Pressure.

Also known as: Idaho, day 7 + 5.
Lots of pressure was felt today. Pressure from all directions and an interesting end to my day of hunting in the great state of Idaho. Fred G is gone and with him the title of 'Expert' has departed the area too. Now I sit in 3rd place in the standings behind him and Cliffy. At least E-7 has not yet shot more ducks than I have. The pressure to increase my totals was just one of the reasons I left for Anderson this morning. The other is I have a guide job tomorrow with Rocky and his Dad and usually that means more calling and looking, less shooting for me. So I left in the pouring rain and as I got near the lake I saw 2 other hunters unloading their truck and heading towards the point. I talked to them and confirmed their intentions and they told me they scouted the area because everything else was frozen over. Not good.

Now walking out to the blind further down Anderson I could see a glassy sheen to the water and noted the fact that the water level had dropped further from last week. I was careful to not leave too many tracks in the snow as I made my way to the devastation the wind had brought on our blind. Fortunately it was still solid enough to support my morning fly but the water was a different story, it was frozen. I punched out a small honey hole by pushing slabs of ice under one another and dropped in a few decoys as ducks flew over my head like crazy. It was shooting time and I was still trying to make a landing area for them. Lots of pressure to finish quickly and get back to the blind. See, more pressure.

Fully light now and I took a few shots from a kneeling position in the reeds and missed. The rain and wind had ducks moving about in all directions and more than once I missed seeing ducks fly from the direction I was not looking. The pressure to see in all directions was overwhelming. Geese flew in dozens right by me and I was pressured into taking a couple shots at them due to how close they were. Tough bastards those geese, like throwing a golf ball at a bear is how I think of it, but I lobbed a couple 3 1/2 inchers at them anyway. Nothing.

The wind and rain slowed and I set out to increase the size of my ice patch so if we have to use the blind tomorrow it will have a bigger area of attraction. I also attempted a $20,000 remodel on the blind but only the mighty 'Expert' Fred G can build a mansion like that again. At 11:00 I called it and headed back to the truck to find an intriguing surprise waiting. No ducks today but there is always tomorrow..... stay tuned.
GBCH