Somehow, perhaps because of the droughts since Thomas started carrying a gun, he has never bagged a woodie. At the outset of this season he made it known first priority was to add a woody to his puddlers bagged list.
Prior to the season we learned they had captured and banded around 500 woodies last summer on one of the WMAs near us. Thinking it would be really cool if Thomas could bag a banded woody as his first we started the season off hunting a spot not very far from the banding location. The season opener was a good one for us, two mallards and two woodrows. Unfortunately Thomas failed to get a clean kill on a woody that morning losing two to ample cover in the timber. He was quite satisfed with his mallard.
This morning was a little bit different than most here in North Alabama. We got up to a steady snowfall. I can't remember the last time driving to the hunt in the snow. We arrived safely at our destination and it didn't take long to get the kayak and gear unloaded. As always there is a little bit of anxiety as we approach the destination, hoping not to see any lights sitting where we want to be. There wasn't. With snow spitting and wind blowing the decoys were set in darkness with high expectations. Legal shooting came with noticable absence of quweee-quweee in the distance. I reminded Thomas that with overcast conditions woodies will move later. Give it 20 minutes. I don't know if 20 minutes had truly gone by but the ducks showed up in encouraging numbers. It didn't take long for us to hear two little sirens sounding off and heading our way. With wreckless abandone a pair swept past the tree above us and in perfect range for Thomas. He picked his target and rolled it. A perfect shot. Thomas turned around to me, held his hand up and said, "Gimme a high five, I got my first woodie!". That little memory won't be one that slips away. He was so excited.
We hunted longer and really enjoyed ourselves. Thomas and mine's shooting was on. Hunting woodies in timber can produce a lot of empty hulls with little to show. Not today. Four woodies with six shots and not a single escapee. Good in anyone's book. But even better is sharing it with a 10 year old kid who looks at each hunt as an adventure with firsts waiting to be had.
Prior to the season we learned they had captured and banded around 500 woodies last summer on one of the WMAs near us. Thinking it would be really cool if Thomas could bag a banded woody as his first we started the season off hunting a spot not very far from the banding location. The season opener was a good one for us, two mallards and two woodrows. Unfortunately Thomas failed to get a clean kill on a woody that morning losing two to ample cover in the timber. He was quite satisfed with his mallard.
This morning was a little bit different than most here in North Alabama. We got up to a steady snowfall. I can't remember the last time driving to the hunt in the snow. We arrived safely at our destination and it didn't take long to get the kayak and gear unloaded. As always there is a little bit of anxiety as we approach the destination, hoping not to see any lights sitting where we want to be. There wasn't. With snow spitting and wind blowing the decoys were set in darkness with high expectations. Legal shooting came with noticable absence of quweee-quweee in the distance. I reminded Thomas that with overcast conditions woodies will move later. Give it 20 minutes. I don't know if 20 minutes had truly gone by but the ducks showed up in encouraging numbers. It didn't take long for us to hear two little sirens sounding off and heading our way. With wreckless abandone a pair swept past the tree above us and in perfect range for Thomas. He picked his target and rolled it. A perfect shot. Thomas turned around to me, held his hand up and said, "Gimme a high five, I got my first woodie!". That little memory won't be one that slips away. He was so excited.
We hunted longer and really enjoyed ourselves. Thomas and mine's shooting was on. Hunting woodies in timber can produce a lot of empty hulls with little to show. Not today. Four woodies with six shots and not a single escapee. Good in anyone's book. But even better is sharing it with a 10 year old kid who looks at each hunt as an adventure with firsts waiting to be had.
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