I drove back home, stopping at Indian Springs for a quick look, and there was eight mallards on the bay. Not exactly swarms of birds, so I hauled home, collected gear, and even hesitantly, took Mocha with me. I was going to try Cottonwood lake as I was familiar with it and there were birds in the area. When I got up there, I crested the hill, glassed the lake, and discovered two ducks on the lake. Two; not two hundred, not two thousand; two ducks.
I turned tail and headed right back to where the birds were. I am still not sure why I did not go straight there the first time, but it didn't matter at that point. When I arrived, the wind was whipping hard from the northwest. The pup and I got down to the water and found the only spot that seemed even remotely out of the gusts. I set my decoys right next to shore and stuck in my mojo mallard. I settled into the sparse sedge vegetation and we hunkered down.
Finally, a single drake mallard started to make his descent, and dropped landing gear. He was only about 35 yards out when I took my shot, but with the bucking wind, it made for a difficult scenario. At my shot, he went straight up into the air and started pinwheeling. Either a heart, or wing shot, but because he didn't fold right up he was 70 yards out by the time he hit the water. Mocha panicked after only swimming 20 feet and turned around. I could see the duck was still head up, but I knew this was a fatal hit. I would attempt to no avail to retrieve this duck on the downwind side after the hunt.
After a half hour or so, a pair of ruddy ducks came screaming into the set and plopped down before I could get a shot. I jumped them, but they don't exactly flush well, and I was able to scrape one down as it skittered atop the frothy water.
I had never shot a ruddy before and was rather excited about it. They are strange little critters and they are not very big at all.
Ten minutes later another pair came in, and I dropped one from the set before they hit the water. Unfortunately, it dove... This presented a major problem for both me and my hound. She was bound and determined to find it, but that bird would pop up 40 yards father each time. I literally had to scream at her to call her off the bird, which she was rather pissed about. When she did finally turn back, she was 70-80 yards out. The first wave slammed her head on and I watch as she struggled to get her bearings. The second wave didn't hesitate and went right over her head. Again, this scared the shit out of me...She slowly but surely made her way back to the shallow water and climbed out. A couple good shakes and a hack or two, and she was back in business despite sucking in fair amount of turbid lake water.
Because there were birds everywhere and they were not working the spread, I pulled the mojo as that has been an issue in the past. Not only did this change things, it vastly reduced the visibility of my location. Birds were not even swinging through for a look. After an hour, I slopped my way back out into the water and stuck the mojo back in.
I no more than laid down and a flock of 40-50 mallards came out of nowhere. They were cupped and swinging in the wind. It was a spectacle to watch! When the first birds hit the water out deep, I picked the closest drake still in the air but closer and let the steel fly. Even with the textbook 25 yard shot, the wind carried the bird out to 50 yards before it hit the water. Thankfully, Mocha was on him, and made a spectacular retrieve. When she finally got to him, she turned around to come back, and used the bird as a shield because the waves were borderline over her head again, but she was smarter about it the second time around.
With waning daylight hours, I watched as thousands of snow geese flew off of a field behind me, and when fly just out of range each time. That same field began to fill with mallards, 10-50 at a time. They would swing around as mallards do, many loops before committing. The birds were not working my spread, so I figured I could catch some of these birds as they were making their wide swings. Mocha and I relocated to the low bank below the eroded field and buried ourselves into a snow bank. A single snow goose flew right over top and I got greedy and waited for the flock behind it. Of course, the flock flared and there was no shot. The mallards were making their swings still, but most of the birds were on the field already and they were not swinging close enough to our corner. with only another 20 minutes of legal light left, I look up to see a deer hastily making his way around the slough towards us. A sizable buck, a typical 12pt came all the way up to 10 yards from Mocha and I before pegging us. He stood in front of us for a few seconds before continuing on his path, a little more hurried than before. I figured that was my cue to collect my decoys and get out of there before it got any windier or colder. The pup had been a shivering mess the entire time and I was worried that she was not doing well. When we got up to backtrack to our dekes, she bounded around like a puppy, literally frolicking in the snow. I was amazed and almost shocked. I quick pic and we were out of there for the evening.
By the time we got home I expected Mocha to be a curled up ball in the corner for the rest of the night, but instead she proceeded to play with Tallulah for the better part of two hours. She may be old, but she has a lot of spirit in her. I have just come to figure out that she will be damned if she gets left behind when I got hunting, she would just rather I quite duck hunting and spend more time chasing roosters as she prefers.
Stay Tuned
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