A Season of Extremes . . .

So much to report.  Where do I begin?

Alright, so let me start by setting the record straight for the purposes of understanding the underlying weather patterns that have dictated our success and failure this season: 

First, as the season opened, we watched perfect weather and large concentrations of birds go to pot when the whole place surrendered to temps in the upper teens on the second day of season.  We fought through it, and prevailed, to some degree.  On the heels of that cold snap, we had the ice storm of 2013, which crippled traffic, ruined gutters, and halted duck season as we knew it for a full 7 days of season.  Temps dipped into the single digits.  Everything stalled out. 

As said weather cleared out, we were graced by the biggest, brightest full-moon I've ever witnessed, which threw the ducks into a mad-dash night feed, which continued between Sunday evening and Thursday morning.  Fortunately, the moon gave way to clouds, and on Friday, we got after em.  Unfortunately, it didn't last long, because on Saturday the torrents of rain moved into town.  My rain gauge tops out at 5 inches.  It ran over, and then some.  Looks like we'll be losing another week of season.  For what it's worth, this has been a tough one. 

Okay, so Saturday, December 21, Blake & his Uncle, David White, joined me at the home field.  Didn't last long, as the lightning ran us out of the field before 8:00 a.m.  We left with only a handful.

Saturday, Dec. 21, 2013:
Home Field
4 Ducks
2 Shovelers
1 Gadwall
1 GWT

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013:
Lost 20
11 Birds
3 Snows
4 Shovelers
4 Mallards


Charles' West:
20 Birds
6 Gadwalls
14 Mallards





Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013:
Louis Williams & Yours Truly, Chuck's West
12 Birds
5 Mallards
5 Gadwall
1 Shoveler
1 GWT



Wednesday, December 18, 2013:
Jim, Mike, and Tyler Davis; Chuck's West
14 Birds
2 GAdwall
3 Redheads
1 Mallard
8 Shovelers



Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013:
Jim, Mike, and Tyler Davis; Chuck's West
21 Birds
11 Gadwall
5 Mallard
1 GWT
4 Shovelers



Monday, Dec. 16, 2013
Jim, Mike, and Tyler Davis; Jimmy Scott; Home Field
14 Birds
3 Shovelers
8 Mallards
2 Gadwall
1 Redhead

Hellfest. Yum.

Alright, so On Saturday, Blake, Reece, Ryan, and I fought the heavy fog on the east side of Chuck's, only to live with a singular mallard. On Friday, the day before, however, Blake and I weathered the rain in the same spot and brought home 9 birds. Not too shabby for an impromptu hunt that only lasted an hour.

Saturday, December 14, 2013.

1 mallard

Friday, December 13, 2013.

9 Birds
3 shovelers
1 gadwall
2 GWT
1 Mallard
2 snows.





As for Friday night, Hellfest was in full swing. Heck of a shindig with food that'd make you slap yo dead grandma's corpse. Fine times, indeed.

Back At 'Em . . . Momentarily

Johnny, Taylor, Elders, and yours truly slipped in for a little post-ice shindig about 1:00 p.m. this afternoon on the west line of little Chuck's. Not a bad little shoot, I must sat. We came out with full bags. Papa eased in behind us and popped an additional 3 birds behind us before he left.

Chucks a East
27 Birds
15 mallards
10 shovelers
2 Grey Ducks

Winter Arrives . . .

Well, friends, this is gonna be a rough one. We ended the first split on a whimper and patiently waited for the second season to make its way around the corner hoping all the while that the birds would reset and give us a shot at redemption. And it shook down exactly like we'd hoped it would . . . With one blindingly painful exception: we didn't see the weather coming. For purposes of recording the matter for future reference, I shall quote from the weather channel's forecast:

Friday: ICE STORM WARNING. high of 29 @ 7:00 a.m. With temps falling. N winds @ 15-25 mph.
Saturday: low: 18. High: 21
Sunday: low: 23. High: 30 with snow
Monday: low: 9. High: 30. Partly sunny
Tuesday: low: 10. High: 28
Wednesday: low: 12. High: 34

 Do you see the problem here? Unfortunately, waterfowl habitually inhabit areas with water in its liquid form. We're fresh outta that stuff for the next week or so. We knew we had problems when temps hit 20 degrees on the second day of season.

The pattern has played out exactly as expected. With that in mind, we looked to wreck em while we could. And we did. Thursday, as a last ditch to get what we could while we could, we started in on em on the home field in the morning with a seven man crew, including Grey, the Bakers, John, Brant Tosh, Brian Elders, and myself. We stepped out of the blind early with 36 ducks and a speck. Thereafter, we took a few mystery guests out to break the seal on Chuck's and smoked another 27 birds.

Total for the day 64 birds.

 Memphis Blind:
8 mallards
10 gadwalls
12 GWT
6 spooners
1 speck.



 Chuck's:
15 gadwall
6 mallards
4 GWT
2 shovelers



Sunday: Johnny & the Gipper in Memphis . . . 1 hoody

Saturday:  Reece, Blake, John, Garrett, Gibby. 10 birds in Memphis.

4 GWT
4 Shovelers
1 Mallard
1 speck



Friday a.m.:  8 birds. Reece, Blake, Johnny & the Gipper; Memphis

4 redheads
2 GWT
1 gadwall
1 Mallard

Friday p.m.:  Blake, Reece, Johnny. Chuck's on the east side. 2 Gadwalls.