Four days of Ducks Part1

Day 1

It can hardly get much better. The first part of the week, Canda Geese had migrated into the club's lake. This was a good sign that waterfowl was on the move. With almost 40 acres of water, there must have been a thousand Canada geese, and two hunters had their limits shortly after shooting time.

When Friday came, I was ready to go. Up at 4 AM, on the road by 4:30 AM arriving at the Big Chicken in Tekamah for breakfast. There I teamed up with 4 other club members. The wind was really strong from the south. Not good, as we would have preferred a northerly flow. As we walked into the blind, there were no birds in the lake. Then the wind went dead calm. We usually do not like this type of condition, and there was a heavy overcast with limited visibility. As shooting time came visibility improved, but there was nothing working the lake.

To the north three blinds opened up. One volley after another for about 10 minutes and then all went quiet.  Now this group is not happy.  Why are they getting shooting and we are not? Everyone remained very quiet and communication was all with stares of bewilderment. When it is dead calm, you do not talk, you wispher. The birds can hear the noise from the ground. The metal blinds buried in the ground are like an ampliphifers. Then here they came, one flock after another. The ducks just dropped out of the bottom of the overcast and locked up over the blind  With wings cupped followed by a few short quick calls, it was shooting time. With no wind, angles were not the best and I must confess, I have seen better shooting, but we were getting action. This went on over and over again for about 90 minutes with pauses of 15 minutes in between.  Flocks of five to ten birds, mostly mallards dropping in on us. We would be outside picking up birds and they still tried to drop in. Periodically a quick flight of green wing teal streaked by, giving a brief opportunity, and with the quality of shooting, it was only brief. A few gadwall and widgeon went to the freezer, but the mallards made up most of the bag. With the restriced visibility, it was quick and when we came up, the birds pumped skyward like they were on an elevator.  By noon, the low overcast had burned off, and we pulled up with nice limits ducks.  Excitement had ran high, and it was a finish to a great morning.

Day 2



The weather changed again.  The temperature dropped almost to freezing, the humidity spiked upward, and the wind blew strongly from the Northeast.  This is duck and goose weather.  It was obvious migration was taking place and the lake was holding a fair amount of birds as we walked to the blinds in the dark.  There was twelve hunters today, and whenever the weather turns blustry, the club members turn out.  Our pit blinds run north and south and and we face east on a north south penisula. With the wind now switching to the east, the birds would be decoying into the wind and would be coming in from behind us on their final approach.   This makes shooting a little difficult as you have to turn around to shoot.  Also, initially they were staying south of the blinds and then finishing moving east northeast into the wind. The wind was really kicking up, and when we came up, they went up like they were on a rocket.  It was a bone chilling cold with heavy humidity. 

We were getting birds working us about every thirty minutes with small to medium flocks of five to fifteen birds.  We also had Jim James in the blind and when he is with us this changes the whole dimension.  Jim is the former owner of Carlson Calls and 1996 National Grand Champion Duck Caller.  This is an amazing thing to watch and to hear a professional at work.  They just talk right back to him.  Jim Beck, Olympic Gold Medal Winner for Trap Shooting, was also with us.  Wow, does he make a difference.  I have never seen Jim miss a shot.  So if everyone else shot poorly, rest assured the club would have success.

Now for the best part of the day.  A flock of Canada geese started to work us.  There must have been 100 geese in the flock, and it is rarely that we get into that many at once.  They made two passes around the lake, dropping down with each pass. You could tell these birds were tired watching their wings pump. If they had flown any distance, they were thirsty too.  Then strung out in a string, they locked up and floated towards the blind.  The first few birds flew over the blind, but the balance was behind when the shot was called.  You had your choice, shoot to the east on the birds getting ready to land, or take the ones right behind.  It was great. Members began leaving with limits of birds, but the flight of Canadas coming in was the highlight of the day.

The next two days are just as exciting.  Good fishing, good hunting, and good luck. Hank



Fall Happenings and Events

Based on the announcement from John, I have had three outstanding days of duck hunting.  The birds are coming down from the Dakotas, and tomorrow I hunt again for a total of four straight days.  Read about it next week.  The shooting is excellent and will get better.

Important Announcement: My friend John just called and said the lake was full of Canadas this AM.  Only 2 guys showed up, and had their limit by 7:30 AM.  The lake is 40 acres so this gives you an idea of how many geese migrated in.  I am going tomorrow.

I belong to a duck hunting club with blinds northeast of Tekamah along the Missouri River.  The season has started off rather slow, but when the weather starts to turn in the Dakotas, the birds will be down.  I have gone twice, shot twice, and hit nothing.  Club members that showed up when we had a north wind had some good shooting on teal, pintails, and other small ducks.  During one of those windy days, if you went, you would be rewarded. 

