Bull and I took a trip down to the Sound today.
Ever have one of those mornings you wake up way before the alarm clock and can't go back to sleep??? Well, this morning, I woke up at 1:15 am vs. the 3:00 am my alarm was set for. Set the heck with it, got up, make a thermos full of hot chocolate and hit the road. Drove down to the ramp, got there at about 2:45 and low and behold no one there yet, I wonder why???
Hit the water, it was pretty calm, NW winds about 5-10. A little chilly too, we had a low about 44 (compared to the lows in the 60s all last week, today was a "normal" low). Got to my favorite spot, set up and laid down at 4:15 to take a nap.
I had set my iPhone alarm for 6:00 (shooting time is 6:20) but something woke me up around 5:30. It was a boat heading my way. Shined the light and waved them off. Sat back and watched the crescent moon and stars as daylight creeped in.
Right before shooting time, a small flock of redheads landed about 100 yards east of me and started to feed. Between then & 7:00, more joined them until there was about 50 birds, feeding, preening & stretching their wings, quite a sight. Other flocks traded back & fort across the open water but none came close enough to take a shot. Right at 7:00, a small group started to break off the main raft and swim towards my spread, feeding as the came. When they got about 75 yards out, a pair from the main flock jumped up, overflew the front birds and landed in front of them. Then another small group from the main raft then did the same thing. Then the whole raft, all 50 redheads, took to the air and came right for me!
Boom, Boom, 2 stud drake redheads in the bag! I went out & got my birds and also picked up my redhead decoys. I moved my 9 buffies into a more visible position off by themselves. I also re-arranged & left out my cans & a small group of bluebills.
For the 2 hours hour or so, I had a few more flocks of redheads cruise over the decoys. I could have easily killed a full 6 bird limit. Every once in awhile, a single buffy would come on in & stay to be added to the back bench. By 9:30 I was done with 2 redheads, 2 immature drake buffies and 2 hen buffies. Sure wish I had a few greater scaup to brag about but once again, I didn't see a single 'bill.
Safe to say that Bull brought me good luck today. We'll be back on the water for the closing 3 days starting early Friday.
Big fat mature birds:
[inline IMG_3923.JPG ]
Back Bench pic:
View attachment IMG_3928.JPG
Bull (on the right) swimming with some G&H brothers:
View attachment IMG_3925.JPG
Rest of the spread after picking up the redhead dekes:
[inline IMG_3926.JPG ]
[inline IMG_3927.JPG ]
View attachment IMG_3923.JPG
View attachment IMG_3926.JPG
View attachment IMG_3927.JPG
Ever have one of those mornings you wake up way before the alarm clock and can't go back to sleep??? Well, this morning, I woke up at 1:15 am vs. the 3:00 am my alarm was set for. Set the heck with it, got up, make a thermos full of hot chocolate and hit the road. Drove down to the ramp, got there at about 2:45 and low and behold no one there yet, I wonder why???
Hit the water, it was pretty calm, NW winds about 5-10. A little chilly too, we had a low about 44 (compared to the lows in the 60s all last week, today was a "normal" low). Got to my favorite spot, set up and laid down at 4:15 to take a nap.
I had set my iPhone alarm for 6:00 (shooting time is 6:20) but something woke me up around 5:30. It was a boat heading my way. Shined the light and waved them off. Sat back and watched the crescent moon and stars as daylight creeped in.
Right before shooting time, a small flock of redheads landed about 100 yards east of me and started to feed. Between then & 7:00, more joined them until there was about 50 birds, feeding, preening & stretching their wings, quite a sight. Other flocks traded back & fort across the open water but none came close enough to take a shot. Right at 7:00, a small group started to break off the main raft and swim towards my spread, feeding as the came. When they got about 75 yards out, a pair from the main flock jumped up, overflew the front birds and landed in front of them. Then another small group from the main raft then did the same thing. Then the whole raft, all 50 redheads, took to the air and came right for me!
Boom, Boom, 2 stud drake redheads in the bag! I went out & got my birds and also picked up my redhead decoys. I moved my 9 buffies into a more visible position off by themselves. I also re-arranged & left out my cans & a small group of bluebills.
For the 2 hours hour or so, I had a few more flocks of redheads cruise over the decoys. I could have easily killed a full 6 bird limit. Every once in awhile, a single buffy would come on in & stay to be added to the back bench. By 9:30 I was done with 2 redheads, 2 immature drake buffies and 2 hen buffies. Sure wish I had a few greater scaup to brag about but once again, I didn't see a single 'bill.
Safe to say that Bull brought me good luck today. We'll be back on the water for the closing 3 days starting early Friday.
Big fat mature birds:
[inline IMG_3923.JPG ]
Back Bench pic:
View attachment IMG_3928.JPG
Bull (on the right) swimming with some G&H brothers:
View attachment IMG_3925.JPG
Rest of the spread after picking up the redhead dekes:
[inline IMG_3926.JPG ]
[inline IMG_3927.JPG ]
View attachment IMG_3923.JPG
View attachment IMG_3926.JPG
View attachment IMG_3927.JPG
