The Day After the Mighty Vortex

The vortex had arrived and the general feeling was there would be outstanding duck hunting for some time.  The snow had not covered up the fields to the north like we would have wanted it to, but at least the big northern mallards had arrived. 

The vortex with all it's fury had frozen up part of the lake

The decoys were pulled the evening before and with the bubbler in the lake, we always have open water.  With no snow on the ground, there was plenty of feed for the birds.  The crops were out and the farmers had not yet started turning over the ground to prep it for next season's planting.  Along the bottoms, the harvest was outstanding with yields in the 200 per bushel per acre.  The ducks were able to find an abundance of feed on the ground after the harvester had been through.

The general feeling was that it would start off with a bang and we would limit out early and be on our way.  Not so.  After yesterday the sky was not full of birds.  The fear was that they had all pushed their way south riding a north wind that was really driving them. 

We were not without action and would get a single or a few to decoy, but it was not like the day before.  The weather cleared somewhat, but the cold had now become almost severe.  A hunter had better wear all the protection he owned to avoid getting cold.  While the blinds are heated, we still could not take off our clothes down to our basics without getting cold.  However, there was plenty of dining to be done, even when we were not harvesting ducks. 

Our man Duke brings in a bird

One of our hunters used his talents to bring up some fine cuts of venison.  Around 11 AM we were able to rip into some deer steaks cooked in the blind.

Gentleman hunting at it's finest. 

Too keep the feeding frenzy alive, the same hunter brought with him some fine quarter pound deer burgers.  When things are slow, there is nothing better than feeding, and on this day we all were well taken care of. 

It can't get much better than this.

Still, the action was spotty to say the least, and by late afternoon the decision was made to fold it up.  I still came home with a couple of ducks and two snow geese that wandered onto the shooting range. 

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.   Hank

 

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