THE LAST MORNING

Well, the last morning in SW Wisconsin started out great but that didn't last long.

Last night we passed on the evening shoot and sat around drinking beer, telling stories, and laughing so hard I thought my sides would split. Although a hunt may have been fun, I can guarantee we had more fun doing this than sitting in the rain. We even came up with a commercial idea we may pursue.

In the early morning on the marsh we did see some pretty amazing sights. The "4:00 rush" was a sight to see. From our blind we could see the main channel, and it looked like I-35w during rush hour! All you saw were lights and herd boats. It was bow to stern.

After the rush was over and we were set up we sat and listened to "wings". They were everywhere! All of us were very excited, but that would soon turn to frustration. We didn't fire a shot for the first 25 minutes and then 1 hooded merganser. Matt's superstition is that good days start with no shooting, so this should have played out.

There was almost nothing working the marsh but over head we watched a part of a migration for about 1 hour. Everywhere we looked there were huge "V's" of birds way high heading for the marsh. We picked off one wood duck. When everyone else from the marsh headed in at 9:00 we didn't even get any birds flying by that had been kicked up. We did get burned by a few that flew by in the sun and escaped easily, and we picked up at 11:00. No geese. At least we were dry!

(SW WI) A great start for the junkies...

------ SMS Text ------
From: 6513368388
Sent: Oct 24, 2009 5:32 AM
Subject: A great start for the junkies this...

A great start for the junkies this morning. After a great meal and a good nights sleep we got up early and made it to our plan "a" spot without a problem. Already has some great blinds to work with. All we are hearing are boats and hundreds of birds flying. Good north wind at our back . Cutting grass and blinding up for what should be a good hunt!
Ryan
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Unproductive Day

After a hard wet and unproductive morning the junkies are drying out the gear at the laundry mat. 3 birds this morning and a lot of rain. There seems to be no end to it so we are holding off on an evening shoot to stay dry for the last day in the marsh. Expecting snow over night with a north wind. It should be good, or that is the plan.
When we opened the dryers it was the worst smell. If you have ever been in a swamp you could imagine that smell, only cook it. Yuk!
Ryan
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Rain Rain Go Away!

SW Wisconsin
On Friday morning we woke up after a great home cooked meal and a short sleep with the intention of getting on the "Strip". We started out late because we lost one of our wallets. We spent 20 minutes looking for it only to find it in a gear mix up. We showed up at the landing late and now in a rush we hurried out into the main channel.
With it still raining and no end in sight, Matt wanted to take a short cut to shave about 15 minutes off our ride. He was looking for 2 specific trees that marked the channel we needed. When he found what we were looking for he told me to" turn in here". We didn't make it far until the boat was stuck. We shouldn't have gotten stuck, even towing the 10ft boat, but the whole way out I knew something didn't feel right the way the motor was running. It seemed to be loosing power as the ride went on... we would soon find why.
Once in the main channel in this bay my uncle seemed confused. We had missed the 2 trees we needed. We got out of the boat and pushed it back toward the main channel the whole way trying to figure out where the turn was that we missed. We made it back and decided to take the long way around and continued on. It only took a few minutes until we encountered our next problem. I herd a loud snap and felt the boat jerk. I looked back and "OH MY GOD"! The 10ft boat was under water and our gear was floating down the channel. It had been taking on water (which was why we felt like we were losing power).
We quickly turned around and I yelled out "nobody miss the bags on the first pass"! I knew if we did not grab them the wake from the motor would sink them. My brothers bag is the only one designed to float so as I motored up to them I decided if I had to miss one on the first pass it would be his.
We managed all the gear bags in one pass! Now we had to get the cooler then the thermoses. After that it was the decoys and then the boat. We dragged all the gear to nearby shore as the channel is way too deep to get out. The guns were in our boat as I have never ever trusted something so expensive not right by my side, even though my case is a floating one. My uncles isn't, I think its designed to absorb water and sink, not sure because the tag is missing. After dumping the water out of the little boat and repacking we were on our way for the 3rd time.
We managed to find a spot in badger bay that we thought would work even though the wind was not right. We had to carry our wet heavy gear a ways to our spot and set up with just a little time to spare.
It was still pouring rain when shooting started and we jumped on a nice drake mallard right away. Shortly after that a green wing teal came 20 yds right over the decoys. My uncle and I stood up and almost at the exact same time powdered this teal. All that was left was a falling carcass and a floating cloud of feathers.
After this short burst we sat in the rain for awhile. All our gear was soaked right to the skin. We had birds work the bay but with the wind just not right it was hard. We managed one more hen Gadwall and decided to go in early and dry out our gear and hope for an evening shoot.

