Hmmm, I guess I could fill in some details....
Actually, the Gunner was pretty bummed today, as Moosie threatend to kick me in the 'Nads if I tried to make another joke about "us" being late....
I will admidt to being late, but I think we could have recovered, but we were a bit slow in the loading/unloading/getting dressed, parking rigs, etc... so we weren't able to make up for the lost time.
But Moosie did give the ol' Chevy hell, as he raced across a 2 mile long dam (Water on the Left, 50 ft embankment on the Right) at 50 miles an hour, in 3" of snow...
And we would have been a bit earlier, if the guy who went to Wal-Mart would have bought the Dougnuts and Cokes there, instead of waiting until the lil' town we had to drive thru. I guess Wal-Mart doesn't make the same quality Frozen Burritos for breakfast as the little market we stopped at....
In any event, we roll into Bob's, and start unloading the pick-up, and un-load, and un-load... The back of the Short Box Chevy was completely full, and we carried it down to the River. And of course, Moosie takes the wrong trail, so we are bushwhacking with 800lbs of gear.
As we get to the place, we couldn't actually sit the decoys up, until we kicked the 500 ducks out of the eddy...
So, we get the decoys set up, and the ducks start diving.... And everybody hurries doing what they are doing, 'cept for the Gunner, as he just jacks a shell in, and drops the first drake he sees. (See Video above...
)
I am sure I was shooting BB, as I usually find it too much bother to change shells in my gun, and last time I hunted, I was Goose hunting. The Duck just has a badly broken wing, and starts swimming. Buster, the dog, comes running and heads out to make the retrieve, but the Mallard decides to be a Diving duck. Buster is confused.
Finally, Buster sees a greenhead decoy, and brings that to me... I tell him "good boy", and grab a rock to throw out at the now surfaced mallard, so he can go get the real bird. He doesn't see me throw it, and Moosie finally kills the bird, which Buster then sees, and makes a beautiful retrieve. Seeing a Lab fetch a duck and bring it back, made the whole day for me. An awesome sight.
Buster was kind of a wild card today, as we did not know how he would retrieve. My Buddy (see 350lb Bear in the Bear section for the Bear he killed in Idaho this May) had phesant hunted with him, and he had confidence, but he had never duck hunted him. Buster was adopted as an older dog, and so his history is a bit unknown, but he has a "smashed" left side of his lower jaw, so we think he might have been mis-treated. But now, he is a happy, healthy, and damn good retriever.
A little bit later, I was out of the blind area, and two ducks came blazing in, and I waited until they were right at me, shot the drake, and the damn thing about hit me as it fell like a rock. I probably could have caught it, if I tried.
I am not sure what else happened, as even though I was there, and there were ducks about 10 yards away, nobody else shot. I am not sure if they were afraid to look like bad shots after the
Amazing display of shooting skills exhibited by the Gunner, or what.
Being the nice guy I am, I kept waiting for them to shoot the ducks right in front of them, as I remember Ovis suggesting that one should not shoot over the heads of one's hunting partners, in order to get them to duck.
Suffice it to say, more ducks could have been killed, if:
a. We were on time (my fault!) or
b. People would have shot their guns (not the Gunner's fault)
