Results in a Clear Calm Morning

Two days of nasty weather produced a mixed bag of birds.  We found that the recent snow line stretched from Sioux City to Watertown, SD.  Also North Dakota was all frozen.  That means the potholes and the big water were ice covered. When we have three consecutive days of severe cold weather, the birds do not hang around.  The birds just plain left all that food behind and headed south.  North of Watertown they stopped and commenced the feeding process.  This is what waterfowl do.  They feed, drink water, get a little sand, and hang out.  What a life.

$10 off $100+ purchase at Gander Mountain with code GMTN10!

With the push of the weather, the boys headed to the pits to have big days of birds decoying into the swamp.  One out of the two they had great shooting, but the second produced nothing.  The third day called for northwest winds of 8-10 mph decreasing in the afternoon.  Unfortunately I missed the first two days due to previous commitments.   Usually during duck season,  I am not to be bothered.  The third day was my best day.  I was up at 4 AM and on the road by 5 AM.  I arrived at the Big Chicken in Tekamah for the rendezvous with the hunters.  

Faces appeared a little long.  Everyone was worried about the lack of strong north winds and clearing skies.  So what, there was still northerly flow and with the overcast gone, we could see the birds coming at long distances.  Your glass has to be half full or half empty on a day like today.  This is true especially for the dark geese.  In the clear blue skies, they really stand out.  Also the high flying snows stand out as well.  With the reflection of the sun off their bodies, we saw high fliers by the thousands.  If it got slow, we just sat down and looked skyward at the enormous flocks of snows heading south.

Men's Clothing at Basspro.com

Gone are the days when we would decoy snow geese by the hundreds into the swamp.  Now they are in such big flocks due to increasing numbers that you need a huge spread of decoys in an open field just to get a look.  This spring, I am gong to contact a couple of the commercial operators and go south along the Missouri River and pound on some snow geese.  There are so many that there is a spring season for them now and there is no limit in Nebraska.  One of these days Mother Nature will thin them out, and she is not kind.

Oculus 5.0 Series Binoculars - 10x42mm
 

Click on the link or pic to buy from Bass Pro

Getting back to the day's hunt, all ten of us were well in the blinds before shooting time.  The wind was almost non existent and was light and variable from the south west.  What happened to our Northwest wind?  Shooting time came and went and we all just stood and stared at each other like cows staring at an illegitimate calf.  No one knew what to do.  

An hour later here they came.  Up from the south they circled once, locked up and fell into the swamp.  A small flock, but beggars cannot be choosers.  All hell broke loose and we dropped them all.  Out went the dogs and it was now a great morning.  Small groups of two to four would circle the blind, lock up and start to come in, then climb back into the atmosphere either to circle some more or fly away.  Everyone believed that these were local birds and when they got close to the blinds their bottoms start to burn.  They had been here before.  Even though they have a brain the size of a dime, they learn. 

Hunting Clothing at Basspro.com

We still continued to get small flocks that would decoy and drop right in.  These were fresh birds and had not learned a thing from the locals.  I doubt if they communicate to each other saying, "Be careful over that strip of ground or your bottom will burn."  As the sun rose our action was still good and brisk, but they tended to stay up high and we were forced to take longer shots and a lot less success.

This was really interesting; the wind moved straight south and went dead calm then slowly moved to the northwest, but our action was outstanding.  By 9 AM the duck action just plain dried up, and we saw nothing.  That was okay because 10 AM is usually the start of the Canada shooting.  

It did not take long and here they came.  50% of the birds gave us a look by circling a couple of times and then flying off.  Half of the 50% would lock up and glide toward the decoys and the open water.  I must buy a video camera to take pictures of this scene.  It is absolutely beautiful to hear them honking as they glide to the open water.  Something usually is not right if we lose them before a shot is fired.  

Now the last 25% do the same thing except they drop into gun range and are promptly dispatched.  With the clear blue skies, they stay a little high and our shots are long.  In order to dispatch a big bird we all shoot 3.5 inch shells of either Black Cloud, Heavy Shot Heavy Metal Mixture or just Heavy Metal.  We have the best luck with these loads, some believe.   That is the personal opinion of a few, me included.  Other people shoot different loads, but still the 3.5 inch shell.  That is where the discussion begins.

HEVI-Shot HEVI-Metal Waterfowl Shotshells

There is a Rebate involved, Buy them by the case from Bass Pro.I shoot this shell.

At noon, we ended the morning with 26 Mallards and 19 nice big Canada Geese.  It was a great morning and a great shoot.  

