Even though the season started on Saturday, we actually waited until Sunday to hunt. The weather was mild and blah on Saturday morning, but dropping temperatures and blustery wind was in the forecast for Sunday. Yes, please! After a full day of exploring the woods via 4-wheeler (shocking, I know), and a good dinner Saturday night, it was off to bed with an alarm anxiously set for 5 am.
Legal hour wasn’t until nearly 6:30, and even though we were just a minute from the pond, I couldn’t help but wake up earlier than I needed in anticipation. We honestly didn’t expect to see much, but who could miss out on opening weekend? Not this girl! Out we went – I took Prine to the blind with me to keep him still at least out of sight while the boys set up the spread. And, I gotta say, it looked pretty good. Then, we waited!
Wouldn’t you know it? Just as it was getting light enough to really see and shoot, we got buzzed by one flight of green-wing teal. They were coming with the wind over our heads, and were out of range before we even knew what happened. Sigh… But wait! Sure enough, they circled around and came straight back to the decoys, ready to join their friends that were already swimming around. Hah. A few shots later, and we had 2 teal on the water.
John took Prine out to pick them up and get him used to searching for downed ducks in the phragmite while we sat and kept watching. Just a few minutes later, a pair flew over, so we took our shots, each knocking one down. They landed hard on the other side of the pond next to where we walked in, so we decided to wait until the hunt was over to pick them up. No one wants to be in the middle of the pond if a pintail were to fly over, am I right? It’s not like they were going anywhere…
Our last little flurry of activity came from a flight of birds I spotted over the neighboring pond, working its way around and looking for a spot to land. We hunkered down, watched, and waited. Sure enough, they cupped up into the wind, ready to land in the spread. Guns go “boom,” ducks go “splash!” An overly-excited Prine headed back out to retrieve a few more.
Alas, it was time to head out of the pond. I had to work on Sunday, and we were pretty sure that most of the excitement was over. Like I said, we picked up the 2 remaining ducks on the way out. And, wouldn’t you know? The bird on the left (the one I shot) just so happened to be a wood duck, and a banded one at that! I’ve never shot a banded bird before, so I have to say that I was pretty darn excited. We headed back to the house to regroup, and John’s dad took down the band information to look it up. As it turns out, the duck was banded in Chittenden County, Vermont in 2010. Pretty cool!
Ultimately, the total tally came to 2 teal, 4 spoonbills, and a wood duck. Not huge numbers, but I’d say that was a pretty good start to duck season, no? Gotta love a little excitement on the first hunt! I’m heading out this afternoon for another hunt tomorrow morning, so stand by for some more duck season fun!