I smelled death in the air this morning as I picked up Clider in the wagon. He had convinced me to let him sleep in an extra 15 minutes and you can bet that won't happen again. That extra 15 min gave him powers. We decided on the blind out at Anderson and there was a stout wind, no precipitation and high overcast skies as we set up just in time for the morning bell. The jerk string was useless due to the wind but we brought the full armada of blocks including the geese, teal pack and the roto along with Cliders new feeder blocks. The water has come down and backed off the shore by 10 feet so we were sitting in the reeds on the shoreline. We looked good.
Much of the morning fly came off the lake flying over us with the wind and I scanned from side to side thinking the birds would be landing from the left or right with the wind coming at us from an angle. It wasn't long before I was looking one way and the greenie came in from the other. Clider was looking and took him out, dropping him right in the spread. Peat retrieved and we realized it was a massive greenie, the biggest of the year by far. Clider was happy to have his greenie and beaming at his new status as 'Co-Expert' joining the Founders at the top of the board. I waited. Most of the birds coming in came from behind and dropped low then continued on to the far side of the lake. Clider got cold and decided on a walk, which I thought was a great idea, and he and Peat only made it a hundred yards down shore when he found his scientific surprise (more on that later). As he was getting ready to put the item away a duck came blasting in from the right. My first shot hit and put him in the water where he immediately went under. A diver! He came back up and got another shot which had him swimming in circles and not long after he started to swim away.
We have started to realize that when you hit a bird and he drops into the water, it's best to let him sit and die peacefully on the spot. Chasing off after them gets them swimming away and leads to bad things like the ever-unpopular Non Retrieve. Unfortunately this one decided to bolt of his own accord. I headed out after him and he went under, never to be seen again. Not only does this count as a NR but the worst part is losing a duck that should be on the dinner table, not on the bottom of the lake. We looked for a good while but he was gone. Soon after Clider got cold again and took a walk in the other direction. When he came back we decided on another 1/2 hour before pulling up and almost immediately 3 ducks came in from my side without me seeing anything but Clider pull up his rusty ass gun and fold another big fat greenie. Crap Monkey! Oh, and just to prove being sole 'Expert' was no fluke, minutes later he folded a fat henny too.I seriously contemplated not giving him the surprise sammy I made him when we got back to the car but that would be mean. For Heston's sake, the man's the 'Expert' now, give respect where it's due. We loaded up and Clider put the worlds smelliest science experiment in my Sweeties wagon to bring with us. I'm sure tomorrow she will enjoy the smell of it mixed with wet dog. Tonight Clider has three big birds all ready for roasting and I, well, I have a feeling that I can smell death in the air.....
GBCH
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