Mallard Limits for Veteran's Day

 We had a much better morning today than the last two. Dan and I combined to kill 5 drake & 3 hen mallard‘s, which put us at our daily limit for that species. It was obvious from the start of the day that a lot of new birds moved into the area yesterday afternoon & last night. We saw at least twice the number of ducks today that we did yesterday - while hunting the same spot. We saw a few teal, but 95% of the birds we are seeing are mallards - which is good with me! Compared to yesterday’s cold temperatures, today's weather of 26° and light wind felt like a heat wave. Dad reported that he was able to finally get some sleep, & enjoyed an uneventful morning at the hotel.

 Through the morning, Dan & I had flashes of brilliance, each making a couple really nice shots, but also both put on some displays of miserable marksmanship as well.  We wrapped up our hunt around 10:30, but could have been done significantly earlier had we shot a little better.

 Jackson was with us today and did an overall excellent job. He had some difficulty on one bird early in the day when has a rough dismount out of the boat, missed the mark in the decoys, then refused multiple whistles & casts. He ended up tangled in a decoy line & drug the decoy about 40 yards before I called him back in. My read on the situation was that he was overly excited/amped-up & not thinking straight. I calmed him down for a second & lined him up & re-sent him for the bird (which was straight in front of us at about 30 yards away) & he picked it up cleanly to finish the retrieve. After that, he was flawless in retrieving six or seven more birds, to include a couple doubles & 3 birds that landed in a channel of fast-moving water - which was something new for him to learn how to navigate. He sat quietly all morning in his spot on the boat, helped us watch for ducks, & generally was a good boy. Shockingly, he was jumping into the boat (which was a leap of about 18" from the bank) without hesitation & with visible athleticism & grace. He's also jumping into & out of the truck's back seat without pause or worry... Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but those that know Jackson & his "quirky" ways will definitely be happy to hear of him doing some more 'normal' things.

All-in-all it was a fun morning where we were busy almost all of the time (there were many groups of birds that worked our spread for multiple passes before deciding not to commit). We had an enjoyable, safe, and effective hunt. We'll remember the couple really good shots, try to have short memories of the bad ones, & hope to have another day tomorrow just as good...