Jim Boyer
Active member
The nothern Illinois opener on the Mississippi was outstanding. After scouting on Friday the 19th, I decided to set up a temporary blind on a sand bar and use a Predator layout. Using a piece of driftwood, cut willows and twine, a frame was setup to "hold" my layout and a dog hide.
Here is the journal entry.
Oct 20th Illinois opener.....finished at 8:15 am....pintail, mallard, "spoony" 3 greenwing teal
.......note: Daisy was "super" with lots of fast duck flying that mostly were spooked and just looking = good thing (many birds).....shooting from a layout blind is challenging for the less flexible & half the field of vision is eliminated
Oct 21st - Illinois 2nd day.....doubled on a "woody" pair to mount (slow - 2 ducks fun day)
.......note: I will never forget the way they zoomed in low from the north (from behind me), "jetted" over the decoys, made a huge U-turn and came back right at us about 15yards off the deck. As I set up to shoot, they flared out over the decoys with the drake in the lead. I dropped the trailing hen and swung through the drake dropping him directly to my right. I sent Gunny for the hen first. When he was about half-way there, the drake perked up and started swimming toward Iowa. When Gunny spotted the hen and picked up speed, I finished off the drake.
Wow! no matter what happened the rest of the day, it will be difficult to top this short interlude. Both ducks looked mature (which was verified back at camp later). They were tripled freezer bagged and will look really cool next to my dead mount Cans pair. After that, the sky returned to "no ducks flying".
About an hour later, a hunter on the far point of another island dropped a bird and he was having a difficult time getting his dog to retrieve. I began to watch.....dumb. A squadron of seven pintails buzzed right over the decoys and headed north. All I had time to do in that split second was think a brief, silent expletive.
Packed it up and headed home. What a great weekend!
"The Hauler"
early light - east of sand bar
west of sand bar
Predator blind & dog hide with boat moored farther north
Daisy posing in her hide
Gunny doing the obligatory barge photo
opening day mixed bag – three greenwings, pintail, "spoon" & drake mallard
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Here is the journal entry.
Oct 20th Illinois opener.....finished at 8:15 am....pintail, mallard, "spoony" 3 greenwing teal
.......note: Daisy was "super" with lots of fast duck flying that mostly were spooked and just looking = good thing (many birds).....shooting from a layout blind is challenging for the less flexible & half the field of vision is eliminated
Oct 21st - Illinois 2nd day.....doubled on a "woody" pair to mount (slow - 2 ducks fun day)
.......note: I will never forget the way they zoomed in low from the north (from behind me), "jetted" over the decoys, made a huge U-turn and came back right at us about 15yards off the deck. As I set up to shoot, they flared out over the decoys with the drake in the lead. I dropped the trailing hen and swung through the drake dropping him directly to my right. I sent Gunny for the hen first. When he was about half-way there, the drake perked up and started swimming toward Iowa. When Gunny spotted the hen and picked up speed, I finished off the drake.
Wow! no matter what happened the rest of the day, it will be difficult to top this short interlude. Both ducks looked mature (which was verified back at camp later). They were tripled freezer bagged and will look really cool next to my dead mount Cans pair. After that, the sky returned to "no ducks flying".
About an hour later, a hunter on the far point of another island dropped a bird and he was having a difficult time getting his dog to retrieve. I began to watch.....dumb. A squadron of seven pintails buzzed right over the decoys and headed north. All I had time to do in that split second was think a brief, silent expletive.
Packed it up and headed home. What a great weekend!
"The Hauler"
early light - east of sand bar
west of sand bar
Predator blind & dog hide with boat moored farther north
Daisy posing in her hide
Gunny doing the obligatory barge photo
opening day mixed bag – three greenwings, pintail, "spoon" & drake mallard
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