Al Hansen
Well-known member
I had to find a different spot to hunt this morning just because my little hole dried up. The Rio was running almost 900 cfs 5 days ago and now it is down to 590 cfs.
I am not crazy about trying to set up off of the main channel just because of the strong current and depth. Any time water is over 3 feet deep I begin looking for shallower spots to hunt----yes, I have a thing about water and will admit it.
After seeing what happened today, I am glad that I waited until today to expose Habi to some strong currents of the Rio Grande. This morning about a half hour into the season I had a pair of mallards come by. I was able to drop both and the one that Habi took out after was the drake. She didn't hesitate to go after it but then I noticed how quickly she was being carried down stream and away from the duck. It was her first experience with this. Well, she finally got to the greenhead and then showed some signs of indecision when she was ready to come back to the blind. I was shouting encouragement and she headed for me but ended up downstream about 60 feet when she got back. It was a proud moment to see what she accomplished.
I then walked her down a ways where the current wasn't so strong and got her on line to go get the hen, who had landed in some very shallow water and wasn't moving at all.
Do what I could and the best that I knew how, she just wasn't willing to go after that duck. The current had really affected her in a negative way. Now I was beginning to think that I was rushing things, so I walked back to the blind and had another cup of coffee all the time thinking of how I was going to get that dead hen mallard that was about 75 yards from where the blind was.
It was then that I noticed a particular tree that I had used as a land mark 3 years ago when I watched a Ross' goose sail to the opposite shore. All I had to do was calculate how far I was from the truck, then set the trip odometer and when I got to the opposite side of the Rio Grande on the way home, all I had to do is drive up the road the exact same distance and begin looking for my tree, which I found without much difficulty back then. Chili came within 50 feet of where the goose was that day. So now I was confident that we would get this hen.
When I decided to hang it up for the morning, I put all my gear away and was ready to go when I thought, why not give it one more try? We walked back down to the spot, I had Habi sit, got her on line, but yet she didn't want to go into the main stream. This time I reached into my pocket and pulled out a shell and tossed it. When it hit, way short of the hen, I said, "Dead Bird!" My gosh, she jumped into the rio and was heading to the right area. When she got to the island, she then spotted the duck and grabbed it amidst many cheers from me. It was then that I realized that Habi was thinking about the return trip. She looked at me and decided to run upstream about 30 feet along the shallow part of the sand island. Then she dove into the main channel and headed back. My gosh, she came right to me. She had figured out what to do with that strong current in no time at all.
I picked up the 4 decoys that I had put not two feet from the shoreline and Habi carried the duck. We got back to where the blind was and I turned around to look at the spot where she had been to get the hen. It was right at that moment that a dozen F-16s, that were right on the deck, did everything short of creating a sonic boom as they gyrated themselves northward. That was my first sighting of a flock of greenwings this year. It brought a smile to my face. "Maybe tomorrow," I thought.
I'm sure glad Habi got that duck.
Al
Found a spot about a quarter of a mile from here that will be perfect for tomorrow morning. It will have water suitable for puddle ducks to want to be at and of course it is way less than 3 feet deep which is right up my alley. Hope it isn't too muddy, however.
I think I like the speculum showing the best.
I am not crazy about trying to set up off of the main channel just because of the strong current and depth. Any time water is over 3 feet deep I begin looking for shallower spots to hunt----yes, I have a thing about water and will admit it.
After seeing what happened today, I am glad that I waited until today to expose Habi to some strong currents of the Rio Grande. This morning about a half hour into the season I had a pair of mallards come by. I was able to drop both and the one that Habi took out after was the drake. She didn't hesitate to go after it but then I noticed how quickly she was being carried down stream and away from the duck. It was her first experience with this. Well, she finally got to the greenhead and then showed some signs of indecision when she was ready to come back to the blind. I was shouting encouragement and she headed for me but ended up downstream about 60 feet when she got back. It was a proud moment to see what she accomplished.
I then walked her down a ways where the current wasn't so strong and got her on line to go get the hen, who had landed in some very shallow water and wasn't moving at all.
Do what I could and the best that I knew how, she just wasn't willing to go after that duck. The current had really affected her in a negative way. Now I was beginning to think that I was rushing things, so I walked back to the blind and had another cup of coffee all the time thinking of how I was going to get that dead hen mallard that was about 75 yards from where the blind was.
It was then that I noticed a particular tree that I had used as a land mark 3 years ago when I watched a Ross' goose sail to the opposite shore. All I had to do was calculate how far I was from the truck, then set the trip odometer and when I got to the opposite side of the Rio Grande on the way home, all I had to do is drive up the road the exact same distance and begin looking for my tree, which I found without much difficulty back then. Chili came within 50 feet of where the goose was that day. So now I was confident that we would get this hen.
When I decided to hang it up for the morning, I put all my gear away and was ready to go when I thought, why not give it one more try? We walked back down to the spot, I had Habi sit, got her on line, but yet she didn't want to go into the main stream. This time I reached into my pocket and pulled out a shell and tossed it. When it hit, way short of the hen, I said, "Dead Bird!" My gosh, she jumped into the rio and was heading to the right area. When she got to the island, she then spotted the duck and grabbed it amidst many cheers from me. It was then that I realized that Habi was thinking about the return trip. She looked at me and decided to run upstream about 30 feet along the shallow part of the sand island. Then she dove into the main channel and headed back. My gosh, she came right to me. She had figured out what to do with that strong current in no time at all.
I picked up the 4 decoys that I had put not two feet from the shoreline and Habi carried the duck. We got back to where the blind was and I turned around to look at the spot where she had been to get the hen. It was right at that moment that a dozen F-16s, that were right on the deck, did everything short of creating a sonic boom as they gyrated themselves northward. That was my first sighting of a flock of greenwings this year. It brought a smile to my face. "Maybe tomorrow," I thought.
I'm sure glad Habi got that duck.
Al
Found a spot about a quarter of a mile from here that will be perfect for tomorrow morning. It will have water suitable for puddle ducks to want to be at and of course it is way less than 3 feet deep which is right up my alley. Hope it isn't too muddy, however.
I think I like the speculum showing the best.
