First Duck Hunt 2012

So duck hunting and deer hunting open up the same weekend in Washington State each year. Since I shot my deer on Saturday opening morning, I got to go duck hunting on Sunday. So I get into duck camp on Saturday night and I ask my Dad how many ducks they shot during the Saturday hunt and of course my Dad tells me that he limited out, which in Washington is 7 ducks. Talking to some of the other camp member later I found out that the whole camp with 4 shooters only shot 5 ducks. OOOO that DAD...

Chayse and his duck

But on a good note my 11 year old Nephew Chayse did shoot his first duck on Saturday which was a Hen mallard and we are all proud of him for that.

So we wake up Sunday later than normal and we get breakfast and fumble around camp for a while. We finally get out of camp to the first lake we hunt. I sneak down for the scare of the ducks and shoot two teal, as all the birds flew over the other hunters they were able to shoot one widgeon. One of my ducks was in the toolies and one was out in the water. My six year old German Wired Hair Pointing Griffon Remi made quick work of both ducks finding them and bringing them right to me. For my first shots at ducks for the year it was ok but I should of had more ducks.

We then had to go back to camp because one of my brothers had their vehicle battery dead and Dad had to jump them. As Dad went back to help them My little sisters boy friend (Caranza) and I went to hunt a lake next to camp. I told him where to go hide as I went to scare. The ducks got up off the lake and started to fly towards me at about 40 yards the turned and I tried to make a shot on them and missed and went right over Caranza who also missed.  Caranza they yelled to me that another duck was coming in at me as I stood up to shoot the duck flared and I dropped it. 

The next lake we drove up to had a group of teal and one lone mallard drake. I don't always shoot this lake although I do have permission to hunt it.  I pulled right up to the lake and leaned out the window and clapped my hands to get the ducks to fly. The teal took off but the mallard stayed there, which is unusual. So I figured if he wanted to get shot so be it. I got out of my vehicle and as I did the mallard took off, I loaded my gun brought it up and dropped the duck with one shot.

Remi

We drove through our loop of lakes with little success till we got near the end. There is one lake near the road that is hard to hunt especially when it was windy as it was.  I could see a big group of Spoonies sitting in the pond. I told my dad and Caranza to go to one side of the lake and I would scare from the other side. As I belly crawled to the lake side the ducks spooked and started  flying. I stood up and started to shoot and try and get the birds over the other hunters.  I hit one bird  as it glided back down to the lake and all the other birds flew out where there was not hunters. My ducks was wounded but to far in the middle of the pond to get a kill shot.  Remi was let out of the truck to go to work. AS she swam after the bird she was yelping and howling at the bird. Just as soon as she would get close enough to grab it the duck would fly about 10 feet. After this happened for about 5 minutes Caranza was able to get a kill shot off and Remi brought the bird to shore.

At thins point the rest of the family has 4-5 hour drives home to the westside of the state so they decided to head back to camp and pack up for the weekend.  Since I only have a 40 minute drive home I went to a few more lakes.

The first pond (Which is the same pond of the great goose jump of 2011.) I always peak over the sage brush to see if there are any ducks and where they are if they are there. I saw plenty of ducks and there was a small group of ducks right in front of where I normally jump them from.  I loaded my gun and walked the 5 minute walk to the other side of the pond. I camp up over the mound of dirt by the shore and of course in the 5 minutes all the ducks had moved to other parts of the pond. I took three long shots at the ducks and nothing dropped. Lucky for me I know because of the lay of the land  the ducks have to turn back towards me to get out of the hole the pond is in. When they did this I was able to drop a big Pintail Drake.

Now at this point I Only need one more duck for my limit. I also know I have one more lake to hunt with a little jump hole behind the lake.  The road we are on my wife hates due to the number of rocks on the road. We get to the big lake and all the ducks fly out the wrong direction due to the wind. So all I have left is the jump hole. I slowly walk over the hillside and don't see a darn thing. As I walk closer to the puddle of water the rock on the far side turned and looked at me. As I was like O a duck I am sure he was like Uh Oh a hunter.  The little teal got up and flew right at me and I dumped him in the deep grass.

Whew I was very happy to get my 7th duck on the last hole of the day. We made it back to camp before Dad left and went to feather and breast out the birds. My 2 year old daughter Maddy feathered one of the Teal all by her self. we then packed up and went home thinking about the next week when we all would be back.