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Thread: Follow up to the “Guaranteed”!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
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    Petaluma CA / Moncks Corner SC
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    Default Follow up to the “Guaranteed”!

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    So, I finished the blind up on Friday afternoon only to be informed that we had friends in town from SC visiting and we would be tied up eating some damn fine Portuguese food instead of hunting on Saturday. That was fine by me as my shoulder has been giving me fits lately and hauling all that brush out and staking it down had taken its toll on it. Then after all the eating I was just about comatose come Sunday morning and failed to get up again. I know.....excuses excuses. Knocked out a few “honey do” list items Sunday when I got up and then ran to Sportsman’s Warehouse to grab a hunting license. It was going to be a short and sweet afternoon sit but at least I was finally getting out to hunt.

    I hauled out six dozen decoys in the AquaPod with a good mix of canvasbacks, pintails, wigeon, and a lone spoonie for the kill pocket. When I got to the marsh it was already 2:00pm and shooting time was going to be over at 4:52pm. Didn’t feel like messing with the jerk strings since I was in a hurry and that would prove to be a mistake. We had a 7mph East wind which had the marsh pond good and rippled when I arrived. No one else was around and I push poled out to the blind as quick as I could. Got the spread situated and hunkered down watching blue bird skies and very bright sun.

    The few birds that were in the pond left pretty quickly when I hit the water. It was a long slow sit with nothing flying for most of the afternoon. I did have one lone spoonie drake that swung by in range but I let him go as I was hoping for something better as my first bird of the year. A canvasback skirted the edge of my range from behind me and I twisted around as best I could and got off a single hopeful shot that definitely didn’t connect. Finally with about an hour left a lone wigeon hen came drifting in to the right side of the blind. Not my favorite shot but she was low and slow so I made it work. A quick turn to face her just as she cleared the closest decoy and at the sound of the shot she burst into a cloud of feathers! First bird of the year was laying on the water motionless. The Patternmaster choke tube that I picked up from Dwayne P. before leaving South Carolina had done a fine job on her. The next pair of wigeon came down my left which is my preferred side for a passing shot. At around 25yds I pulled up and folded the drake nicely. I was down to 30min of shooting time left but was happy with what I had for such a short hunt.

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    With only 10min to go before sunset a single pintail drake came across the pond. He checked out two groups of coots as I pleaded for him to come my way on the MorWhistle. Finally he turned towards my spread and floated around the backside of the blind as he lined up for a landing. Pintails usually aren’t so easily fooled but this one came in with blinders on. He crossed over the single spoonie decoy in the kill hole and I took the shot just as he put his feet out to land. That was the last bird of the evening that would come near me.

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    Not a barn burner shoot by any means but for a 2.5 hour evening hunt for the first trip of the year I was absolutely satisfied!

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    Last edited by Ring King; 12-21-2020 at 01:27 AM.
    Living in Moncks Corner but looking forward to moving back to the West Coast in 2020 where there are more ducks and less duck hunters!! LOL

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    That was a good read! Nice way to start it off too!

  3. #3
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    Aug 2009
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    Probation
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    Nice Matt!
    Quote Originally Posted by BOG View Post
    Tip:
    Although it is natural for you and seems to be out of your hands, try to suppress your natural inclination towards dumbassedness and do some research of your own.I wish you luck.
    Tekton Game Calls
    http://tektongamecalls.com

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
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    Wateree, South Carolina
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    Great boat shot!

  5. #5
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    Nov 2007
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    Charleston
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    nice
    "Check your premise." Dr. Hugh Akston

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
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    GREENWOOD
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    Love it. Its got to be nice to have lived and been able to kill ducks in some of the places you have. Congrats to you sir
    I am a nobody, that met somebody, that can save anybody.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Clarendon County
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    8,402

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    Yes sir!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
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    Awesome. I'm surprised they don't ticket you for cutting the brush, being it's California and all.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    North Kackalacky
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    Nothing wrong with that.
    Vegetarian: Native American for Piss Poor Hunter

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Petaluma CA / Moncks Corner SC
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bownut View Post
    Awesome. I'm surprised they don't ticket you for cutting the brush, being it's California and all.
    SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! LOL It's funny you say that. I was sitting on the side of the road chatting with my Dad on the cell phone just before cutting the second truck load. It was a busy highway that I was next to but I was parked on a small dead end side road. I made the comment to him that I'm just waiting on the day that a cop pulls over to make sure I'm not dumping trash only to find me cutting brush and give me a ticket for that!

    It has been nice to live all over the country on Uncle Sam's dime and get to chase all the various species of waterfowl that North America has to offer. I'm currently sitting at 31 of 32 huntable species of ducks and I'm at 39 of 41 species of waterfowl in general. All of mine have been done on DIY hunts. I'm not the type to do the guided hunt thing. I've tried it three separate times with guides and two of them were complete disasters. The third one proved to be a very productive conservation season goose hunt with my wife (83 birds total between specks and snows) but also had it's share of not so pleasant moments. I've had enough of that style of hunting to know that it's just not my thing.

    The wife and I are planning on getting back out Wednesday around midday for another hunt. I have to work that morning handing out Christmas grab bags to my students that are on lock down here on base for the Holidays. When I'm done with that we're headed straight to the blind. It'll be her first hunt of the year as well as our little 1 year old Boykin's first hunt ever. Should be an absolutely frustrating good time! LOL

    My son is coming in from South Carolina the first week of January. That's when the real hunting is going to start! He'll be here for 24 days and the goal is to try and get him a cinnamon teal. I've put in for a bunch of draw hunts over on the Refuges around Sacramento, Suisun Marsh, and the Delta. Hopefully we get drawn so that he can try and check off another species on his list. It's more fun helping him get his collection completed these days than it is for me to just go out and pile up birds on my own! That's why I don't start my duck hunting until this time of year even though the season has been in here since October.
    Last edited by Ring King; 12-21-2020 at 11:13 AM.
    Living in Moncks Corner but looking forward to moving back to the West Coast in 2020 where there are more ducks and less duck hunters!! LOL

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    Gobbler's Knob, GA/ Bamberg,SC
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    Love the Suisun. That is where I started duck hunting in 1968. Beautiful place then, and hopefully still is.

    Envious of you Sir. Hope yall have a great January!!
    F**K Cancer

    Just Damn.

  12. #12
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    Jan 2007
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    Simpsonville
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    Nothing wrong with that hunt! Thanks for sharing.

  13. #13
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    Aug 2010
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    Great hunt as always, RK. Always look forward to your posts.
    Never confuse enthusiasm for capability

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
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    Petaluma CA / Moncks Corner SC
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    Headed back out tomorrow on a solo mission. The wife decided she wants to stay at home and work on Christmas crafts. Hoping for a good shoot since they are calling for a nice breezy day. Then we are going to spend Christmas Eve fishing offshore in the kayaks, scattering my MIL’s ashes (it would have been her birthday), and cooking on the beach over and open fire. Should be a great time and hopefully provide some great pic and video opportunities!
    Living in Moncks Corner but looking forward to moving back to the West Coast in 2020 where there are more ducks and less duck hunters!! LOL

  15. #15
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    Nov 2005
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    Fort Kickass
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    50,993

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    Livin the dream....
    "Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration" -Izaak Walton

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