A Duck Hunter With Common Sense?

Al Hansen

Al Hansen

Well-known member
I'm almost embarrassed to say this, but this morning, I stopped my truck 4 miles south of the house, finally got turned around without slipping into the ditch, and drove back home. We are having one of those freakish winter snow storms and down here any snow is very wet snow! I was going to stop in a small village, unload my four-wheeler and then drive the remaining 8 1/2 miles to my duck hunting spot on the Kawasaki. That involved a few miles on a major highway and when thinking about that----the "what if's" started to pop up in my mind.
I found myself saying out loud, "Al, this is a little ridiculous-----go home."
So here I sit on the fourth to the last day of duck hunting season wondering if I'll get out to hunt today. I almost had to push Chili back into her kennel. She was not a happy retriever.
Just yesterday my wife said, "Al, you must be coo-coo." I was telling her about a duck hunting incident. Well, I guess common sense doesn't always prevail when duck hunting.
Al

I couldn't stand it, so around 10AM I jumped on my Kawasaki and took a 32 mile run. Not all was in vain. Sure glad that I had my goggles along to protect my eyes from the blowing snow. I enjoyed the day. Consider myself pretty lucky to be able to take a beauty like this drake baldpate.

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Good call Al......live to fight another day. You might have to love up to Chili today, but she will forget all about it the next time you get out. We get the ice, sleet, and snow for the next two days, glad my season is over or I would be trying to do something foolish and get out myself. dc
 
Thanks, Dave. I have hunted 74 days thus far and should be happy as heck that I did just that. However-------that thought is always in the back of my head, just wondering----I wonder what I would have seen today?
Al
 
Some of the nastiest (ducky) days I have ever hunted turned out to be some of the worst days I've hunted. Some of the warmest days with blue skies showed the best ducks....go figure. Sometimes common sense should just take the lead. Have never figured out exactly what wetaher is going to pay big dividends....would love for somebody to tell me. dc
 
This might help a little, Dave. Not too long ago, while sitting in a duck blind, I was keeping a mental note of duck hunting related questions that I wanted to ask our state waterfowl biologist. My question was this to him. Why do I always have much better hunting on clear days than on very cloudy days or inclement weather days? Tim started to talk about the eyesight of ducks and said this. "Ducks can't see the fine details on your decoys with bright/sunny days like they can on cloudy ones/rainy ones." My blocks aren't the best and are weather beaten especially hit by the hard sun of the desert.
I then reread that fantastic article in the last issue of Ducks Unlimited about the eyesight of ducks. Very interesting.
Al
 
And you call yourself a former Minnesotan. Nothing short of 2 feet of snow stops anyone around here. Hang your head in shame Al.

Mark W
 
Mark,
I found myself laughing out loud at that remark! So true!!!!
Al

Unsuspecting

As a kid growing up in western Minnesota in the middle 50's, I guess I can say that I have been blessed with my share of luck. The other day I happened to be reminiscing and thought about a particular school day in early November. I happened to be an eighth grader with thoughts only of duck hunting.
The last class of the day was health and I can remember looking out the windows just wishing that I was out in some duck slough----any slough at that time would have been alright with me. It was one of those very overcast days, with the wind howling, and I could just picture mallards piling into the sloughs just east of town. Finally the bell rang and I made a controlled dash for the exit door and then ran as hard as I could for the next four blocks to our home.
My mom was giving a piano lesson as I dashed into the house to change clothes. With my sweet 16 in hand, I yelled to her that I was going duck hunting. She smiled and said, “Please be careful.”
The only mode of transportation that I had was my bicycle and I’m sure it probably looked rather strange to see a kid with his shotgun strapped over his shoulders, wearing hipboots, mittens, and a heavy winter coat.
It was three miles for me to ride on a gravel road and the good thing today was that with a northwest wind, I had some help getting to my duck slough. The other thing that was a plus factor was we had no snow yet----just cold!
What was so wonderful back then was the fact that I could hunt for at least an hour before it got dark and I had to head for home. Well, on this particular day, I was able to sneak up on a drake redhead and shoot it. I then walked to another pothole and saw a hen mallard cruising close to the shore. It was fun putting a stalk on her and making it all happen just the way it was supposed to. At the time I guess I was feeling a little like Daniel Boone with the success that I already had.
I knew it was getting close to quitting time just because of the impending darkness----and no, I was not wearing a watch. They were much too expensive to have back then. As I headed back to the original pothole next to the road where I parked my bike, it began to snow. By the time I reached my bike it was coming down fast and furious, which to me was just great. I’m thinking only of more ducks flying south from Canada-----not of my personal safety.
The snow was coming down so hard that I was having a great deal of difficulty seeing and then the road started drifting. At the time I had no choice but to get off my bicycle and push it. We were having a full blown blizzard with no let up in sight when I saw some lights behind me. This was one of those lucky moments for me, because our family doctor, Dr. Fran Karn, was on his way home from duck hunting. He stopped and opened his trunk and put in my bike. Gosh, I think I could have kissed that car when I got in and felt the heat flood over my very cold frame. I still had over a mile to go to the house when he came by. Thank goodness for the ride home. Dr. Karn looked at me and said, “How did you do, Skip?” With a smile, I pulled my two ducks out of my coat pockets.
Back then I never gave it a thought when it came to weather but when I think about it now, I know how darn lucky I was on that day.
 