The farm where I hunt turkeys still has cattle on it.  While the owner said to come up and hunt the woods, the owner of the cattle may be unpset with someone hunting while he has cattle on the ground.  They should be moved off in the next week or so, and I will have to re-scout the area.  It is like a grocery store on that farm.

I read through the DNR website for Iowa and South Dakota and will now pass on some interesting information.

GUTHRIE CENTER - The Iowa DNR along with many sponsoring organizations has created a mentored deer hunt that has been introducing people to Iowa deer hunting since 2004.


This mentored hunt is scheduled from Nov. 19 - 21, 2010, at the Springbrook Conservation Education Center. Participants will attend educational sessions on all aspects of deer hunting including the equipment, photography, biology, management, field care, deer processing, gun handling, safety, hunting methods, shot selection/placement and regulations.

Participants will be accompanied with their mentor to hunt deer in the park.

"If participants do not feel comfortable with any aspect of deer hunting, there will be people available to assist them in a positive, supportive environment," said A Jay Winter, with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources who is coordinating the hunt.

The program is designed for adults and youth 12 years old and older. There is a $123 fee for the hunter to cover food, lodging and program costs, plus a $27 license. There are scholarships available to cover the registration fee.

Registration is required. To find out more information or to register, contact A Jay Winter at the Springbrook Conservation Education Center, 641-747-8383 ext 11 or e-mail ajay.winter@dnr.iowa.gov.  You can read additional articles on the Iowa DNR website. (www.iowadnr.gov/).

The pheasant season is in full swing in South Dakota.  I have friends that make an annual pilgrimage up to Winner.  They have a great time and come back with a limit of birds.  They have hunted the same farm for the last ten years and it has paid off getting to know the farmer.  The farm is held for them every year and they are the first ones to hunt it. 

From the South Dakota DNR website this piece of information. (http://gfp.sd.gov/hunting/small-game/pheasants.aspx) To gauge how good pheasant hunting can be in South Dakota, you need to consider a bad year. The last time hunters harvested fewer than 1 million roosters during a South Dakota season was in 1992, and that was almost 970,000. Since 1926 the state's harvest total has been under 1 million birds only 21 times, and only four times under a half-million.

It is no coincidence that almost all of those occurred in a stretch from 1965 through 1990, the timeframe between the Soil Bank and Conservation Reserve Program agriculture set-aside programs. These government programs resulted in prime pheasant habitat. Prime habitat breeds prime pheasant numbers.

The next item I saw of interest was in the local newspaper in Council Bluffs.  The Iowa DNR has stocked 8,000 walleye in Lake Manawa.  Now that is good news. They did not tell what size they had stocked, but I heard at a local sporting good store, they were not fingerlings. The walleye in Manawa do not re-produce and the lake has to be re-stocked.  I have had mediocre success there, but most of the time when fishing this lake for walleye, I get skunked. 

I under stand the lake may be dredged to a deeper level, which would improve the fishing, and hopefully the lake would clear up.

It is time for the Mallards to come south.  We just need some blizzard conditions in the Dakotas to push them out. 

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank
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Wyoming Elk Hunt

We have had so many positive comments about Casey's elk hunt, that I want to leave it posted for one more week.  This is an excellent read and really exciting.

Just a side note, club members had two good days of shooting small ducks.  Mostly gadwall, widgeon, teal, pintail and a few mallards were taken.  On Friday the 12th, ten hunters took 30 ducks. On Saturday,  twenty six duck were taken by eleven shooters.  One of the members called me at 11 AM, and said the shooting was done by 9:30 AM.  We had some weather move in from the southwest with really strong northerly winds and that brought some birds down.  The big mallards have yet to arrive.

Checking the Sand Lake Wildlife Refuge in South Dakota they only have about 30,000 Mallards, and Squaw Creek in Northwest Missouri has about the same.  We need a big blizzard across the Dakotas to push them all out.

My Elk Hunt October 11, 2010

It was 5:30 am October 11th and my alarm went off a little earlier than usual that morning.   If it were waking me up that early for work or an undesirable task, I might have hit the snooze, but that morning my feet hit the floor almost simultaneously with the alarm. Finally, it’s my day for an elk hunt.  Because I work for a local outfitter here in Wyoming, I have been immersed in elk hunts and bugles since the 20th of September. However, all of the talk, the hunts, and the bugles have been for our paying hunters.  We, the crew, have to wait our turn to go on the hunt. Finally my day arrived.

