Buckling Down for the Grind.

23 down, 37 to go. This is it -- the last break we'll get until the end of the big dance. Thus far, I've hunted 22 of those 23, and I don't intend to stop until the ducks do.

Once again, low clouds, overcast skies, and ducks in the Home Field. Today, we were soggy, but we saw lots of weary mallards on South winds and 50 degree temps. They didn't exactly work to our liking, but they did fly close enough to the blind for us to carve out 25 birds. Looks like some fairly nasty weather is setting in in the Dakotas and the Mid-West, so we'll be looking for those stupid birds any day now.

J-Hawk, Special Fred, Casey, the Don, Matthew, Gipper, and Cannon Ball (singular). 25 Birds, including 10 Mallards, 3 GWT, 1 Wigeon, 1 Gadwall, 10 Shovelers.







Total for Regular Season: 413
Combined Teal & Regular for 2009: 473
Birds Per Hunt: 18.7
Birds Per Day of Season: 17.96
245 Shovelers (Arrrrrrrrgh!)
96 Mallards
24 Specks
20 Green Wing
14 Pintails
6 Gadwall
2 Blue Wing
4 Wigeon
1 Red Head
1 Snow

Home Field: 321 (on 18 hunts = 17.83/day)
GW's: 56 (on 2 Hunts = 28/day)
Butterworth: 23 (on 1 Hunt)
Charles (East): 13 (on 1 Hunt)

History Repeats Itself.

No, really . . . it DOES. Exhausted, but not broken, I returned to the Home Field Blind with the Don, J-Hawk, and our Mystery Guest this morning. Once again, the Mystery Guest had to leave within 15 minutes of shooting light, but he took his two shovelers with him when he left. I was late, 'cause I was tired. That notwithstanding, I wasn't gonna let the chance to bring those numbers back up pass me by.

As per the norm, we came out with limits, and those limits were comprised of mostly shovelers. 20 Ducks, including 2 Mallards, 1 Wigeon, 1 GWT, and 16 Boot-lipped Shovelers.



Total for Regular Season: 388
Combined Teal & Regular for 2009: 448
Birds Per Hunt: 18.4
Birds Per Day of Season: 17.64
235 Shovelers (Arrrrrrrrgh!)
86 Mallards
24 Specks
17 Green Wing
14 Pintails
5 Gadwall
2 Blue Wing
3 Wigeon
1 Red Head
1 Snow

Home Field: 296 (on 17 hunts = 17.41/day)
GW's: 56 (on 2 Hunts = 28/day)
Butterworth: 23 (on 1 Hunt)
Charles (East): 13 (on 1 Hunt)

Georgia Hands

On Sunday, December 20, 2009, we were graced by the arrival of Ray Tew and his sons, who hail from the Atlanta, GA area. I'll be the first to admit that I'd been sweating bullets because, as of Saturday, every duck in Northeast Arkansas was sitting smack dab in the middle of a field directly North of Rick's reservoir, and they didn't look as if they had any intentions of altering their pattern.

Nonetheless, God loves me, and he apparently don't hate them GA boys either. The winds gave us fits, and I cursed the weatherman on more than one occasion, but the end result was a fairly nice gut-pile.

On Sunday, the headcount was 21, including 3 Pintail, 1 Mallard, and 17 Shovelers.




On Sunday evening, as I was scouting Charles' Field in search of Monday's prey, I heard something curious. In the distance I could hear the sound of mallards feeding to the East. Following said curiosity, I drove around the ditch to discover a large raft of birds on the Butterworth field, which would be a first in the history of our farm. Appropriately, we set up on them on Monday, and the results were good, I must say. 23 Birds, Including 2 Mallards, 1 Wigeon, and 20 Shovelers.

In the afternoon, we moved the blind to Charles' East and hunted again, where we killed another 13 birds, including 2 Mallards and 11 Shovelers.



Total for Regular Season: 368
Combined Teal & Regular for 2009: 428
Birds Per Hunt: 18.4
Birds Per Day of Season: 17.52
219 Shovelers (Arrrrrrrrgh!)
84 Mallards
24 Specks
16 Green Wing
14 Pintails
5 Gadwall
2 Blue Wing
2 Wigeon
1 Red Head
1 Snow

Catching Up.

Alrighty, then. Looks like we've got some catching up to do.

December 17, 2009, a leaner, crafty crew showed up at Gibson Farms just in time to watch the ice thaw and the birds not flying. We never even left the shop, determining instead to check some water, patch up some levees, and catch an afternoon at work. No hunting = no dux.

December 18, 2009, the Don & I gave 'er the old college try on the Home field, only to leave skunked and demoralized for a second time this season.

Saturday, December 19, 2009, Jake, Blake, Meredith, the Don, and I headed south to give things a look on the river. What we saw when we got there was low water and empty skies. Four days in a row with no ducks. Things are NOT pretty.

