Al Hansen
Well-known member
Our season opened on Saturday Sept. 12th. I was up at 3:30AM with no need of the alarm at all. While getting ready I opted to take a picture of Habanero who was being patient about having her pups. She knew I was going duck hunting.
[/URL]
I had stopped at the pond I was hunting the day before and had seen no ducks so I didn't quite know what to expect on the opener.
I set out four decoys along with the 3 my friend has in the pond all year long.
[/URL]
Chipotle was sitting right behind me and to my left a little. We were on a small island on the northeast side of the pond. I had found out last year that most of the ducks, when there, will fly out heading from west to east and then angling towards the south. I can't begin to tell you much I appreciated Habi teaching Chip how to sit. He knew exactly what I expected out of him.
[/URL]
While we sat there I noticed some ducks swimming towards us and it happened to be a small flock of bluewings. As is so typical of them, they got up and left for their feeding area about 8 minutes before our season opened. They flew right past us and close. As it got lighter I decided to take this picture.
[/URL]
Then after all the ducks were out of the pond area I had a small mixed flock of bwts and gwts swing back in and I was able to dump two gwts. My partner was out after the first one when I took these two shots of him. I finished the morning in a flurry by taking 3 gwts and 3 bwts. Actually, one of the bwts was a cinnamon drake. I checked his eyes and they were red not brown like the bwts have.
[/URL]
[/URL]
I got home around 9:30AM in time to listen to Bev tell me all about Habi and all the heavy panting she had been going through. Heck, I thought she wouldn't have her litter for another 5 days. I took her temp and it read 99.3F. That told me all I needed to know.
It was 9:45PM when her first pup was born and at 1:35AM on Sunday she gave birth to #6, which happened to be the last one in the litter. I can't begin to tell you how exhausted I was. I stuck it out for another half hour and crashed at 2AM.
Funny what a guy will do when duck season starts. I was up 2 hours later at 4AM, got the coffee going and headed back to the pond for another day of teal season. I can't help it that I am a duck hunter. I did pay for it later, however.
Al
[/URL]
[/URL]
[/URL]
I had stopped at the pond I was hunting the day before and had seen no ducks so I didn't quite know what to expect on the opener.
I set out four decoys along with the 3 my friend has in the pond all year long.
Chipotle was sitting right behind me and to my left a little. We were on a small island on the northeast side of the pond. I had found out last year that most of the ducks, when there, will fly out heading from west to east and then angling towards the south. I can't begin to tell you much I appreciated Habi teaching Chip how to sit. He knew exactly what I expected out of him.
While we sat there I noticed some ducks swimming towards us and it happened to be a small flock of bluewings. As is so typical of them, they got up and left for their feeding area about 8 minutes before our season opened. They flew right past us and close. As it got lighter I decided to take this picture.
Then after all the ducks were out of the pond area I had a small mixed flock of bwts and gwts swing back in and I was able to dump two gwts. My partner was out after the first one when I took these two shots of him. I finished the morning in a flurry by taking 3 gwts and 3 bwts. Actually, one of the bwts was a cinnamon drake. I checked his eyes and they were red not brown like the bwts have.
I got home around 9:30AM in time to listen to Bev tell me all about Habi and all the heavy panting she had been going through. Heck, I thought she wouldn't have her litter for another 5 days. I took her temp and it read 99.3F. That told me all I needed to know.
It was 9:45PM when her first pup was born and at 1:35AM on Sunday she gave birth to #6, which happened to be the last one in the litter. I can't begin to tell you how exhausted I was. I stuck it out for another half hour and crashed at 2AM.
Funny what a guy will do when duck season starts. I was up 2 hours later at 4AM, got the coffee going and headed back to the pond for another day of teal season. I can't help it that I am a duck hunter. I did pay for it later, however.
Al
