How we feelin' about this season?

[NyssaAquatica]

Ladies and gents, what's your optimism for the coming season? Scale of 1-10. Me, I'm predicting a solid 7.

Hoping for a few more puddle ducks to come through my end of the Scatters, but the general trend line has been downward since 2010. Kind of amazing how the number of puddle ducks I see flying in our area is less than half of what I remember seeing in the 90s and 2000s.

Fortunately, the woodrows have stepped up to fill in the balance of ever-decreasing teal, mallards, gaddies, and pintails. They really like the pin oaks we planted 25 years ago. So, I'll still be waking up for early December and January mornings, shooting my woodrows and hoping for a few bonus groups of mallards to give me a shot at a limit. The fellas in my hunt group are slowing down, so every morning will be a blessing regardless of how many shots are fired. At this point, sometimes the hardest thing is convincing the old-timers to get up and hunt again on Sunday.

All that said, I'm feeling grateful for another season and optimistic for a couple bang-up hunts.

[teul2]

I am not optimistic at all. 2 or 3 out of 10 here.
I am planning more deer hunts with my son that anything else. If the ducks show up, I'll be taking him, otherwise, we are chasing pine goats.