Idaho: Day 4 & 5

Yep, I'm going to lump these two days together because they were very much the same kind of days. The weather was different but the process and outcome were the same. On day four I headed out to Anderson, the same spot you have come to know as mine. There was a good wind and it was cold. See your breath kind of cold. I brought along the rotisserie duck and put it in a good spot on the right of my blind where it can be seen from ducks passing behind me and in front. My mallards were out in front with the resting blocks in the lillypad/algee/floating stuff and two sentry types making their way towards the roto. A few teal by the banks finished the look. Being that this was a Saturday, there was another hunter with a boat blind about 300 yards down the shoreline. I would have liked to have been further away but I only have one option after all, he's got the boat for Hestons sake. I waited.

Plenty of ducks were flying in the predawn darkness. A few landed in my decoys and many buzzed my blocks just before the legal shooting hours. I could tell from the profile that some were smaller ducks but plenty were mallards too. I have been hearing that there are lots of Woodies hanging around these parts and I sure would take a shot at them but mostly I'm looking for Greenie. Well, it doesn't take long for the first set of mallards to come in after the 6:36am bell. I'm caught looking and don't get a shot off. The next few are divers and then more mallards, flying high but attracted to the roto. They drop down and I pull the trigger, miss. Again and again this scenario repeats itself as the boat hunter down the way drops two ducks in his first two shots. I suck!

Well by now I'm sure my gun has become bent from leaning against the wall all summer and the sun has broken through the clouds. All the activity from the other side of the river (the wildlife management refuge) has died down and the ducks aren't flying. I call it a day, frustrated that with all the good looks I've gotten today I have nothing to show for it. Surely Fred G & Cliffy will have opening day success and school me. For Hestons sake, my season is 16 days old!


So here I am again on Anderson. It's Wed and I took the day off from my grueling schedule to hunt. This morning is cold, windy and foggy, real foggy. Lots of calling is in line for foggy days like this and I set my decoy spread just the same way as before. I know the roto may not have the same impact but it just looks so darn good, I got to. Nobody around anywhere but me. I will slay. On the way in this morning I get a text from Fred G. He too is hunting today with Cliffy again, about 300 miles away. Sunrise gets to me first.

Ducks appear like magic out of the fog. Reaction time is paramount and I'm just the guy to react. Two from my left, miss. Five from the right, miss. A while later a low pass from the right again, didn't even shoot. Greenies land just outside my spread and taunt me for having ethics, no I won't shoot you on the water, and they know this. They swim outside my range and fly off. The fog clears some and another two shots miss the group of three coming right at me. What the Heston? Oh yea, I forgot my gun is bent from that time I layed it down on the pillow. I really got to get this thing fixed.

So the sunshine breaks through and the day clears and once again all is quiet. I take a picture and pack it up. I mean, you tell me. The set looks good right? I'm calling my gunsmith Stevearino today to figure this thing out. Maybe it's bent from riding in the truck on the way out. Who can say?

GBCH