A Sad Sad Day

There is no feeling like the one you get on the last day of the season. On Sunday morning Matt and I had a hard time getting out of bed. The night before we watched the video of the new, 2009 world duck calling champion Mike Anderson of Minnesota, had a few drinks and had a great time and a great meal.
We pulled into the boat landing about 5:00 and there was only 1 car in the lot? On the last day? We motored out and found our spot and set up. Unlike Sat. morning the show started right away. Not fast by any means but decent. We had the only shooting on the marsh. Every bird we shot decoyed very well and even circled a few times before shooting. We did however get BURNED by a flock of geese right away.
We were working a pair of mallards way out front when I saw the tails on a flock of geese about 25yds high over the decoys flying away. They made no sound! No honk, not even air from their wings! We did manage 2 drake mallards, one hen, a beautiful ringbill a goose and a drake gadwall. After sitting for almost 2 hours I decided to call it at 11:00. I would have loved to finish the day out but I had a long drive home and with a busted up ankle I wanted to give it some rest before work on Monday. At least I finished the season with some birds but the coolest thing was the final bird we worked in about 5 times and I had a 1 shot clean kill. Something good to build of off of for next season:>)
The bird locations this season has been most challenging. Some people believed they flew early and some said they went back north in NOV because of the warmth. I found a report that on Sat Dec 5th Brainerd MN was hold one of the largest sightings of birds in that area in a while. Due to the season being closed there was no gun pressure so the flocks of birds were aparently a sight to see. Huge rafts of divers and mallards filled the area. So its true we finished a season before the birds even got here!
Now for the decoy. Last season I started to play with the idea of a new decoy design. This season I made a few different versions and each time out we were the only ones having birds decoy in. The mornings I didn't have it with you could almost tell the difference in confidence of the birds. This past weekend we had swans multiple times decoy in and one time they ran it over. The next step is a patent and to figure out true production cost. Hopefully by next season I have something to sell because only 3 people besides me have ever seen it and they all want one so be sure to check back! You never know when it may become available.