Best Waterfowl Season Ever

We got off to a late start this duck season, starting out the season on the trip in the previous post. The following Sunday afternoon, Caleb and I set out on a local scouting trip to find some ducks. We left in plenty of time and I even brought a truck gun just in case we saw a pheasant, as it was opening pheasant hunting weekend as well. 

We started in an area we knew pretty well. Checking a new spot we drove past in the spring and a few other spots we have hunted in the past. We also checked a brand new place that had just been put into land that was open to the public. The water levels looked great and we found three good spots to hunt within a few minutes of each other. What was a little disappointing was the number of ducks we were seeing though. With not a ton of daylight left we had a decision to make. Do we stay in this area, go a little further north, or go to an area we discovered at the end of last year. Caleb got pretty fired up and said let's go check the redhead hole. 

We named this spot the redhead hole, because last year when I was out scouting I stumbled into this area that isn’t packed with lots of water. But it had enough ponds and one small lake close enough together that it was holding a decent number of ducks. When we tried it last year, we found out a majority of the ducks using the pond were redheads and it turned out that that afternoon I just didn’t have it in me to harvest two redheads. Honestly they were just so fun to watch and I was just captivated by it. Eli and Caleb got a little antsy, so when a spoony decided to do it right in the decoys, I took him to kind of appease those two. 

We had no idea if this pond would even have water, or in general if the area had water. After the 30 to 40 min drive, we got there with not a ton of daylight left. We found a nice path to walk down to a larger pond that we had never seen before. I didn’t bring my gun because Caleb had forgotten his ear muffs, and while he tried to convince me he would be ok I knew it wasn’t worth it. It turns out, we flushed 4 or 5 pheasants, almost all of them roosters and we both looked at each other with a disappointed smile. 

The big pond turned out to be too big. We couldn’t get close enough to the water's edge. You would pretty much need a boat to be able to hunt it. It was however holding a good number of ducks and that was exciting. We watched the flight line when we kicked them up and many of them flew over the pond we hunted last year. We got back into the adventure mobile, drove a little down the road, parked and then headed out on our next trek to the redhead hole. Before we took any steps, the pond across the street in the cornfield was pretty loaded up with ducks. You could hear them easily. The excitement started to kick in. The short walk out to the pond was a fun one. One I will never forget. The ducks started moving, and there were plenty of them. It was awesome to watch.  

When we got to the pond we found every duck hunter's dream. It was the perfect water level, and good cover next to it. We found the perfect little corner that would be good for north and northwest winds. After getting back to the car pretty much right at sunset we headed a little south towards a field we had gotten permission for last year. When we got there, we found a corn field that appeared to be a little flooded and it was loaded up with ducks. We watched them to try and figure out exactly where they were all going and coming from. It was not the same landowner as last year and after looking up who owned it, it was not someone local so we headed home. I tried contacting the landowner we had gotten permission from last year, but I didn’t have any luck. So our best spot moving forward was in fact, the redhead hole. 

The best part of homeschooling and having a flexible work schedule is cherry picking your days to hunt. The first day that week we had a good north wind with sun, we decided it was time to give our spot a try. When we got to the parking spot, we didn't have a ton of time until legal shooting time, maybe 20 minutes. Staying focused, while we heard all the ducks in the pond across the street and watching all the ducks that were already moving, turned out to be tough. We got ready as quickly as a guy with two kids can. I put most of the stuff on my back, and headed out. It didn’t take long to find the spot we had found before. The walk is really quite easy. Which for me is greatly appreciated. I got the decoys and the spinner out, while the kids sat and watched me. We then got our seats situated in the cattails and settled in with blind bags next to us. And it was at that point, the duck flurry really slowed, and all of us had our patience tested. 

It was tough to not be too excited to get a duck or two after seeing that many birds. After waiting it out, for what Caleb said seemed like two hours (it was less than an hour), a hen mallard came right in. Not being picky with how slow it had gotten I harvested it and we were officially not skunked. And then it was like someone turned the switch back on. The ducks started moving again. It wasn’t long and a gadwall came right in and we had two ducks. Our next flock of ducks was a smaller group of mallards, around 5. After circling a couple of times and all of us being able to keep our heads down, and keep quiet, they came right in. I managed to pick out two drakes and got both of them. The second one swam a little into the cattails right after hitting the water. I grabbed some shells and then the three of us were off down the shoreline to go track it down. When we got there, it was nowhere to be seen where I thought it had gone. I went into the water on the edge of the cattails while the kids looked on the land side. After a good search, I was starting to question if we would find it. When all of a sudden Eli yells “I got it!” while reaching down and grabbing him right on the edge but about 10 yards down from where I thought it was, and it turns out he was deader than a doornail. All of a sudden we had 4 ducks with some time to keep hunting. It was at this point, another hen mallard came in but I missed on my first shot. She turned towards the center of the pond and I then connected on my second shot. It still had some life when it hit the water and it swam pretty fast towards the other side of the pond quickly. I tried to water swat it a couple of times but didn't manage to get it. And the race was on. I grabbed a couple of shells, and the three of us were walking as fast as we could around the pond. When we got to the shoreline directly across from where we were sitting we lost sight of the duck so I took a direct line in the water through the cattails. Just before I got to the cattail edge, I saw the mallard and tried to shoot it through everything quickly but again to no avail. When I got there it was gone. I told the kids to watch the bank and I would walk through the cattails looking for it. It turned out that the water was pretty shallow so even Eli and Caleb could walk in and keep searching. We looked for a while, and I was just about to give up. When all of a sudden I heard her right in front of me. I looked down and she popped right out. After a couple of quick steps, I reached down and snatched up the duck. We all celebrated, and even though I was fairly certain it was a hen, confirming it was a little disappointing. That is because you can only shoot two hen mallards in a day. I told the kids that while we still could shoot one more duck, I didn’t feel like even taking any chances on getting a hen as the mallards were not real colored yet. It was a good time to call this hunt, and I should probably get back to work. So we took a picture and packed up, all of us smiling. 

