Like Victor Duskin pointed out this past weekend was Alabama's youth waterfowl season. Last year Thomas did not get to participate due to middle school baseball. This year there were no games scheduled on Saturday and a double header on Sunday so Saturday was one last chance to get out this season. By they way, what a season it's been. One of the best in many years. The kind that sets the standard for high expectations.
Plans were to get up and hunt first light Saturday morning but dad gum if I didn't oversleep 45 minutes. I got dressed and woke Thomas up who to my surprise said if he was going to miss the first 30 minutes he'd rather sleep in and hunt the afternoon. So I went back to bed, slept a little longer, and enjoyed breakfast at home.
We left around 10:00 with plans to hunt one of our usual afternoon spots. A little scouting with binoculars showed two promising locations. Thomas opted for the flooded grain spot thinking birds were probably using it since waters had risen and gunning had stopped in the past two weeks.
Headed to our destination it became clear he made the right choice. I'd say about 1000 ducks were using the field as we just kept kicking them up as we motored along. Once set up we waited for the ducks to return but it was apparent we were off the mark. Thomas suggested we pick up and move to where he could see ducks hitting. I agreed and we quickly picked up decoys neglecting to wrap the lines securely in order to make the move as fast as possible. In less than 15 minutes we were redeployed on what he hoped was the "X". I stayed in the boat organizing it from the hasty move and Thomas hid next to a willow tree.
It wasn't long before three bull sprig came over the trees and pitched in to take a closer look at the decoys. Thomas folded the biggest one. Unfortunately it played pachinko with the branches in a tree. By the time he picked it up both wings were shattered and the neck was badly damaged. Otherwise it could have made a nice mount.
Over the next hour of so Thomas had a steady stream of action. He bagged four more gadwall with about an hour to shooting time left. Rather than finish his limit he decided to wait on something different, like maybe a wigeon or a black duck. For 50 plus minutes we had gadwall after gadwall hover over the decoys only to eventually spook and wing their way to "safety". With 10 minutes left he decided to fill his limit and call it a great season. Oddly enough nothing came in the last 10 minutes but it didn't matter, the hunt and the season were quite satisfying.
Plans were to get up and hunt first light Saturday morning but dad gum if I didn't oversleep 45 minutes. I got dressed and woke Thomas up who to my surprise said if he was going to miss the first 30 minutes he'd rather sleep in and hunt the afternoon. So I went back to bed, slept a little longer, and enjoyed breakfast at home.
We left around 10:00 with plans to hunt one of our usual afternoon spots. A little scouting with binoculars showed two promising locations. Thomas opted for the flooded grain spot thinking birds were probably using it since waters had risen and gunning had stopped in the past two weeks.
Headed to our destination it became clear he made the right choice. I'd say about 1000 ducks were using the field as we just kept kicking them up as we motored along. Once set up we waited for the ducks to return but it was apparent we were off the mark. Thomas suggested we pick up and move to where he could see ducks hitting. I agreed and we quickly picked up decoys neglecting to wrap the lines securely in order to make the move as fast as possible. In less than 15 minutes we were redeployed on what he hoped was the "X". I stayed in the boat organizing it from the hasty move and Thomas hid next to a willow tree.
It wasn't long before three bull sprig came over the trees and pitched in to take a closer look at the decoys. Thomas folded the biggest one. Unfortunately it played pachinko with the branches in a tree. By the time he picked it up both wings were shattered and the neck was badly damaged. Otherwise it could have made a nice mount.
Over the next hour of so Thomas had a steady stream of action. He bagged four more gadwall with about an hour to shooting time left. Rather than finish his limit he decided to wait on something different, like maybe a wigeon or a black duck. For 50 plus minutes we had gadwall after gadwall hover over the decoys only to eventually spook and wing their way to "safety". With 10 minutes left he decided to fill his limit and call it a great season. Oddly enough nothing came in the last 10 minutes but it didn't matter, the hunt and the season were quite satisfying.
