Jay K
Active member
Update from my end. Haven't been too active on the site. Life got pretty busy in a good way. My wife and I now have a 6 month old boy at home. His name is Colton and he is quite the little character. Hopefully he enjoys the outdoors and fishing/hunting as much as his dad.
Been a tough, but fun, season for me so far. As many of you who had or have young ones know, it's a bit of a circus in the beginning. I would have liked to have gotten out more than I have but am quite pleased with the amount I did get out. Unfortunately, a spot I commonly and conveniently hunt was burned bad this year online. As such, I was dealing with very trained and skittish birds. I branched out a little, tried a new area. It was refreshing to actually see birds working and committing to my spread. Final realization that my setup isn't bad, I was just dealing with trained and shot out birds.
So far, the real highlight came last Saturday hunting with a buddy. This nice, mature gadwall was sitting around the corner from us. We heard his low grunt/whistle. We hit him with the drake whistle and he was quite talkative. We added in a bit of a wigeon whistle here and there for confidence. Sure enough, he flew up around the corner into our spread and I dropped him with one shot. My buddy's dog brought the bird back and he immediately mentioned it was a really good looking bird. Spoke to the taxidermist this week and he is anxious to have me drop it off and get to work.
The Duck Invader 13 continues to impress me. On that hunt we had the following tally in the boat: Me at 210 lbs, my buddy at 210 lbs or so, his massive black lab at 115 lbs, 10 puddle duck decoys, 8 brant decoys, 3 large goose floaters, 2 guns, and gear. Boat hauled it all quite safely and surely.
Looking to get out a couple more times before the end of the season. Some real good weather coming in and God willing, maybe I can get some more time in.
Been a tough, but fun, season for me so far. As many of you who had or have young ones know, it's a bit of a circus in the beginning. I would have liked to have gotten out more than I have but am quite pleased with the amount I did get out. Unfortunately, a spot I commonly and conveniently hunt was burned bad this year online. As such, I was dealing with very trained and skittish birds. I branched out a little, tried a new area. It was refreshing to actually see birds working and committing to my spread. Final realization that my setup isn't bad, I was just dealing with trained and shot out birds.
So far, the real highlight came last Saturday hunting with a buddy. This nice, mature gadwall was sitting around the corner from us. We heard his low grunt/whistle. We hit him with the drake whistle and he was quite talkative. We added in a bit of a wigeon whistle here and there for confidence. Sure enough, he flew up around the corner into our spread and I dropped him with one shot. My buddy's dog brought the bird back and he immediately mentioned it was a really good looking bird. Spoke to the taxidermist this week and he is anxious to have me drop it off and get to work.
The Duck Invader 13 continues to impress me. On that hunt we had the following tally in the boat: Me at 210 lbs, my buddy at 210 lbs or so, his massive black lab at 115 lbs, 10 puddle duck decoys, 8 brant decoys, 3 large goose floaters, 2 guns, and gear. Boat hauled it all quite safely and surely.
Looking to get out a couple more times before the end of the season. Some real good weather coming in and God willing, maybe I can get some more time in.