There Will Be Blood.

Well, it had to happen eventually . . . and today it did. SKUNK!!!! Ouch. December 16, 2009, the 16th day of the 2009 Arkansas Waterfowl Season, is the day we left the blind empty-handed. Light wind, 20 degree temperatures, lots of ice, NO DUCKS!

We'll not be venturing out tomorrow morning, opting instead for the afternoon sneak-attack. Wish us luck. For the record, I'm mad at 'em now. There will be blood.

. . . and Smiling . . . and Smiling!

Well, we're officially 15 days deep in the 2009-2010 season, and of those 15 days, we've spent 13 in the old Home Field. She's been good to us, and despite the fact that we keep trying to bury her, she just won't die. I should also mention that the Home Field is exactly 27 birds short of an all-time record for total number of birds harvested in a single blind over an entire season. If the scenario doesn't change, we'll break that record tomorrow.

Yesterday's exit from GW's field yielded high expectations as we watched the swarm of birds encircling the Home Field. Unfortunately, the winds shifted out of the North at about 20 m.p.h. over night, creating a scenario wherein we were forced to face the sun this morning. For the record, it didn't matter. Neither the sunrise stare-down nor the mass of birds congregated in the top two paddies of the field would thwart our efforts today. J-Hawk, Papa, Gibby, Cannon, and a mystery guest who requested that he remain anonymous. Our mystery guest was forced to leave the blind after 10 minutes of hunting, but carried out his 3 shovelers as he left. That left only myself, J-Hawk, and Blind Dog to finish out the morning, but we did it with style. 21 Birds, including 12 Mallards, 3 Pins, 2 Gadwall, 4 Shovelers.






Total for Regular Season: 311
Combined Teal & Regular for 2009: 371
Birds Per Day: 20.73
171 Shovelers (Arrrrrrrrgh!)
79 Mallards
24 Specks
16 Green Wing
11 Pintails
5 Gadwall
2 Blue Wing
1 Wigeon
1 Red Head
1 Snow

Home Field: 255 -- avg. 19.61
GW's: 56 -- avg. 28

He's Still Smiling . . .

. . . and I like it. Again, a lean crew for the morning activities. Again, low clouds and moderate winds from the Southwest made hiding impossible. Ahh, but again, dumb ducks -- my favorite kind -- were the rule, not the exception. Blind Dog Willie, the Don, Fleabag, Gipper, and Cannonball (singular) emerged at 8:30 with full bags. Total: 26; 16 Mallards, 1 Pin, 1 GWT, 6 Shovelers, 2 Specks.





Total for Regular Season: 290
Combined Teal & Regular for 2009: 350
Birds Per Day: 20.71
167 Shovelers (Arrrrrrrrgh!)
67 Mallards
24 Specks
16 Green Wing
8 Pintails
3 Gadwall
2 Blue Wing
1 Wigeon
1 Red Head
1 Snow

Home Field: 234 -- avg. 19.5
GW's: 56 -- avg. 28

Sometimes God Just Smiles On You

Boy Howdy, He sho-nuff did on us today. This was our first excursion on the farm outside the Home Field, which has been the go-to hole this season. Fortunately, having done a bit of scouting yesterday, we discovered a large concentration of mallards on GW's. After a quick team meeting, we set our sights on big ducks for Sunday morning.

Given the Sunday morning time slot, we had a fairly lean crew, consisting of the Fleabag, the Kid, J-Hawk, Meredith, and of course, ole Gibby -- a highly trained team of professional assassins.

Temps hovered in the lower 40's, but the gray skies and drizzling rain couldn't quench their desire for breakfast this morning. A quick blind set and a few dek's later, we plopped down on a levee and commenced to shooting at precisely 6:35 a.m. At 7:15, bags were full, limits were tapped, and we quickly realized that it had all passed before we really got the chance to enjoy it. We'd hoped that the mallards would show, and they exceeded our expectations with rare form. By far, it was the best hunt this season, and at 7:20 we walked out with 30 birds, including 20 Mallards and 10 Shovelers.







Total for Regular Season: 257
Combined Teal & Regular for 2009: 317
Birds Per Day: 19.77
160 Shovelers (Arrrrrrrrgh!)
22 Specks
51 Mallards
15 Green Wing
3 Gadwall
7 Pintails
2 Blue Wing
1 Wigeon
1 Red Head
1 Snow

Obscene . . . Simply Obscene

Wulp, we've found our groove. That's not to say that we've got the game figured out, but we've finally fallen into the rut, and this season its coming early.

Friday, December 11, 2009, Tom Waleszonia joined Donnie, the Kid, and I for an afternoon shoot over the ice. Continuing the tradition, we smoked those wide-bills like there was no tomorrow. 4-man limits in about an hour -- 24 total. 2 Pintail, 22 SHOVELERS!!!!!




