Frozen Duck

The Friday before the rifle opener, I had a full day of flex time to use from work and I convinced a co-worker (from my office) to join me on what would likely be my last duck hunt of the season depending on the conditions. There had been a cold snap and some of the pocket sloughs were starting to freeze, but the gale-force winds were keeping them open. The night before I drove out to check things out, and there were swans and tons of canvasbacks on the slough I had been hunting but I would be hunting the one across the road. Not many ducks but my pocket was open.

By the next morning the wind had died down and it was snappy cold. I had not expected to show up and see it completely frozen over...

We busted ice for half an hour but it was crappy ice that crushed like pie crust. We slid as many of the large chunks under as possible but it only worked so well. We set out a few decoys and put some shell decoys on the ice and then waited for the birds. A few high flying mallards, and the occasional diver would swing past us. Hundreds of geese were in the air but nothing that wasn't headed straight for Mexico.
We had one mallard that came in just too close and my itchy finger woke up. I took three shots with the Big-Ben and came up short. We watch as he flew off but he cupped his wings and dropped into the winter wheat field behind us; he didn't act funny, but his actions gave him away. My co-worker was cold and wanted to go after the mallard. As Murphy's Law clearly dictates, when we crested the hill a flock of ducks were cupped and dropping into our set...
I told my co-worker that would could try a sneak jump them from our set. When we got close enough to jump them they were gone. We were watching the spot the whole time, and I still have no idea where they were. When we got back into the spot the fun began. I thought it was a good idea to bring some high test fishing line to create a pull cord to keep the decoys moving in the icy water on this calm morning. I forgot it was there when we got up to look for the mallard, and now the three of us were tangled in 30 lb test mono. I tackled the dog and literally had to cut her out of it, and then moved on to my friend. I no more than got him untangled and looked up. The flock was feet down in our spread and our guns were at our feet. I picked up the 10 gauge and emptied it. I was able to send a single BB to the right spot and I pulled one down. My friend took the pup over to recover our only bird while I dealt with the twisted debacle of fishing line.

We sat for another hour before we pull out of there. My pothole was frozen, but we weren't skunked!

I am hoping I will find the time to get out one last time before the big freeze. As of now, the big water remains open, but most of the ducks and geese have headed south.



Stay Tuned