Weekend 2 of duck hunting

My family has been duck hunting the same area for around 65 years. This weekend something would happen that has never happened there before.

Friday after work I head up do duck camp like normal. My wife wasn’t feeling too well so she and Maddy decided to stay home. When I got into camp Dad and Ellen are already in camp with their new trailer AKA the castle. They have the fire burning which was great since the weekend before we couldn't have a fire due to an area burn ban. Later that night my sister E'lana and her kids and my little sister's (Ellary) boy friend (Caranza) with his little sister Jazmine showed up in camp.

The next morning we all got up and got ready to go like any other day hunting. The first couple lakes produced some Teal and Widgeon.

Caranza and his double banded Green Head

We get to the lake we call Rock Lake. E'lana goes around to scare the lake and I sneak into my spot. My dad and Caranza are a ways on the other side of the lake. While I am sitting in my hiding spot I can hear all the ducks splashing and talking in the water and I can tell they are mallards by the sounds they are making. Like a tornado they all get up as soon as E'lana shows herself. Just my luck they all go over Caranza and Dad. As I watch the Mallards start to fall I start walking their direction in case they need Remi my dog to help find the ducks. When I get there they have found all the ducks but one. They tell me the area where they think it fell and Remi goes to work. Remi get birdy a few times but isn't finding anything. Finally Caranza says he sees it in a mint bed about 75 yards away. When he picks it up he says it has two bands. Everyone gets excited; Caranza had never shot a banded bird let alone two bands. A two banded bird has never been shot in our group in this area; it only took 65 years and tens of thousands of ducks.


Day one results

Later sitting in the truck after a closer look at the band Caranza finds out that it is a "Reward Tag" worth $100. That has also never happened in a group I have been hunting with.

We continued to hunt and Remi had a stellar day. She was able to find numerous injured ducks in the thick cattails and bring them out. Remi even brought out a 100% healthy coot from the cattails.

At the end of the day we all had our limit of seven ducks and were happy. We returned to camp to clean the birds and tell the stories of past hunting trips around the campfire.



Day two results
 

Day two (Sunday) yielded 10 ducks. Sunday is a relaxed day where we don’t work as hard since everyone has a long drive home after hunting. It was a great weekend and can’t wait to be back at duck camp.