73rd opening

[wis boz]

Well to all you duck hunters who responded to my original post the 73rd opening day in northern Wisconsin at 9 a.m. loses some of the magic of starting at 1/2 hr before sunrise as in the past. The day was a strange weather pattern with shots of blue skies then a cell of cold mist coming thru with a wind of 19 mph gusting. The second day with a strange quiet, fog coming at you like a line of ghosts, opened up as a blue bird day.
I pulled two classics: first one setting my gun down and grabbing a sandwich when a perfect double flew past; the second was trying to tune in the Badger/Purdue football game with a head set and a flock of 6 checked me out.
My son, evidently more of a hunter got his ducks with his dog Cree doing a classic retrieve on all.
The majority of ducks the first day were woodies with no sign of teal or the most wanterd mallards. The second day just a few loners flying by.
Always good to be able to get out as will be interested how others made out opening day 2013.
wis boz
I forgot to add the 3rd goof. I had bought a new lanyard and pulling it out in the blind discovered that the duck call , a gift from my son,made by Bob Furia, was missing. Still in a box at home.

 

[Dani]

Boz-

We all have days like that, but it still sounds like a good opener.

This weekend was teal season for us. We went out, didn't even take the gun out of the case. It was hot and we ended up scouting more than anything else. But we found new spots to hunt for the regular season. Now to figure the logistics of getting there easily.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a good day of hunting.....

Dani

 

[Al Hansen]

Well to all you duck hunters who responded to my original post the 73rd opening day in northern Wisconsin at 9 a.m. loses some of the magic of starting at 1/2 hr before sunrise as in the past. The day was a strange weather pattern with shots of blue skies then a cell of cold mist coming thru with a wind of 19 mph gusting. The second day with a strange quiet, fog coming at you like a line of ghosts, opened up as a blue bird day.
I pulled two classics: first one setting my gun down and grabbing a sandwich when a perfect double flew past; the second was trying to tune in the Badger/Purdue football game with a head set and a flock of 6 checked me out.
My son, evidently more of a hunter got his ducks with his dog Cree doing a classic retrieve on all.
The majority of ducks the first day were woodies with no sign of teal or the most wanterd mallards. The second day just a few loners flying by.
Always good to be able to get out as will be interested how others made out opening day 2013.
wis boz
I forgot to add the 3rd goof. I had bought a new lanyard and pulling it out in the blind discovered that the duck call , a gift from my son,made by Bob Furia, was missing. Still in a box at home.

Heck this is an easy one. I'll bet that if you had that duck call on your lanyard you would have filled up instantly! I enjoyed what you had to say, Jim, because those same things happen to me. Most of mine deal with pouring a cup of java. I guess that is part of Murphy's Law. Sure glad you were able to enjoy that opener. Glad to hear that Jim and Cree did all right.
Al

 

[Rick Kyte]

Wis Boz:

Congrats on getting out for a 73rd opening!

And it's always good to hear that even experienced hunters pull the "classics." (Maybe that's what it means to be experienced.)

I didn't get to hunt opening day, but I got out for a couple hours Sunday morning and experienced a "first." Mickey jumped a crippled wood duck as we were walking to the blind. I couldn't see what he was chasing through the grass in the dark, then he came back with a very lively drake woodie in his mouth. The first time I got my first duck of the season without firing a shot. Two shots later I had my limit of woodies for the day and, like you, didn't see any teal or mallards coming in range. It was a short, but memorable morning.

Rick

 

[wis boz]

Rick
Glad you were able to get out at least on sunday. Boy, I can remember opening day in LaCrosse. I can remember cars with boat trailers lined up at Goose Island already at 3 a.m.. That road then was a muddy one with sink holes and ruts. How has your dog been working?

 

[Rick Kyte]

The road to Goose Island is much better now, except for the one that runs down to the south landing. That one is still full of sink holes. And opening weekend is crazy there. I try to avoid that area on the openers.

The dog is doing great, but I don't think I did enough conditioning with him over the summer. He was exhausted all day Sunday after a fairly mild hunt. I need to start getting him in shape before the serious hunting starts.

Rick

 

[TimJ]

Glad you made it out. It isn't duck hunting unless you goof up a couple chances at the birds.
At least you still have your call. I looked down when we were ready to pick up and the insert was out of my favorite call. Not an expensive call and I have another but still hate losing it.

Tim