The highly anticipated first day of waterfowl season/ the war on greenie has arrived. I have my boat 100% perfect, shotgun outfitted with parts that will assure lethality, new dog blind for Peat, fresh breathable waders that were painstakingly researched online, and an Expert title to retain.
Otis and I both scouted independently, and both came up with the same location for our first battle with the green heads. Cave lake, on the extreme west end was full of coot, and hidden among them were ducks. We decided to take separate vehicles, since Trump announced that global warming is just a scheme by the Chinese to keep America non competitive in the manufacturing sector, we no longer had to worry about our carbon footprint. Otis could take his kayak straight from the roadside and hold our spot, and I'd meet him with the boat, dog and decoys.
We arrived and found a nice bank of marsh grass to hide in, with water up to the bottoms of our chairs it was a good thing Peat's new house had extending legs. We put out 20 blocks and a pair of spinners, pleased with the grip we settled in with an hour to spare before shooting time. As the minutes ticked by I noticed a few things, nobody else was on the lake, my new waders were leaking badly and were obviously junk, and my shotgun would only hold two shells with the plug. I fiddled with the gun a bit, but soon we heard birds buzzing our heads.
About ten minutes before first light the assault began, divers shrieking overhead, and mallards in small groups coming within a few feet of the grass tops. There was a little lull at shooting time and then Otis opened up, he got one, then two big birds. I finally stood up and got up above the grass, there were ducks everywhere, it was a little overwhelming. I connected with a mallard, and even put an extra shot in her mid air because of the weedy bottom, I didn't need an nr on the board this year. Over then next 45 minutes Otis dropped two greenies and I got a drake ringneck, identical to the first duck I ever got. The number of ducks that came through was pretty incredible, but only a fraction actually wanted into the spread. These were locals and they knew to stay out in the middle of the lake.
The first two birds Otis had shot dropped behind us in the marsh, it was a huge area, hard to walk in with a million places for a bird to hide. After a considerable amount of looking by both of us, both of those ended up being NRs. Otis learned a solid lesson on when to pass on a shot, and we both got a big work out looking.
After we settled in there we're still the occasional lookers, but I decided to remove my magazine cap to try and fix my two shell limit problem. It is a pain to remove the little black cap thingy, you have to push it into the mag tube and then twist it exactly 91 degrees to get that and the spring out. Well I didn't have to worry about that process, because when I fired and missed the big fat green headed bastard coming straight at me, that black cap thingy, my new magazine spring, and my new magazine plug all shot out of my gun and nearly hit the decoy marking 40 yards for us. The water was brown and the parts were all gone, leaving me with a fancy new single shoty.
After that we waited for a while, and birds flew, but there were no more opportunities. Otis paddled back and I decided to pack up and check out a potential walk in spot. I motored over and hoped out for a hike at the Pointe, it looks like a solid spot with lots of cover, a shallow hard bottom, removed from roads, and a beautiful view that reminds me of the majestic ballet that is Mother Nature. As I was walking to check out a spot I was worried about being able to cross, a hen mallard popped out of the reeds forcing me to defend myself and drop her about 25 yards out. She immediately dove, and I went out into the lake, my waders we getting noticeably wetter by the second, and she wasn't coming up. Just when I gave up hope, she resurfaced near shore and ran inland to hide with perfect camouflage. I walked right by her as I frantically searched the area. I don't know if I would have found her on my own, but Peat walked up behind me with a lively henny in his mouth.
We headed in happy with day one, what more could you ask for? Upon closer inspection I must have torn the large hole in the butt of my waders getting out of the boat, that didn't really explain all the other leaks around the seems though. So, I just need to fix my gun, get rid of the sharp stuff on my boat, and warranty my waders. Peat's house made it through unscathed though.
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