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Mark,
I found myself laughing out loud at that remark! So true!!!!
Al

Unsuspecting

As a kid growing up in western Minnesota in the middle 50's, I guess I can say that I have been blessed with my share of luck. The other day I happened to be reminiscing and thought about a particular school day in early November. I happened to be an eighth grader with thoughts only of duck hunting.
The last class of the day was health and I can remember looking out the windows just wishing that I was out in some duck slough----any slough at that time would have been alright with me. It was one of those very overcast days, with the wind howling, and I could just picture mallards piling into the sloughs just east of town. Finally the bell rang and I made a controlled dash for the exit door and then ran as hard as I could for the next four blocks to our home.
My mom was giving a piano lesson as I dashed into the house to change clothes. With my sweet 16 in hand, I yelled to her that I was going duck hunting. She smiled and said, “Please be careful.”
The only mode of transportation that I had was my bicycle and I’m sure it probably looked rather strange to see a kid with his shotgun strapped over his shoulders, wearing hipboots, mittens, and a heavy winter coat.
It was three miles for me to ride on a gravel road and the good thing today was that with a northwest wind, I had some help getting to my duck slough. The other thing that was a plus factor was we had no snow yet----just cold!
What was so wonderful back then was the fact that I could hunt for at least an hour before it got dark and I had to head for home. Well, on this particular day, I was able to sneak up on a drake redhead and shoot it. I then walked to another pothole and saw a hen mallard cruising close to the shore. It was fun putting a stalk on her and making it all happen just the way it was supposed to. At the time I guess I was feeling a little like Daniel Boone with the success that I already had.
I knew it was getting close to quitting time just because of the impending darkness----and no, I was not wearing a watch. They were much too expensive to have back then. As I headed back to the original pothole next to the road where I parked my bike, it began to snow. By the time I reached my bike it was coming down fast and furious, which to me was just great. I’m thinking only of more ducks flying south from Canada-----not of my personal safety.
The snow was coming down so hard that I was having a great deal of difficulty seeing and then the road started drifting. At the time I had no choice but to get off my bicycle and push it. We were having a full blown blizzard with no let up in sight when I saw some lights behind me. This was one of those lucky moments for me, because our family doctor, Dr. Fran Karn, was on his way home from duck hunting. He stopped and opened his trunk and put in my bike. Gosh, I think I could have kissed that car when I got in and felt the heat flood over my very cold frame. I still had over a mile to go to the house when he came by. Thank goodness for the ride home. Dr. Karn looked at me and said, “How did you do, Skip?” With a smile, I pulled my two ducks out of my coat pockets.
Back then I never gave it a thought when it came to weather but when I think about it now, I know how darn lucky I was on that day.
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I would have said the common sense was leaving MN!

We are getting snowed on pretty hard here in CT, I was standing in a tree before daybreak with no snow on the ground and got down an hour later with 2" on the ground and it is still coming.

T
 
Al,,

Interesting about the eye sight....I always am very picky about anything out of place around a blind....that odd bright red shell casing that didn't get picked up and is sticking out like a sore thumb..