I rushed out of bed and threw in my contacts.  My dog Bailey raised up her head from sleep to look at me as if to say, “What are you doing up this early?” She at least got up to say good-bye before I walked out the door. It was a short drive to what we call the “Tracy Lake pullout” where I met my two buddies, Dan and Ben. Dan is our resident guide and had been on the hunt for 3 straight weeks. He thought we stood a good chance at a bull just above Tracy Lake. I arrived first while the stars were still shining and heard the occasional quack coming from the lake. I wondered if I should have brought my decoys and shotgun instead of my 270.  Dan and Ben arrived shortly after I did and within 5 minutes we were hiking uphill in the dark. As we climbed the first hill and reached the first “bench”, Dan whispered, “It’s still early.  Let’s wait a minute. Elk can be anywhere from here on.” Just before dawn, Dan let loose with a bugle. A bull answered right away. We’re in business. We moved on up the trail to get set up, hoping Dan would call him in. This bull was hot and bothered as he hit again without Dan calling. Now we rushed to get set up as it sounded like he was coming. “This is going to happen fast” I thought to myself.  Dan bugled and the bull hit again.  Dan cow called and the bull hit again.  This conversation went on for 5 minutes, but where once he seemed to be moving in on us, now he seemed to be moving away. “We've got to go get him.  He’s not coming,” said Dan. We moved our location.  Dan was careful to cow call as we moved,  to prevent making more of a disturbance than we had to. We set up again.  The same conversation ensued but the bull made no appearance. We even heard a spike try to get in on the action. Then as quickly as it all started, all went quiet. “I think he’s wrapping around the corner in that drainage that goes up to Randolph,” Dan said. We were on the move again, paralleling the drainage, but hearing nothing.

By now the sun was up and it was warming up.  Since we were on foot and moving, we took a few minutes to shed some layers and took a short break. “I thought for sure the bull was coming in,” chimed in Ben. We recounted in whispers all that took place just a few minutes ago, and our best guess was that he winded us. We pressed on hiking through what I would call “elk world,” bench after bench, pockets of meadows surrounded by thick timber, plenty of water, cover and everything an elk could want. We paralleled the drainage until it became a small canyon.  Dan hit the bugle again and we got an answer immediately. The only problem was, it was faint. This bull was a ways off. “Got to keep him talking till we can get there,” Dan said. We were on the move covering ground as quickly and as quietly as we could. This wasn’t the time to enjoy the beauty of the country around us.  Right now we had an agenda and all three of us were moving accordingly. Dan kept him talking as we moved toward him for a good 20 minutes. We tried to set up again but found the same situation as earlier in the morning. From the bull’s perspective, no reason to come to us when he already had his cows!

We moved a little more slowly and deliberately as we started our stalk. Only another 100 yards and Dan whispered, “Get Down!” We knelt down as best we could and there we were looking at 3 cows and a spike.  The herd bull was nowhere in sight.  I got set up with a makeshift gun rest from a downed tree.  Dan told me, "Don’t shoot the spike, the bull is going to follow those cows."  We waited, but nothing happened. The next time the bull bugled, he was close.  We thought he had wrapped around the trees where we could see the cows but not him. We needed a different angle if we were going to get a shot. We went up the next little knob to our right where we could get a better look at the entire meadow and not just the section where the cows were. As we got settled in, I looked down at the bottom of the knob about 45 yards and there was an elk. I whispered to Dan, “There’s an elk at the bottom of the hill.” “Is it the bull?” Dan responded.  I couldn’t tell as it was in the shadows, so Dan raised up with his binocs and turned to me, “That’s the bull!” He was 45 yards from us, staring straight at us. We froze. He was staring at us, and we were trying to figure how to get a shot at him. What we knew for sure was that our window of opportunity was closing rapidly.  This bull was starting to recognize that something ain’t right; whatever we do we’ll have to do it quickly.  If he would just turn broadside I would have a great shot, but he just kept staring straight at us.  As risky as it was, we had to move further up our little knob in hopes I could get a better angle.  I took two steps and Dan said, "He’s moving left to right and coming out between those trees.” I scurried into position and here he came, just like Dan said.  I knelt down and raised my 270 to shoot, knowing this had to happen fast.  This bull was getting ready to hightail it out of here.  I let loose with a round.  His cows were starting to run down hill away from us and the bull clearly wanted to go too, but he was moving much slower than the cows.  Clearly he had been hit. Dan was cow calling and about that time he said, “Shoot him again!” I  pumped another round in the chamber. The second shot dropped him like a ton of bricks. To say the least, this being my first bull, I was a little excited. Dan told me later, “We’ve been friends for three years and I don’t think you’ve ever hugged me before.” I told him, “Don’t count on it happening again!” We both laughed.

Dan, Ben, and I exchanged high fives and handshakes as we laughed and talked about the events that led us to this kill. While the thrill of the hunt and the kill were a great experience, it still could not compare to the memories and stories I had with good friends. I will always remember this hunt, yes, because of the kill, but even more because I got to do this with good friends.  That, as they say, is priceless.  So, I wish you beautiful sunrises, plenty of game, and good buddies to share it with.

On a side note, as we were hiking back out to “Tracy Lake” we saw a mule deer about 45 yards out.  I couldn’t help it, even though he was just a little fork, I couldn’t pass up the chance to fill both my tags in one very special day.

This was a really exciting read and congratulations to Casey on two nice animals in one day.

Good hunting, good fishing, and good day.   Hank

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