Yessssss!

Chuck's.  cold front. Northwest winds.  Temps in the low 40's.  Clouds.  Ducks.

Baker, Gray, Elder, Papa, and the Gipper.

31 Birds
21 Mallards
04 shovelers
02 Pins
02 gadwall
01 Wigeon
01 Speck

Chuck's . . . Gotta Love It!

Back to Charles' Field with a skeleton crew.  John, Blake and lonesome me.  We expected five in the party but wound up with only three.  Kinda stunk, cause it took longer to get the 'coys out than it did to smoke our limit of mallards.  Outta the blind by 7:05. At this point, the harvest is more being limited by a lack if warm bodies than a lack of cooperative birds.

14 ducks
12 Mallards
02 Pins


Season total to date:  188
15.67 Birds Per Hunt.
14.46 Birds Per Day of Season.

Consistently Inconsistent

Today, Gates, Blake, Johnny & I jumped back into Chuck's. LOTS-O-MALLARDS.  No wind, heavy clouds, hot.  Then again, we left at 8:15 will mallard limits.  Not too shabby.

19 Birds.
16 Mallards
2 GWT
1 Wigeon




On Friday, Dec. 7, John, Meredith & I tried again on Jones in hopes of giving Charles' a rest.  Poor choice, but we did bag the season's first jewelry.

2 Birds
1 Mallard
1 Shoveler

Annnnnnnnnnd . . . We're Back!

It was good.  Chuck's:  Rick Huffman, Dan Maddox, Papa, Baker, Johnny, and yours truly.  Light southeast winds and cloudy skies.  Never flapped up. Didn't matter.  Dumb, hungry mallards.  In and out before 7:30.  Limits, all mallards and a bonus speck.

26 Birds.
25 Mallards
01 speck.

Humble Beginnings

Well, assuming that things go in accordance with my evil genius plan, construction of the compound shall commence at daybreak, tomorrow.  The shell should pop up like a greyhound coming out of the gate.  Interior design, on the other hand, isn't something that'll take shape within a week or two.  When I say I'm new to this, I mean green as a gourd.  Wish me luck.

Before . . .















Saturday, December 1, Johnny and I went on a mission to eradicate the snow geese that were molesting the Lost 20.  We didn't get the snows, but did leave with 3 specks.

Season total:  127 Birds.   We'll get there.

Breakdown: Split Number 1:

Grand Total for the First Split:

124 Birds
Mallards:  52.  42%
Gadwalls:  40.  32%
Shovelers:  13.  10%
Greenwings:  7.  6%
Wigeon:  4.  3%
Specks:  4.  3%
Pintail:  2.  2%
Canada Goose:  2.  2%
15.5 Birds Per Hunt on 8 Hunts at Trigger Happy Hunting Club.

Commentary:

Numerically, it certainly wasn't as good as last season's 1st split total of 179 Birds for an average of 19 birds per hunt.  ON THE OTHER HAND, the grand total of mallards harvested during last season's first split was a whopping 5 (that's right, I said FIVE).  It's funny, because the difference between this year's gadwall split and last year's is only 2 birds.  The difference on pin's is only 1.  The obviously different number is the total shoveler count.  2012's 1st split talley is a grand total of 13, which is EIGHTY-SIX birds short of last year's headcount.  In summary, we've done just as well, minus a butt load of ditch ducks.  Not too shabby.

Now, contrast those numbers against 2010/2011's first split, and the story starts to come together.  In 2010, which we have lovingly dubbed the greatest mallard year on record, our first split ended with a very humble 44 birds reduced to possession.  Only 10 of those were mallards.  Like this season, only 7 were greenwings.  A mere 7 were shovelers.  Another 12 were grey ducks, 4 were specks, and only 1 was a pintail.  It wasn't until December 11 of 2012 that we actually started getting into numbers of birds.  By Christmas, we'd killed 333.  By Christmas of 2011/2012, we'd killed 435 (of course, 312 of 'em were flat-snout's).

I'm getting to a point:  I was somewhat disappointed at the way the birds tapered off at the end of this split, but in the scheme of things from a historical perspective, I'd say we're doing just fine.  As a matter of fact, I'd say that the season's shaping up quite nicely. 

Not Slower, Just Slow

Okay, it wasn't any better this morning.  There were, at least, a few ducks sitting in the field when we got there, though.  John, Blake, Gibby.  Chuck's.  It sucked.

3 Birds
1 mallard
1 speck
1 Canada.

Catching Up . . .

Saturday, November 24, Reece, John, Blake, Jake, and I went back to chuck's, as we really have no place better to go.  A cold front moved through, and whereas we had been "enjoying" morning temps in the 50's, we saw 10 m.p.h. North winds and a blustery 28 degrees this morning.  It was slow, but we managed to scratch out 2 mallards before Reece pulled out and another 4 thereafter.  The break is looking better all the time.

Chuck's
6 Mallards







On Friday, November 23, Reece, John and I set up a blind on the Jones field in search of the elusive speck.  No love, and skunk #1 for the season.

Thursday afternoon, Dave and I plopped down on the levee on jones and managed to pick up one speck.

Jones
1 Speck.

The Titanic . . .