The two most memorable fowl weather duck hunts for me are:

1. 1973-Utah Lake near the Provo air port.....it is snowing like mad, 4-6 inches on the ground adn still dumping at about an inch an hour. A buddy of mine drives his pickup (2wheel drive) down a muddy dike road with tire chains to the "neck" where Utah lake and Provo Bay meet. We load up the canoe and paddle a few hundred yards to a small island. We set a couple dozen decoys on the bay side of the island and build a blind out of tamerisk and cattails. The lake has a two foot chop on it. On the lea side of the islands it was calm. Ducks were moving of the lake and looking for a place to sit out the rest of the storm. The decoys worked like magic. We had birds landing in the decoys as we retrieved the ones we just shot, that human silhouette didn't seem to matter.. I have never seen birds so crazy about landing in a spot since that day....It did not take long to shoot a mixed limit of mallards, wigeon, teal, and a couple of redheads. Bad weather and crazy birds. We got stuck driving out so that added to the insanity of the morning....


2. 1990-Salt Creek....similar to the 1973 experience....but the birds were not as crazy to land in the decoys. The same buddy and I had set up a blind and decoys in mid afternoon, using the canoe and native vegetation. Around 3:30 pm a nasty storm front came in from the northwest. The winds were 30-40 mhp and gusty with snow, and the birds on the refuges resting pond begin looking for a place out of the wind... They would come screaming by the blind from the west side, see the decoys, try to turn back into the wind for a look at the spread, and almost come to a stand still before turning and heading out. Decoys were bouncing around and the snow was building up on the sides of them..The shooting was not that good but some birds did decoy out of the thousands that went whistling by. It was a good day to watch waterfowl react to a winter storm..... After the front had pushed through and night fell, we paddled the canoe back to the truck. It was snowing softly, very calm, the water dead flat. The only sound came from the canoe paddles and a few birds moving back to the resting ponds overhead. We had entered a calm world, suspended apart from reality of the noise of living, for a few fleeting moments.

Blizzards in MN and Dakotas.....deadly....so you were a bit lucky Al to not become a Popsicle to be found latter.

Matt
 
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Al, don't sweat it, your supposed to get smarter with age, this just proves it, lol
Here, I have to cross an open bay several miles to get to some of the better ground. When it's blowing a gale, and the tide is way up, the shooting should be great, but then I look at the waves, and figure all the options, and then realize we can only shoot 1 Black Duck..... Screw it, I ain't that mad at them anymore. lol .
Realize, I WORK on this bay, so I'm used to crummy conditions, but somewhere over time, the effort overcame the fun.
 
I have done the same thing on a couple occasions. Woke up at 4 AM got all ready and loaded up. Headed down the road a few miles and turned right back around. If you can't even safely get to the boat ramp, how safe will it be in your boat?
 
Jan, 4 1990 NE storm hit with extremely high winds, got picked for a public blind at Port Mahon. Headed out with a 18' Grumman flatbottom boat 3 hunters 60 dekes. After the third wave came over the front of the boat I turned around and crashed back into the ramp breaking a brand new running light. Only time I can think of being a lil smarter rather than pushing my way out to hunt. Had a huge argument with one of the guys with me but I didn't think killing a duck was that important trying to get out in that storm.
 
Fran,
I'll bet you have thought of that argument more than once since then. Good for you in keeping to what you thought and was right.
Al
 
Al,
The way I figure it, if you have the thought that it may not be safe, then it probably isn't. You hunt more than most guys do in 2-3 seasons combined. Most would be envious of that.
One morning in the mid '90's I planned on gunning the Snake river breaks in Washington, an hours drive from the house. I'd found plenty of geese and tons of mallards mixed with goldeneyes. It looked to be a lifetime hunt. But when I walked out the door that morning the cold bit harder than I'd ever felt it. Went back inside, turned on the weather channel and found it to be 8 below. Now that may not be too bad for some guys in other regions, but I'd be out by myself and there is no one else in those canyons and no phone coverage. If I got wet I'd die. It was a lot warmer back under the blankets.
 
Al, I just got in from a nasty drive home from another city. One of my employees didn't leave in time and she is stranded in a hotel overnight. They closed the highway behind me due to snow squalls and whiteouts. On the way home I passed a serious accident that left no doubt about the safety of the roads. It was a sobering reminder that it isn't worth taking the risk.

More great pictures of Chili in action!
 
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