The rifle elk season starts Tuesday so this weekend is likely my last to kill ducks this year as I switch to big game. It's nice to go out with a bang though.
Friends that take me out on the coast for salmon and halibut every summer come to Alberta every fall to hunt pheasants in the south of the province. They don't hunt the weekends when it gets crazy with pheasant hunters down south so they always try to come up for a duck shoot -- normally just a couple of them though. This time all four came up and sourcing a duck shoot suitable of 7 guys (them, my neighbor, my son and I) is a big deal in terms of logistics and equipment. I tried to scout for a field shoot but I couldn't find one holding enough ducks for a good shoot (a couple of 500 or so goose fields but we don't have the layouts for that). So it was left to a water shoot and this particular lake is the one my son and I hunted last week and it is miserable to get to the hot spot on it.
Anyhoo, we organize the boats and decoys and get there early and then wait until it is almost light. We go in quietly and push out about 5000 mallards. (one boat gets lost and THAT one is holding the bulk of the dekes and 5 of the 7 guns -- don't ask me why, I wasn't controlling that part of the logistics AND my gun was in my boat). So well after legal light we get rigged out and can finally shoot.
The birds trickled in in groups of 2 to 10 and the shooting was steady if not crazy. The mallards were interspersed with divers and we had a great shoot that lasted a couple of relaxed hours. Those west coasters aren't that discriminating so we ended up with a whack of spoonbills -- but they had fun and the spoonies jerky up just fine. We were done and out with 55 birds just as the thousands of "feeders" returned. Only one of our 30 mallards had any grain in the crop so most of the birds we shot were ones that hadn't made it out to feed that morning. Amazing to have a near limit (west coasters can't count either and we were short one bird at the end) and still have thousands tornadoing around you.
Boating in.
Jet retrieving
Jim and Jet
Slugging it back to shore
Unloading:
Forget the "tailgate shot" we need the "trailer shot".
The crew at the plucking shack (all those wirehairs are pheasant dogs and didn't get wet).
1 Gadwall, 1 wigeon, 5 redheads, 7 bluebills, 11 spoonies, and 30 mallards.
Friends that take me out on the coast for salmon and halibut every summer come to Alberta every fall to hunt pheasants in the south of the province. They don't hunt the weekends when it gets crazy with pheasant hunters down south so they always try to come up for a duck shoot -- normally just a couple of them though. This time all four came up and sourcing a duck shoot suitable of 7 guys (them, my neighbor, my son and I) is a big deal in terms of logistics and equipment. I tried to scout for a field shoot but I couldn't find one holding enough ducks for a good shoot (a couple of 500 or so goose fields but we don't have the layouts for that). So it was left to a water shoot and this particular lake is the one my son and I hunted last week and it is miserable to get to the hot spot on it.
Anyhoo, we organize the boats and decoys and get there early and then wait until it is almost light. We go in quietly and push out about 5000 mallards. (one boat gets lost and THAT one is holding the bulk of the dekes and 5 of the 7 guns -- don't ask me why, I wasn't controlling that part of the logistics AND my gun was in my boat). So well after legal light we get rigged out and can finally shoot.
The birds trickled in in groups of 2 to 10 and the shooting was steady if not crazy. The mallards were interspersed with divers and we had a great shoot that lasted a couple of relaxed hours. Those west coasters aren't that discriminating so we ended up with a whack of spoonbills -- but they had fun and the spoonies jerky up just fine. We were done and out with 55 birds just as the thousands of "feeders" returned. Only one of our 30 mallards had any grain in the crop so most of the birds we shot were ones that hadn't made it out to feed that morning. Amazing to have a near limit (west coasters can't count either and we were short one bird at the end) and still have thousands tornadoing around you.
Boating in.
Jet retrieving
Jim and Jet
Slugging it back to shore
Unloading:
Forget the "tailgate shot" we need the "trailer shot".
The crew at the plucking shack (all those wirehairs are pheasant dogs and didn't get wet).
1 Gadwall, 1 wigeon, 5 redheads, 7 bluebills, 11 spoonies, and 30 mallards.
