Would not have believed it...
Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:50 pm
...unless I saw it. I did not see a duck, much less kill a duck, on my ace, #1, best, money hole the entire year. This hole has provided outstanding January hunting for years and occassionally good hunting in December as well. But there was nary a duck on it all year this year. Guess ducks dont do rotten soybeans and grass.
So instead of two holes, we were down to one, and no ducks showed up until early January. From there it was nurse the one hole for a couple of hunts per week. Highlights were my first full plummage drake bluewing teal since the late '80s (goes on the wall), my friend's first duck taken with his first ever shot on his first ever duck hunt and my 7 year old daughter's first ever duck hunt. Hope to be able to add my 9 year old son's first duck to that list after this weekend!
Farmer buddy tells me that USDA estimated 150,000 acres of soybeans not cut this year in Delta. That's a lot of acres of rotten beans = no duck food and could partly explain tough season (in addition to all the other reasons including likelihood that 100 million fall flight index actually means 35-40 million ducks).
I lucked up with 50 birds in 10 hunts- all in January. 33 of them mallards and only 2 wood ducks. But I never saw more than a couple of hundred birds on any hunt. It was definitely a "you better shoot em early, better not miss, don't lose any cripples" type of situation.
In sum, I'll remember the positive, forget the negative , look forward to turkey season and mostly, be thankful for every second I am able to spend in the Great Outdoors.
So instead of two holes, we were down to one, and no ducks showed up until early January. From there it was nurse the one hole for a couple of hunts per week. Highlights were my first full plummage drake bluewing teal since the late '80s (goes on the wall), my friend's first duck taken with his first ever shot on his first ever duck hunt and my 7 year old daughter's first ever duck hunt. Hope to be able to add my 9 year old son's first duck to that list after this weekend!
Farmer buddy tells me that USDA estimated 150,000 acres of soybeans not cut this year in Delta. That's a lot of acres of rotten beans = no duck food and could partly explain tough season (in addition to all the other reasons including likelihood that 100 million fall flight index actually means 35-40 million ducks).
I lucked up with 50 birds in 10 hunts- all in January. 33 of them mallards and only 2 wood ducks. But I never saw more than a couple of hundred birds on any hunt. It was definitely a "you better shoot em early, better not miss, don't lose any cripples" type of situation.
In sum, I'll remember the positive, forget the negative , look forward to turkey season and mostly, be thankful for every second I am able to spend in the Great Outdoors.
