times that morning, but when he did, it was something.
I had just shot a duck, Chris shot a duck, and then I think Matt shot one, or missed. Of course a pretty good bunch of ducks picked that exact moment to come bombing in, crossing at perfect shooting height in front of the blind. I shot and nothing happened, I forgot to pump the shotgun after I killed the last one. Meanwhile Matt was reloading and had shells in his hand and none in the gun, and Chris is on the other side of the blind picking up his duck, wondering why no one was shooting. But no problem, Charlie fired off a couple of rounds and it started raining ducks. He killed 5 ducks with 2 shots. It was a thing of beauty. He went from no ducks to one short of his limit.
Our 21 ducks for the morning, a good hunt.
It was a good hunt. We had singles, small bunches, and a wad or two come in during the morning, and we had lots of shooting. We did not lose any ducks after shooting them, and it sure was nice to have Link along. With them setting up the decoys and blind, and Link retrieving, it felt like one of those fancy hunts.
After the hunt we headed to Clay’s for a little post hunt socializing. Clay owns the ground adjacent to the lease and we participated in the traditional Mimosa get together where we talked fishing and hunting. The morning was one of good guys, good shooting, and good company hanging with Clay and a few others. If you have read my stuff you know that I am a complete novice at this duck hunting thing. It is nice to hunt with Chris – he says shoot, I shoot. Probably much better that way. I am still learning how they look and act in flight, a pretty important thing when duck hunting. But I am learning and hope to kill a few more before the season ends.
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While I was hunting I got a text from Shoedog around 7:15 and I knew he was in business. He was lucky enough to find a small acreage that a lady is kind enough to let him hunt. The day he set up his blind, and did a little scouting, he had deer running all over him. So I am sure he had high hopes when he hit the blind this morning.
Nice job Shoedog. Great way to start the season!
It was the first deer he saw that morning. While he was waiting to let it have time to go down he had 8 more deer come within shooting range. I asked him why he didn’t shoot another one and he said I have all season. More on that in a moment. He shot it with a 12 gauge slug, and it went a short ways and was done when he found it.
Now as far as him having all season, there will be some more season tomorrow as I am heading out to his house in the morning for an afternoon hunt, and maybe one the next morning. And if it is a perfect world we will also get in an afternoon of white bass fishing on Somerville. I don’t know if many of you hunt, but a day of duck hunting, followed by a day or two of deer hunting, and polishing it off with a fishing trip is a good three days as far as I’m concerned.
So there you have your South Texas outdoor report. I do know one thing, no matter what I will be back on the Gulf Friday with some of the Austin boys, if I don’t make it sooner. I just hope the fishing will be close to as good as it was Thursday. Nothing like catching trout on topwater. We will see if we can do that again. So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
