The ducks didn’t fly early for us today and we had to leave at 8 a.m. to get to the store, but we still had 12 this morning. It was a good hunt. In fact, this season has been the best first week that I can remember in the past 20-25 years. If the rest is as good as the first week, we’ll have the best season ever.
The day started cloudy and they just don’t fly as well on those gray mornings, but the folks I talked to that stayed until 10-11 a.m. did better. The ducks that have been here for a week and have had hunting pressure are a little bit gun shy. We had several big groups of ducks work the decoys and make one final pass almost within range, then they took off. They were mostly gadwalls and they are a bit skittish anyway.
One thing that’s been good for me with this fast start is it has been just what my dog, Boss, needed. He’s two years old and he’s gotten plenty of work. I’ll have to brag on him — we’ve only had to leave one duck that we couldn’t find. And he has had several really long blind retrieves where he’s left the field, crossed the ditch gone 500 yards and still come back with the bird.
Watching that is some fun.
