More Early Slaying in the Rain

Warm weather has given way to the rains of fall and grey skies for days at a time.  That's good news for us here in North Idaho, it means winter is coming. For a while I have little to do in the work arena and lots of free time to go out and do some hunting.

Friday I finally made it to The Point. My first order of business after getting all my decoys set was picking up the mess other hunters had left behind from opening weekend. I hope none of the 30 shells they left behind had found their mark and they even had the audacity to modify my build on the blind. What do they think this is, public land!?  Anyway, the rain was steady and so was the lack of ducks. The only thing I could figure was that they were staying put and relaxing after extended periods of late summer. No reason to fly when the temps were warmish and the food was plentiful. I did enjoy the diver who refused to go anywhere other than next to my Dakotas. I think she was in love.

The rain fell harder then the rain fell lighter and then stopped altogether. I pulled up and headed for the couch and to feast on the duck bites I had made the day before.  Clider and I made plans to hunt the following day and I even let him pick the spot regardless of me being The Expert. Much to my surprise he chose the pylons down at the other end of Anderson lake.  I figured for sure we would be off on an excursion to the bottom of some lake in his deathtrap of a boat.  I picked him up at 4:15 and he even had a fresh warm breakfast sammy for me. What a guy.

I figured that it would be an incredibly short walk to the cattails next to the pylons so I wore all my layers and my jacket to keep me dry in the light rain.  Good thing I brought along a 'hunting umbrella' so that after we trudged through mushy tall grasses and shrubs for far too long, I was able to stand under it and steam like a pot of boiling water without getting wetter.  We had a nice set with 2 jerk rigs and 2 spinners all working to bring the birds in.  They were certainly flying and Clider brought down 3 ducks with some nifty shooting and Peat doing the retrieving. As he set off to take a walk down to The Blind to check it out I told him I would shoot a greenie while he was gone.  And I did. A nice one shot drop on a left to right passing drake. Still The Expert for now.

After a bit of chatting and still some random ducks flying around we pulled up and headed for home, Clider had plans to go out this morning with Otis so I figured for sure my title was going to fall but I learned that he chose the relative safety of his bed rather than risk another day out in that rickety boat of his.  Stay tuned as I still have 3 days off before I go on vacation to a place where no duck hunting will happen at all.
GBCH