Late Season Duck Hunt

Alarm clock rang at 4:00a.m. and I was up and at it. I gave myself plenty of time to eat and dress before going to pick Rudy up at his son's house. Rudy is a friend from South Carolina that met through Dale. We spoke twice yesterday arranging this late season duck hunt. This would be my last chance to get out and only my second time hunting ducks this hunting season.

I pulled into Rudy's at exactly 0515 and we were on our way to the New River. The weather report said we would be looking at 11* and a slight breeze on the river today. Should be a good day to enjoy mother nature and hopefully some duck hunting.

Rudy and I packed the canoe and paddled across the river to an island I have hunted several times in the past. We expected to see geese, some divers and hopefully a wigeon or four. After setting the decoys out and waiting for the sun to rise over the mountains Rudy and I catch the sound of a wigeon to our right. Not long after a mallard started to sound off behind us. Right after that two geese got up off the water and flew by us. This had all the makings of a good day.

Before daylight when shadows turn into their true form Rudy and I started to make out several groups of ducks. We, or at least I, was certain that there were three groups of wigeon 100 yards in front of us. The three groups began to merge into one and started to swim directly toward Rudy. As I waited for the flush and the shot from Rudy I caught a glimpse of cupped wings and watched as a mallard drake decoyed into our setup. I did not have a chance to even think about raising my shotgun. I turned back to Rudy to only find out that the ducks swimming toward him were mergansers and he had chosen not to shoot.

As the morning moved on we watched our one mallard swim to a group of mallards down the island from us. We also watched as 40 -50 geese got off the water and started to fly north west. They knew where they were headed and Rudy and I found we didn't have a goose call between us. We also observed two more groups of mergansers that would work past us, get off the water to go up river, then float back down.

I finally had to move to being cold so decided that a stalk on the mallards down river would be the correct thing for me to do and flush them toward Rudy. I jumped off the island and stalked down river until I was even with the group of mallards on the opposite side. I started to sneak toward them when the gun shy mallards jumped off the water and hit the afterburners. I knew right away Rudy would not be shooting as these mallards had played this game before and were going almost vertical.

Rudy and I called it a day around 10:00 as the puddle ducks were just not moving. We paddled back to the opposite side of the river and started to pack the truck when the air filled with a chorus of Canadian geese. Rudy and and I watched for the next fifteen minutes as approximately 70 geese flew past us and landed on the island we had just left. The geese were flying in groups from 2 to 24. It was a beautiful sight and good note to keep in mind for the late goose season.

The only bad thing about this whole trip was the packing up. I stopped in the gravel parking area and picked up over three dozen nails. Some person had dumped nails all over the parking area. If this was done with malice or stupidity I do not know, though this person still deserves a kick in the shin either way.

I had a wonderful morning and enjoyed myself. I do wish I had remembered my camera to take pictures of the sunrise, the river and the geese. I guess my memories will just have to do.