Day 2 of Opening Weekend

by Kent Contreras

For fellow Avery Pro-Staffer Allen Riggs and me, it was day two of opening weekend. Yesterdays hunt was cut short due to high winds and whitecaps on the river. Still, we managed 9 birds for the morning, not bad for a quick hunt. So for day two our plan was to hit some protected water on one of the islands, a slough that is frequently packed with mallards and teal.

We started out at 04:30, temperature was sitting at 22 degrees and calm, the fog on the river made the 2 mile boat ride cold and slow. All I can say is if you don't have a good GPS for your boat, you need to get one! This particular morning it made the difference in getting to the spot safe and without any incidents.

We made our way through the slough into a nice spot with a bank that was covered with some tall grass. Even after the long months of waiting for this weekend to arrive, it was like we never had stopped hunting. Allen was quick to fall back into our "routine" of setting up. Unfortunately the water was deeper than normal, forcing us to keep the GHG oversize mallard decoys along the shore line in the shallower water. We also placed a dozen GHG oversize goose floaters on the opposite bank, creating a landing zone for the birds. We set up the layout blinds and got situated for the day. Just as legal shooting time approached we were ready.

Several flocks were starting fly and the fog was keeping the birds low and steady on a course with the river. This was a small disadvantage for us as birds kept to the big water and were avoiding the island. We had to wait until the fog lifted a bit or the sun poked through enough for the birds to see the slough. When conditions improved enough for birds to make out the slough the hunt was on! Teal were the first to venture into our spread, we elected to let them be and stay amongst the spread giving us movement and live birds to attract the bigger mallards. Allen's PH1 and my PH2 cut through the still air and worked their magic on pair of mallards, my dog Tank was sitting between us and kept his eyes open for any movement in the fog. I saw his eyes snap to the right and then I saw them too.

"Pair to the right, coming in" I half whispered to Allen, the birds started to cup and were trying to figure out where to land when I flung the doors open to my Ground Force blind. I could tell it had been awhile since I shot from this position as the first round was a complete miss(shoulder the gun you dummy I thought to myself). The next round was fired simultaneously with Allen's first round of the morning and one bird fell. Tank, steady as a rock, awaited the command to retrieve. "TANK!" the command given for him to get the bird and he was in the water without hesitation, I don't think his feet even touched the ground in front of him! Tank was on cruise control for the dead bird, good boy! Not bad for a 2 year old.

I turned to Allen and spewed my excuse for missing and then chuckled that we "still haven't figured out which bird to shoot seeing as how we both went for the same one, again". We were starting to get some more flights and as the day progressed we kept Tank busy with retrieves.

The next birds to fall were a pair of greenheads, sliding by silently from behind us they circled and looked disinterested. We hammered with the calls and kept their attention. Another circle, pleading hen calls and some feeder chatter got them to commit. This time they entered the landing zone from Allen's side, just as they were setting up to land, we opened up the blind doors and fired off a shot apiece, this time we did it right and they both hit the water. Allen's bird was hit hard but managed to swim into the tall grass on the opposite bank. Tank saw him go in and was anxiously awaiting the command to retrieve, the call was made and he again shot out of his position with the enthusiasm of a young dog ready for action. This ended up being a bit of a struggle for him as the bird had swam deep into the grass and was laying low. Tank made it to the other shore and started his grid search pattern. A single whistle to stop him and come back to the water was given. Again he searched in the water but couldn't get the birds scent He made one more attempt on shore to pick up the birds scent but with no luck, another whistle command to stop and come "in", this time he was right on the bird and as he approached it the drake made one last attempt to escape. Tank lunged for him and made a great grab just off the water! Swimming back to us you could tell he was jacked up, snorting and moving fast with that big greenhead in his mouth.

After the sun rose high enough we could make out flocks through the fog as they skirted our spread, they were dropping into a spot beyond our location. We scouted it out and found that the river level was so high, the island was virtually a large marsh, good news and bad news. Good news is the next time we hit this spot we'll set up further back where the birds have shallower water. The bad news was the rest of the day the birds were going to keep dropping in to this area and avoid us.

We made several jump shooting ventures back to the marshy areas and got a couple nice greenheads. Our tally was 9 so far and we elected to call it a day, after all, this is just the opening weekend and we still have over a hundred days until the end of January!