Al Hansen
Well-known member
I just looked at the computer and saw that if duck season was still on, in 20 minutes it would be shooting time. For some reason, that never leaves me. I already know that if all goes well this year and our season is the same as it has been over the past decade, our early teal season will begin on September 21st and end on the 29th. The regular season will begin on October 23rd and end on January 26th of 2014. Now that is something to look forward to.
My last two days were on Thursday, January 24th and Friday, January 25th. My weekends I spend at home.
Thursday was sweet because I spent it at the private ranch that I go to. Normally the water will be there by November at the latest, but this year with the drought so extreme, it didn't come to the ranch until the beginning of January. By the time the ducks found it, the season only had a couple of weeks to go, however, it was still fun.
Here is where I hunkered down that morning:
I selected 2 decoys for this spot just to see what would happen.
Well, as luck would have it, the woodies and mallards that did come in decided to land short of where I was about 150 yards to the south of me. That was fine with me. When I first came to this ranch, I created a "Safe Zone" for the ducks. There is about a half mile stretch on this channel that I will not hunt. If the ducks land there, they are not hunted. It is their little sanctuary. So I enjoyed looking at them through my binoculars. Just before I picked up to go, I had a good sized flock of mallards fly over the cottonwood tree tops heading for the beaver pond. I told them that I would look forward to seeing them next year. I let Habi and Chili run for a while. Of course the young one took off and Chili stayed by my side.
On Friday the 25th, my last day, I set up on my favorite niche on the Rio for this past season. It was one gorgeous morning with a few ducks flying but nothing that wanted to come by my spot.
When it was time to go, I looked down at my two duck hunting partners and wished that I could have given them a bit of work to do that morning but then told them that next year was not all that far away and it should hold a few surprises----who knows!
Al
My last two days were on Thursday, January 24th and Friday, January 25th. My weekends I spend at home.
Thursday was sweet because I spent it at the private ranch that I go to. Normally the water will be there by November at the latest, but this year with the drought so extreme, it didn't come to the ranch until the beginning of January. By the time the ducks found it, the season only had a couple of weeks to go, however, it was still fun.
Here is where I hunkered down that morning:
I selected 2 decoys for this spot just to see what would happen.
Well, as luck would have it, the woodies and mallards that did come in decided to land short of where I was about 150 yards to the south of me. That was fine with me. When I first came to this ranch, I created a "Safe Zone" for the ducks. There is about a half mile stretch on this channel that I will not hunt. If the ducks land there, they are not hunted. It is their little sanctuary. So I enjoyed looking at them through my binoculars. Just before I picked up to go, I had a good sized flock of mallards fly over the cottonwood tree tops heading for the beaver pond. I told them that I would look forward to seeing them next year. I let Habi and Chili run for a while. Of course the young one took off and Chili stayed by my side.
On Friday the 25th, my last day, I set up on my favorite niche on the Rio for this past season. It was one gorgeous morning with a few ducks flying but nothing that wanted to come by my spot.
When it was time to go, I looked down at my two duck hunting partners and wished that I could have given them a bit of work to do that morning but then told them that next year was not all that far away and it should hold a few surprises----who knows!
Al
