Final day Duck/Goose hunt

For our last waterfowl hunt, we went back to Goven's. While we typically wouldn't hunt somewhere 2 days consecutively, there's not anywhere else that seems to have any birds, so we figured it was our best shot. We ended up with 1 duck (hen mallard) & 2 Canada geese. We (mostly Bill) took some marginal shots early in the morning because the ducks were all landing 75-150 yards out in front of us, so longer range and/or passing shots were the only option. 

At around 9am, we decided to walk around the wetland complex, looking at the other ponds to see what else might be better (since the spot we were sitting in wasn't productive). On that walk, we shot at 2 mallards, each hitting one, but not kill shots. We watched both glide down toward another pond in the area & as we walked back to find them, saw 1 get up off the water & fly away. The other was nowhere to be seen, so we backtracked to the far side of the area to the small pond where we were going to sit for the remainder of the hunt. We got a group of geese to come in there (first time in 10 years on these trips we had geese land on the water in front of us) & each shot 1. Dan's was a clean kill that Jax retrieved from the water & mine sailed 100 yards into a cut cornfield that made for a short walk & easy blind retrieve.

As we were leaving for the day, Dan spotted our wounded duck running through the field & into some cattails, so Jax made quick work of that trail & retrieve. Today was another day of essentially hunting over 0 decoys. The pic here is of the lonely 2 we did use, and they were positioned about 75 yards from me & 125 yards from Dan/Dad (we again separated to cover more area in the early morning). Jax did a nice job of laying down and being still & quiet for the first 45 minutes of the day, while there were building numbers of ducks landing way out in front of us, then swimming & chattering on the water. On the downside, he's developing some bad habits this week too: breaking when he sees a shot bird splash into the water (Dan's goose today) & being overly rough/hardmouthed with the birds (I think due to general excitement). Nothing that's the end of the world, but a little annoying for me...

We're packing the truck now & checking out of the hotel this afternoon. After our pheasant hunt (planned 4:30-6p), we'll change clothes on the tailgate & hit the road to head home. While our original plan was to leave after hunting tomorrow, we're all content to hit the road a 1/2 day sooner.