First Hunt

We became very spoiled this year. This spot kept on producing for us. We kept picking the best weather days, sunny with a north wind. The next week, we were fortunate enough to have a day with this weather, so we got up that morning and set up in the same spot. We did have to make our blind in the cattails just a little further to the west of where we sat last time to have more cattails to hide in. In a week, we lost some of the big ducks that were here, but we gained a ton of green wing teal. The kids got to find out why they are one of my favorite ducks. Because they tend to decoy so well, and the second hunt of the year for us proved this to be true. Once again we had to wait through a little down time right after sunrise. We had a small group of gadwalls come in. I got one right away, and then made the mistake of trying to shoot another, when it had gotten out pretty quickly. I hit it, but it sailed into a dense group of cattails to the east of us. We searched for a little while, but while we were searching the green wing teal started moving in big numbers. We scurried back to our blind, where in quick fashion we had two groups of teal just do it right and I managed to get 4 and just like that we had our limit. We went back to the cattails and with lots of encouragement from Eli, put an exhausting search on for the second gadwall but unfortunately we never found the duck. 

Second Hunt

The next week brought some really cold temperatures, which was earlier than normal. This locked up a lot of the smaller ponds, including the redhead hole. But not too much longer the warmer weather came back. And for the first time in my life, we picked an afternoon with a west wind to hunt the thaw. When we got out there the pond had some skim ice on it, but the edges were pretty much already unfrozen. We set up just down the shore from where we were before. The tough part was the strong north winds we had with the cold weather knocked down many of the cattails we were hiding in. We had to sit a little further back, but we had the sun and wind to our backs. We got to track the migration a little more because the large majority of the ducks moved out and it was pretty slow. But to provide us some action, we had two small groups of green wing teal that were still around come right in again and I got one out of each flock. To our surprise though, one of the teal I got was a blue winger. Not too much before sunset we had 3 spoonies come in. I gave them the pass and we watched them swim in our decoys for a bit. We saw that two of the three were drakes and Eli and Caleb started convincing me to take them. And wouldn't you know it, I caved with a few minutes left in shooting time, I decided to take the drake that was still right in the decoys. I stood up and dispatched it quickly. However, I somehow managed to also hit the drake quite away behind it. It flew up, noticeably hit, and both kids were saying you hit that one too, so I finished that one off as well. When I looked back at the smiles on my kids' faces after watching that was priceless. And they thought both of these ducks were pretty cool looking even though they were not quite fully colored out yet. 

Third Hunt

I thought the easy part of our duck season would be pretty much over after this hunt. But the warm weather stayed long enough, we got one more hunt out of this spot a morning the next week. We brought with us a new pop up blind that we got to help us hide better knowing the cattails were largely knocked down from the wind, using a cart to get everything out to the spot. We got out there a little late, but not all that many ducks were moving. With high hopes of mallards moving in, we were a little disappointed with what we were seeing. It appeared most of the ducks had moved out. However, the snow geese moved in. It was quite the show to watch them all. Our slow morning took an interesting turn when all of a sudden three wood ducks came flying over the pond. To be honest, I thought they were widgeon at first as I wasn’t really expecting to see any wood ducks. After circling around they committed to our decoys and I shot the closet one. And then a few of our favorite green wing teal started flying around. We got another nice flock to decoy perfectly and I managed to get 2. When I picked up the ducks, my surprising thought was confirmed that the first duck was in fact a hen wood duck. This flurry of action was our last. We took one last picture and made the trek back to the truck.

Hiding in the new blind

Fourth Hunt

Trek back to the truck

We all knew that with the coming cold weather, our duck season was pretty much done. There is a south zone that stays open longer, however we haven’t explored those opportunities too much. On the drive back, my smile was from ear to ear. I almost couldn’t believe how awesome this duck season was. It wasn’t because we shot a bunch of ducks, although that didn’t hurt. It was just one of those times where everything came together. We found a spot that was easy to get back to, didn’t see much pressure, was easy to hunt, and held birds consistently. I thoroughly enjoyed having Eli and Caleb sit behind me on all these hunts. I appreciated the never give up attitude Eli had when looking for ducks. My mind then began to look ahead to next year. Which is going to bring big changes. Eli will turn 12 this January which means she can take her hunter safety course and hunt herself next year. This will snowball because Caleb will then be able to use my mentor license. I look forward to pretty much hanging my gun up for a lot of next year and sitting behind those two. At this point, I was extra thankful for the season we had just wrapped up, and how awesome the last season I had “hunting by myself”. 

Field to Table:

After the second hunt, I made duck and eggs for breakfast one morning. Turned out awesome.