Sunday Evening

​No additional shooting this afternoon (some of our group might have fallen asleep) but we did take a couple pics:

Sunday Morning

​We had a good morning today, with a total of 5 ducks (2 drake GWTeal, a drake Gadwall, & a hen and a drake Mallard) and 2 snow geese (1 of which Christopher turned & called all the way in for him & Dan to shoot together, & the other he shot in his own). We had 1-2 doz ducks decoy into the spread in the 15min before legal shooting time, which was cool, but a little frustrating too. Our shooting has been much better today, with only 1 bird escaping. We did miss opportunities on several gadwall, as a group of 5 came in while we were all looking at another group of birds & I was the only one to see them in time to get off a shot.

Moose made a great retrieve on the drake mallard, going 300+ yards out into the lake to get it & then diving after it twice, following it underwater. I guess the underwater playing with AJ in the pool this summer paid off!

He also found the Canvasback that we shot yesterday (which turned out to be a redhead-they look similar, so an easy mistake to make) very alive along the bank! 

We battled ice in the early am & had to pick up & move the spread to a windier spot to keep it from getting iced-in, but after 10am the combo of 10-16 mph wind & sun warming things up some is keeping our spot from refreezing. 

Tonight’s forecast is for 23 degrees, so we’re staying out until 5p when shooting ends, in hopes of good bird activity in the last hour & we’ll take off tomorrow am to let the ice melt a little (hopefully) before doing an afternoon hunt tomorrow. Also a 50% chance of snow tomorrow afternoon, so potential for another good day (if the ice doesn’t mess with us too much).

I’ll likely add a quick post later tonight. If not it will be tomorrow evening, after we wrap up that hunt. 

First Day of Hunting - Sat

​Things ended up working out just fine, but not according to our original plan. When we arrived at our planned spot at Flight Lake, we found that there were so many people, we could not hunt. We quickly change plans and went to pool 20 on the east edge of 4Rivers. We walked in & grabbed a spot on the lake edge in a stand of willows and buttonbush. It rained off & on all morning, so everything was soaked by the end of the hunt.

Although the morning started slow (no shooting for the first hour & 15 minutes) we ended the day with 6 birds in the bag; it should have been more, but our shooting was far below average for us. Most of the birds worked to Dan and Christopher‘s side of our gun line (limiting my shooting opportunities & giving me a convenient excuse here), we counted 18 birds well within shooting range for the day with them coming in mostly pairs and no group more than 4.

We finished with all drakes: 5 GW Teal & 1 Canvasback, but we were not able to recover the Can. We missed Mallards & Ring Neck ducks, as well as more teal & the other Cans (a group of 4 of them came in together).

Despite packing up at 11:15a & being steadily busy all afternoon & evening,  it’s 8:20pm and I’m just posting now & then getting to bed. We headed back to the same area (Pool 20) tomorrow. 

Scouting Day 11/28

​I am going to keep this post brief and stick to the facts because my brain isn’t working at full capacity, having been without sleep for over 36 hours. Christopher is in the same timeframe as me and Dan is well over 30 hours. Moose is the only one who is well rested!

 We got a good bit of scouting done today and the reports are that there are over 65,000 ducks on the conservation area property (a little over 14,000 acres in total). That being said, there is also a whole lot of hunting pressure and other hunters for us to compete-with for getting favorable blind sites. Water levels are lower than normal, which could help (concentrate birds) or hurt (cause them to keep flying South and bypass this spot).

We also found a smaller area (Flight Lame C.A.) nearby and are planning to hunt that tomorrow morning. Forecast for tomorrow is a high of 42 with wind and rain through the day and then getting cold tomorrow night, into the low 20s.

After grabbing a quick & early dinner, we got settled into our rental house. We didn’t get everything put away and organized, but did get enough done to be functional for tomorrow. Here are a couple snapshots from the house.

Arrived at 4 Rivers CA

​We arrived at 2:30 AM central time, after 13 hours on the road from Dan’s house. We had a very uneventful drive and other than being a little tired, we’re all in good shape and looking forward to our first day here.

After getting changed into our hunting attire, we’ll grab an hour of sleep in the truck before the morning registration and blind draw.

Leaving Now!

...Entering our first Post for this year's trip as Christopher and I are hitting the road. It’s around 0635. After a year of absence, Dan is rejoining the party and Dad has decided to end his hunting trips on the high note of last year. Christopher is again joining the party (for the 2nd consecutive year) & is looking forward to seeing a new part of the country & getting into some birds! 

The weather forecast looks like it's going to be cold (overnight lows in the low 20's for a lot of the projected week), so we've packed the warm clothes & are as prepared as we can be to battle the ice we expect to encounter each morning.

We're starting the trip with optimism & looking forward to a great week together! Here's an outline of our plan: