Brandon Yuchasz
Well-known member
Well its been a dismal season in the UP this year. Birds never really showed up and I spent a lot of time hunting partridge (grouse) instead of ducks but today was going to be the last chance. I had been working at our new house on the lake yesterday morning and there were lots of birds dropping in so I knew today should be good. Yesterday afternoon when the snow was starting I was driving to town the small lakes were freezing across and the streams were getting slushy. By the time I drove home we already had 8 inches of snow in a six hours period with no sign of it letting up. They had already canceled school for today and the weather forcast was talking about more snow by morning 20 degrees and winds out of the NE at 20 mph gusting to 40mph. There was only one place on the lake I could hunt with the type of wind. So when I got home I loaded the truck up and shortly after headed to bed.
I woke up to another 12 inches of snow and a howling wind. I dropped into the river about 30 minutes before shooting light and was setting the decoys on a little point of the lake where the river feeds in as shooting light arrived. I had decided that I was not going to just shoot birds this morning. I was going to be picky, take my time, and completely enjoy my last UP hunt of this season. The buffies just bombed the decoys all morning, I restrained myself. GE's skirted the ends of the lines in range but barely With the wind howling I didn't want to cripple a bird and end up off shore in the skiff chasing it so I held back both for my safety and the dogs. The real show this morning were the hooded mergansers. I literally could have killed 100's of them today and they loved the line of six hoodies I had out. I did kill two nice drakes one for the freezer specimen and one for the taxidermist. A big wad of Mallards worked in and I was sure surprised to see them. Two drakes stayed and will make a nice meal roasted later this week. They were big, fat and both head shot. I dropped a red breasted out of a big flock of mergansers in hopes of sending it to the taxi but it did not make the cut and will instead go in the freezer as a painting guide. Red breasted are uncommon in the fall here although I do see them in the spring so I was surprised to see them as well. I am sure you guys are thinking "really your passing on birds but then shoot a merganser?" but I have to tell you when they come in cup up and decoy its quite the sight and I just can't help myself. It just trips my trigger! I watched a lot of other birds over and in the lines today and just loved every minute of the hunt. Around 10:00 after a fairly long retrieve Storm was looking a little cold so I took him for a walk over to the river to look and see what birds were setting on it. I was surprised to find it was slushing up. Realizing that was my way out and it was in danger of freezing I packed up quickly and headed back. The slush felt like paddling in mud the entire way back. The skiff was certainly sitting a little lower and a lot heavier with all the snow and slush it had acquired through the morning. Getting it on the roof was quite the chore.
So there in a nut shell is how I spent Armistice day. Well aware of the past history of this day and how truly blessed I am to be able to enjoy a hunt and a morning exactly the way I wanted to. It was just me my old Wingmaster, a bunch of wooden decoys and a Chesapeake Bay Retriever named Storm. Sitting on a point our backs to the wind watching birds come across the lines of decoys and shooting a few.
If the lake is frozen in the morning so be it. I had my hunt!
Pictures were pretty impossible this morning but I did try. Nothing really turned out but here is one that expresses the conditions fairly well.
I woke up to another 12 inches of snow and a howling wind. I dropped into the river about 30 minutes before shooting light and was setting the decoys on a little point of the lake where the river feeds in as shooting light arrived. I had decided that I was not going to just shoot birds this morning. I was going to be picky, take my time, and completely enjoy my last UP hunt of this season. The buffies just bombed the decoys all morning, I restrained myself. GE's skirted the ends of the lines in range but barely With the wind howling I didn't want to cripple a bird and end up off shore in the skiff chasing it so I held back both for my safety and the dogs. The real show this morning were the hooded mergansers. I literally could have killed 100's of them today and they loved the line of six hoodies I had out. I did kill two nice drakes one for the freezer specimen and one for the taxidermist. A big wad of Mallards worked in and I was sure surprised to see them. Two drakes stayed and will make a nice meal roasted later this week. They were big, fat and both head shot. I dropped a red breasted out of a big flock of mergansers in hopes of sending it to the taxi but it did not make the cut and will instead go in the freezer as a painting guide. Red breasted are uncommon in the fall here although I do see them in the spring so I was surprised to see them as well. I am sure you guys are thinking "really your passing on birds but then shoot a merganser?" but I have to tell you when they come in cup up and decoy its quite the sight and I just can't help myself. It just trips my trigger! I watched a lot of other birds over and in the lines today and just loved every minute of the hunt. Around 10:00 after a fairly long retrieve Storm was looking a little cold so I took him for a walk over to the river to look and see what birds were setting on it. I was surprised to find it was slushing up. Realizing that was my way out and it was in danger of freezing I packed up quickly and headed back. The slush felt like paddling in mud the entire way back. The skiff was certainly sitting a little lower and a lot heavier with all the snow and slush it had acquired through the morning. Getting it on the roof was quite the chore.
So there in a nut shell is how I spent Armistice day. Well aware of the past history of this day and how truly blessed I am to be able to enjoy a hunt and a morning exactly the way I wanted to. It was just me my old Wingmaster, a bunch of wooden decoys and a Chesapeake Bay Retriever named Storm. Sitting on a point our backs to the wind watching birds come across the lines of decoys and shooting a few.
If the lake is frozen in the morning so be it. I had my hunt!
Pictures were pretty impossible this morning but I did try. Nothing really turned out but here is one that expresses the conditions fairly well.