 

 

Click on a banner or text for great buys.

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank.

text

Two Days of Mallards

A heavy snow storm rolled across the plains dumping about 2 to 4 inches in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area, but up north in Tekamah it was more like 5 to 6 inches.  Everyone thought the birds would overfly us and head on down to Squaw Creek Refuge.   That would be the end to the duck season, although the Canada geese would hang around as long as they could find water and food.  They are really tough.

The road from Tekamah up to the blind  was tough going as the plows had not hit the country roads and we had to drive in the ruts.  Thank goodness for four wheel drive otherwise a person would have slid off the road into the ditch.  The 1/3 of a mile walk to the blind was just as tough.  Then the work started.  Besides the snow, the temperature had dipped into the teens.  We had to keep reminding ourselves how much fun we were having.

The first thing to do is get out the duck decoys.  The pump in the small lake keeps the water moving so we always have about 10 acres of open water out of the 40 acres available.  The wind was light to west to northwest and the decoys were put up close to the blinds.  In that way the birds would fly into the calm water and would be coming straight into us.  It can't get any easier than that.  Next is to sweep all the snow off the Canada decoys that are on the ground outside the blinds.  I don't care how much clothing I put on or what type it is, this is cold work and a person is always looking forward to getting into the blinds as quickly as possible and get the heaters going.

Shooting time came and it looked really bleak.  There was nothing flying.

Looking south out of the blinds you can see the snow and gray skies.  It was really cold.

Slowly we started getting some traffic.  On a day like this because we have open water we have little competition on the bottoms.  Our only competition is the snow cover, but it was supposed to warm up and we would get a good melt.

Looking northeast out of the blinds you can see the water kept open by the circulating pump.  Notice the ripple and the calm water close to the Canada decoys.  This is a good thing. 

At first we had some local traffic.  You ask, how do you know?  They fly just out of gun range and circle and circle.  You can tell these are birds that have been there before.  When they get too low to the ground over the blinds, their bottoms must start to burn.  Fresh birds and migrators circle once or twice and drop right into the lake.  It is obvious, the locals do not communicate to the fresh birds. 

$10 off $100+ purchase at Gander Mountain with code GMTN10!

As the temperature rose, the sky cleared somewhat and we started to get fresh birds in small groups.  They could have been migrators that came in ahead of the storm, stopped, and now were going out to feed and have a drink.  

Duke brings in a bird while some of the hunters go out and give him a hand.

This process was repeated over and over again as small flocks of ducks would pay us a visit.

This is not a very good picture, but look at the size of that mallard drake.  He is almost the size of a barnyard duck.  That is a good sign that the birds are really healthy. He will eat well.

By early afternoon we had a limit of mallards and we all pulled out.  The weather was warming up as quickly as it had cooled down and the snow was melting.  Next morning would be an excellent shoot.

What a pleasure the drive north was the following day up to Tekamah.  The roads were all clear and there were no ice patches on the highway.  The department had done a good job yesterday of getting all that snow and ice off the highway. 

After leaving the Big Chicken eight hunters headed to the blinds.  From snow packed roads to sloppy gravel roads, the drive up made my vehicle a mess.   The area where we park was just as bad if not worse.  The snow had melted and it was sloppy and muddy.  Getting out would be a problem. 

In the blinds there was no work to do as we had left the decoys in the lake due to the warm up.  The ducks came early.  It was not even shooting time and we had mallards circling and dropping into the decoys.  If they would all hang around till shooting time, we could end this very quickly, but I've never seen that happen.  We might get one to three.  They just all seem to leave right before the time arrives.

This morning we were getting a mix of Canada geese and mallards.  First one flock and then another.  This went on all morning and with the wind westerly to northerly.  The shots came easy as they would ease into the final approach heading straight into the blinds.  All we had to do was pick our bird.

Jack brings in another bird. 

 This time of the year our Canada shooting picks up but now we are getting mostly mallards.  The best part of the day is the dogs.  Every one in the club  considers the work the dogs do the highlight of the day.  They are always so eager to head into the water regardless of how cold it is and fetch birds and bring them back.  On this day we had two dogs working for us.  They are one man dogs and stay close to their owners and pay little attention to the hunters. 

Generally I do not get a good shot with the camera but this group of Canada geese were just floating into the decoy spread and made a good picture.  

Mallards and Canada geese made for a great day.

 

Good hunting, good fishing and good luck.  Hank

text