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.