A DAY ON THE LINE

After showing up Wednesday night about 8:30, we had a quick beer and began to set up shop. We did some catching up, made the morning plan and began to reload the boat and the truck. After a short night sleep we were up at 2:00am and on the way to the landing. We stopped for some doughnuts and to fill our thermoses with coffee and showed up at the landing at about 3:15. With no one there our plan for the day was still on schedule. The boat ride out was long because we were also towing a 10ft boat behind us, but great navigation skills by Matt led us right where we wanted to go.

We quickly set up our canopy tent to keep dry as long as possible. With plenty of time to spare we sat around drank coffee cut some grass for blinds, and the best part of all, fired up the cook stove for some breakfast. After setting up decoys and hiding the boats we had our blinds ready to go and all we needed was some ducks. We all made our goals for the weekend and the shooting began. At the start of the shoot we saw quite a few birds but they were flying really high. Out of frustration we took a few low percentage shots with little success, But soon we would be lucky. After hitting a few we had found our groove.

Right at lunch we had the shot of the day by my brother. We were all standing around determining if we should move or stay and eating sandwiches, when a fat black duck came right into the decoys. the only one with a gun was my brother, and after setting his food down he pulled up with a great 1 shot powder on this bird at 35 yds. A little while later we had a mallard zip in from behind, my uncle and I swung around to hit it and I dropped it but had to whack it again. As the dog had just made it back with the bird, we had a teal working. I took the bird and trew it down in the grass and worked the teal around. It came right in and on the retrieve when he brought the teal in and was" healing" up, I noticed something spectacular on the mallard. Jewlery! I had made one of my goals for the weekend. 2 Years ago it was a big bull pintail for my wall, and this year I wanted a band.

We stayed on the line for the rest of the day and even though we should have limited out, we didn't. We had a few missed shots but we had a great time. We had birds corkscrew down on us from way high but with other people shooting around us it was hard to work birds down from high up. The rain had let up for the entire shoot but started up again as we picked up and the day ended just as it started. First ones out in the rain and last ones in to the launch in the rain.

2 Drake Mallards, 2 Hen Wigeon, 1 Hen shoveler, 2 Hen Mallards, 1 Black Duck, 4 Hen Gadwalls, 1 Hen Canvasback, 2 Hen Ringbills, 1 Drake Ringbill.... and no Geese!

From: Ryan
Sent: Oct 22, 2009 7:47 PM

17 birds


Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Two Lanyards So Far Today!

The pictures don't lie... it's been a good day so far!
(SW Wisconsin)

From: Ryan
Sent: Oct 22, 2009 3:49 PM

What a shame we had to start a 2nd lanyard

11 to go until limit (13 In the bag)
Ryan
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The Junkies have Jewlery!

First morning out in SW Wisconsin...

------ MMS ------
From: Ryan/TYPE=PLMN
Sent: Oct 22, 2009 8:30 AM

The junkies have jewlery!
Ryan
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Prostaffers Wanted!

We are currently building our Duck Junkies Prostaff team!

Duck Junkies is still in the beginning stages but it's taking off quickly!
We are looking for experienced wildfowl hunters to contribute to our blog, help us develop the content on our website, be the "go-to" person for Duck Junkies members in their region and grow the Duck Junkies name.

Prostaff will receive decals for their vehicle windows, a profile posted on our site, freebies from advertisers as we grow and if the member has a guide service, a free promo on our site. Eventually we would like to make this a paid position but for now it's just an opportunity for the obsessed to contribute.

If this is an opportunity that suits you, please send a short bio including your hunting region to Ryan at DuckJunkies.com or through the Duck Junkies Membership form on our website (or visit Duck Junkies on Facebook to connect with us).

Be well and hunt on...

Another new spot

Second day trying a new spot in central Minnesota.
After spending last night working on the motor I was able to get a temporary fix made so that it would work. Being on the road is hard when stuff breaks and you don't have your tools and your shop to get things working again, but you make do with what you have.
With the wind forecast being strong my brother and I thought it better to not go back to yesterday's spot. We talked to my father in-law and he said that people had done well on the lake just down the road from him so we thought we would try it.
We got to the landing and set out. From the maps there should have been a nice spot across the lake. After a short boat ride we were there but not impressed. 30yrds out from shore it was 10 feet deep! The total lake depth was only 12! We motored to a back bay to find more of the same. We talked about heading back and baggin' the hunt but we didn't leave enough time to go anywhere else.

Being extremely tired we went back to the first spot threw out 4 goose decoys and 7 mallard decoys. I had a feeling that if the lake was 6 feet deep 10yrds out from shore, it wasn't going to have many birds. When the sun came up I was right. We herd a few shots in the distance but didn't see a thing. After 1 hour we decide to pick up.
Looks like there is another cold front moving down this week so hopefully it brings a few new birds. Only have a two-day turn around before we leave for SW Wisconsin. Hopefully someone has the part I need or I will have to make a more permanent fix for the week.