. . . it was a big ship, but it still sank like a rock.  Where duck hunting's concerned, we can relate.  The first split came outta the gate like a racehorse, but let's face it, we're going down.

Today, Hunter, Reece, John, Blake, and I gave thanks for the meager bag that we carried out of the field, and we were thankful because we, rightfully, should've geek carrying a skunk.

3 Birds:
1 Mallard
2 Specks






November 21, John, Grant, Keith, Hailey, Olivia, Garrett, and I went back to the well-used water on Chucks. As expected, the numbers of working birds continued to decline.  It was tough, and we exited at 9 with only 8 birds.

6 Mallards
2 grey ducks







On Tuesday, we were graced with the invite to Byers Farm, or "heaven for Waterfowlers," as I've come to know it.  Cason Short is da man.

As always, the hospitality was phenomenal, the numbers of birds on the place was incredible, and my shooting was laughable.  Excellent trip,as expected.

We hunted until 8:00, and left with 6 limits of teal, and a full bag of mallards and scraps to round out an excellent hunt.





Monday, November 20, was the first trip of the season that turned out to be a struggle. I was fortunate enough to be joined in the blind by Eric Price and my eldest, Olivia.  We hunted till 10:00 to get our limit, but ultimately left with full bags.

19 Birds
09 Shovelers
05 Mallards
05 Gadwall

Grey Ducks Down

Day 2, having no place better to go, Dave, Franks, Garrett, Meredith, John, Blake & I returned to Chuck's.  It was obvious at first light that the throngs of birds we'd seen the day before would be much more humble on this occasion. The mix of a fairly thin herd of birds in the area and extraordinarily heave hunting pressure meant that the diminished numbers came as no surprise.  Nonetheless, the birds did show, and we obliged 'em. Pulled out at 8:15, two birds shy of a full bag.

40 birds
22 gadwall
10 mallards
4 green wings
4 shovelers

84 for the season.

Good Enough

Okay, let me say this: it was good.  I don't wanna be that guy that whines when he's holding a golden goblet, so understand that it was really, really good.  It just wasn't as good as I expected it to be.  The ducks worked, but never put their feet down in big groups like I thought they would.  On the other hand, we were out be 8:00 with a 7 man limit, sans spoonbills, so how do ya complain?

Tasha, papa, Dave, Johnny, Blake, Meredith, and yours truly popped 'em in Chuck's blind.  Clear weather, perfect 5 mph NE winds, temps in the mid-30's.  Good Stuff.

44 Birds.

23 Mallards
11 Gadwall
4 wigeon
3 Greenwing
2 Pintail
1 Canada Goose

As Goes Our Nation, So Goes My Duck Hunting

Let's face it:  this is a time of moral and economic uncertainty for our nation.  We've (and by "we" I mean the idiots living in urban population centers) have chosen to send the same Muslim card-carrying socialist back to the capital that weakened and indebted our country.  Urban America and the unions that fleece the rest of the country have made their decisions and those are the bane of my existence, but there's an up side . . .

Now, let me preface the following thought with my moral convictions:  I don't support the legalization of pot in my home state, nor do I endorse the use of chemical substances as coping mechanisms.  However, what I do endorse is the rebellion of states against the tyranny of our present federal system.  At least 4 states passed laws last Tuesday which run in direct defiance of federal laws.  Regardless of the merits of those laws, I'm romantically in love with the though that those states are standing up and sticking it to the man.  Fact is, for decades our federal government has brushed the mandates of our 10th Amendment under the rug and acted as if it has the authority to draw whatever lines it chooses.  What I'm hoping is that this is a trend which will continue to a place of logical absurdity.  In summary, it is entirely possible that the election of this retard may fuel a fire that actually prompts the nation to take the stand that Thomas Jefferson so passionately hoped we would.  That would be the epitomy of the silver lining in a very dark cloud. 

I know what you're thinking:  "so what does any of that have to do with the Trigger Happy Hunting Club?"  I'm glad you asked!  The point is, that our country is at a decidely unforseen and unpredictible crossroads, and the events that will transpire in the short-term future will ensure that the end result could be either very good, or very bad.  It's certainly uncertain at this point.

As always, my predictions for the 2012-2013 duck season are much the same.  We've got birds, and lots of 'em.  The Memphis Blind is a nullity at this point, because the early water prompted the mass influx of birds to feed through what was left of our soybean crop in less than a week.  The place has simply been ripped to shreads.  Were it not for the fact that I'm shooting 'em out twice a day, the fate of the Lost 20 would be no different.  And then there is Chuck's.  Ahhh . . . the beloved promised land.  She's brimming with gadwalls, wigeon, pin's, teal, shovelers, and mallards.  Not much water, and the creek is bone dry.

Now, I haven't the first drop of water on Amy's, Baser, GW's, Ray's, the Shop, etc.  Where there's water, there are ducks.  Where there is no water, it's a wasteland.  Hold on . . . I'm getting to a point.

The point is, if I can get water to the blind on Chuck's, the sun shines, and the weather conditions stay EXACTLY as they are now, it could be awesome.  If we get storms, if we get big rains, if it gets extremely cold, or if it is cloudy for the opener, all could be lost.  Like our political climate, the duck climate is volitile and speculative.  Certainly uncertain.

Below are a few pic's of Chucks, as it is now: