Long week of work with even a stupid junky ski show thrown in it. Days away from the waters of Anderson. Clider blasting yet another Greenie. And the whole time me just thinking about the chance to go slay. Today it was on. Clider and I planned a good Monday of slaying with Ken and the boat. Clider and Ken would take the boat and all fifty thousand of our decoys out to 'The Blind' and I would walk the path out, we would set the armada and all H. E.double hockey sticks would break out as the fat banded Greenies would pile into our blind.... That was the plan. 
As Sunday rolled around, and the G-Men worked up yet another victory, we learned that Ken would not be joining us. The forecast called for massive winds which put the mollaca on the boat. Fifty thousand decoys would have to stay home. Forecast also promised cold temps coming down from Canadia pushing ducks from their spots from the north. It was 37 degrees as I left the house and clear stars lit the sky. No problem. We were ready.
Clider and I left at 4:30am and packed light and fast. Orion the Hunter was the only constellation fully visible in the morning sky and as we walked out a shooting star passed right through him. A good omen for sure. We got to Anderson and out to 'The Blind' with plenty of time to set our decoy packs in the classic Nike Swoosh pattern heading away from the wind, perfectly ready to intercept all the ducks flying from right to left down from the preserve to points upriver. We also had the wind duck spinner along which had been modified to sit in the hard clay bottom of the lake. Clider also brought along his new custom shears which cut massive quantities of grasses to refresh the blind that I had started on my last trip out to Anderson.
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| Invisible |
We toasted our good fortune at being in the perfect spot as we watched other hunters set up in the 'Other Side' area we pioneered last year. At this point I must interject into the story about my bottle. I expected that using a cork in my classic old hunting bottle would be a good thing to do. I filled it the night before and popped a cork from one of my Sweeties wine bottles into mine. Right after the first toast the cork became irrecoverably stuck in the neck of the bottle and removing it provided Clider with endless fun commenting about the noises of frustration and effort I was making. Let's just say that I won't be using that cork, and maybe the bottle, again. I drank some cork for sure.
Shooting time came and ducks were flying around in the heavy winds that moved our blocks and made the wind ducks wings scream and patter in an annoying way. The first few wanted nothing to do with us and I think it was after Clider removed the noisy, cranking wind duck that 2 came in from the right, solidly locked up and dropping into the decoys. Clider took the shot but missed the greenie and the two of them flew off together. The group on at the 'Other Side' was blasting away but we were happy for them moving ducks off the safe waters there and sending them onto the lake, unfortunately not to us.
A while later after more overflights a big honker came in and Clider, maybe thinking of evening the score with Fred G, took a couple more shots and failed to bring down the big Telefunkin U47. It would have made a nice retrieve for Peat who, at this point, wanted something to do other then watch us chat about hunting and blow duck calls with no effect. The Coot who sailed in from the right also drew another of Clider's shells before he realized what he was doing. Meanwhile the guys in the the 'Other Side' area blasted away and the wind blew. More calling and more ducks overhead but nothing wanting to land forced Clider to take a walk down to the bay on the left of The Blind. I knew full well that this was my best shot at getting something. When he scared up the 50+ mallards there I thought for sure at least seven would peel back and land in our blind but none of them did. I had some more cork.
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| At least Peat is ready! |
Clider returned to take a quick nap, something I've never seen outside of the Oregon Chapter before, and I snapped this nice double exposure photo. Soon after we packed it up and headed to the truck for a delicious ham sammy but not before we discussed the possibility of the books, magazines, old timers, articles, common wisdom and other hunters who say that the number one thing to do is "be where the ducks want to be" being correct. Personally I think it's a bunch of crap. The ducks want to be where the H7HT is.
We are recalibrating......
GBCH
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