On Saturday, Tasha, J-Hawk, Jake, the Don, the Kid, Meredith, ole Gibby, and Cannonball (singular) made another trip to the fabled Home Field blind, the 12th such trip out of 12 hunts this season (that'd be 100%, for you math majors). Took us till noon, but we finally emerged with 39 birds, including 23 shovelers, 9 Mallards, 6 GW Teal, and 1 Speck.





Total for Regular Season: 234
Combined Teal & Regular for 2009: 294
Birds Per Day: 19.5
151 Shovelers (Arrrrrrrrgh!)
22 Specks
31 Mallards
15 Green Wing
3 Gadwall
7 Pintails
2 Blue Wing
1 Wigeon
1 Red Head
1 Snow

FINALLY!

Well, yesterday started out a bust.  The second split of season was supposed to start out with blinding swarms of Mallards on the only open water available.  Unfortunately, it didn't quite end up that way.

Despite the Don's admonition not to do so, I made the executive decision that he, Special Fred, Meredith, & I would head South in search of open water on the Thursday re-opening.  Since we were en route to public spaces, we decided to leave J-town at 2:00 a.m. -- that's right, TWO IN THE MORNING.  Doing so ensured that we'd be first in line to get our honey hole, and we left town in the wee hours with high expectations.

Unfortunately, our camping excursion remained private less than one hour, as company showed up by 3:45 a.m.  What started as a party of four quickly turned to a party of eight, including two lads from South Carolina.  Being Gentlemen, we welcomed them and ensured that there would be no hard feelings regarding their tagging along.

Fortunately, they didn't screw us up.  By "didn't screw us up," what I mean is that there were no birds to be found, i.e., it sucked.  Furthermore, we found that what sucks doesn't suck anymore with eight people than it does with four people.  Sucks is as sucks does, and we finally left empty-handed at 9:30.

Demoralized, we returned to the farm for an afternoon skunk saver.  At first, we gave them 30 minutes of our attention on the Lost 20.  However, when that didn't happen, we shifted to the Home Field, and boy howdy, were we glad we did.

Seeing our first decent groups of mallards for the season, we promptly cut seven out of the first flock.  And then another two out of the next flock, and then another three out of the next flock, etc.  Just that quickly, we doubled our mallard count for the season.  When the smoke cleared, our pile included 12 Mallards, 12 Shovelers, 2 Pins, 4 Greenwings, and 1 Mystery Bird.  31 for the day!!!

We set two records yesterday:

1.   We have now actually surpassed the most ducks we have EVER killed in the Home Field in an entire season.  Our previous high was in the 130's, and we have now killed 170, and in 10 days of hunting.

2.  We have now actually surpassed the highest number of Northern Shovelers we have ever killed in a single season (ouch!). 





Total for the day: 31 birds.
Total for Regular Season: 170
Combined Teal & Regular for 2009: 230
Birds Per Day: 17.00
106 Shovelers (Arrrrrrrrgh!)
21 Specks
22 Mallards
9 Green Wing
3 Gadwall
5 Pintails
1 Blue Wing
1 Wigeon
1 Red Head
1 Snow

Youth Weekend

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!

 



Uhh, that'd be my 8-year old, with her first confirmed kill.  Yeah, its a shoveler, but she's 8 and carrying a pink & purple camo .410 bore, and its a dead duck, so we'll call it a win That dude's goin to the taxidermist.  For the record,  she did it at the same age, in the same field, and with the same gauge as her daddy.  Nothing to sneeze at!

It gets better!  Sunday afternoon I took the kids out to the ole Home Field and Garrett took his first bird on the wing.  A fine day, indeed.

Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Almost everything was frozen at the farm this morning.  The almost part, on the other hand, is where things get good.  Birds stayed overnight in the Lost 20 and Jones, and as a result, there was no ice on those fields.  I would estimate 3,000 ducks on the Lost 20, and maybe half as many on Jones.  Unfortunately, the ducks were mixed with a LARGE number of snow geese, and those geese are doing their signature damage to the fields.

Most encouraging of all is the fact that the birds, which I ran off the fields, left those two roosts and flew southwest, which means they aren't the same flocks we've been hunting that roost on Coleman's Reservoir.  That's a good thing, because Coleman's is brimming with birds, and if the birds on the 20 and Jones are not part of that roost, there's a LOT of birds in town. 

Yippeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

New birds on the ole home court as of yesterday.  J-Hawk called in a very encouraging report, and I confirmed it this morning.  Looks like mallards & pins, which is a welcomed diversion from all the spoon-bill swatting we've been doing.  Birds on Amy's, GW's, Jones, Lost 20, & Home fields.  This should make for one more FINE weekend for the youth hunters.