First off I would like to thank Duckjunkies.com for letting me be a part of the Prostaff. I am looking forward to meeting new people and hopefully gaining more knowledge in the world of waterfowling.
I went this past weekend for the closer of the Balance of State region season here in NorCal. I was excited to go because we had a 2 week weather system prior to this weekend and we were supposed to be getting another one. Luck would have it that the 2 days I decide to go hunting, they are bluebird days. I got sunburned both days it was so warm out. Literally 65 degrees outside. Those are the times that I wish I was back home in Minnesota hunting. I miss the cold weather.
Saturday looked promising early with alot of ducks working without any fog. Since this was the first season hunting in this particular area we are still trying to study duck moving habits. The tide plays alot of factors in the movement of the ducks (Something I would have never had to worry about hunting in MN).
By 8:30 we had 4 (2 teal, bull sprig, widgeon) We were trying to compete against another hunter where all the ducks were just dumping into. We couldn't figure out why they wouldn't commit to our deeks. After 2 more hours, we had a total of 6 with the addition of 2 more teal. After packing up I told my friend Sam to go check out what was on the other side of the levee so we could see what was so spectacular for the ducks to just flock to. We initially thought it was a private club but we never saw any signs so we gave it a go. Upon coming into the march, it was like duck heaven. We couldn't believe what we were seeing. The cover, the vegetation, its no wonder why they only looked once at us before going to hang out with the rest of the ducks. Come to find out it was not a private club and totally accessible by boat for us to get to. I learned then to never assume things and go and explore to find new areas. This gave a renewed hope for the last day of season.
Sunday we had a low fog cover, 5 mph wind and we were really excited to go hunt this new pond.We arrived in our new "spot" with tide going out. We never thought for a second to think about the tide and the fact that it going out would mean that we might get stuck with the boat. Well considering the tide can fluctuate up to 7 ft, we got set and right after sun up...we were in about 6 in of water. We took it as it came and just tried to enjoy the last day of season. By 10am we limited as the ducks came from the big water into the pond like we anticipated. Only thing, we had to wait for tide to come back in so we could get out. After having such a successful morning, we took it as a chance to tell each other old hunting stories and enjoy the area. We called in ducks and just watched them swim in our deeks. Tide came in and we had successfully completed a phenomenal last day of the season.
Lesson 1 for next year: Don't assume something a new area is a closed area to hunt
Lesson 2 for next year: Carry a Tide Table book with us before we go out!! LOL
No comments:
Post a Comment