Had to go to work this morning to tie up some loose ends and deal with a student emergency. By the time I had things finished I had missed the morning flight but still hit the marsh around lunch time to see what the afternoon would bring. I had high hopes with the wind forecast being 10-20mph. The higher the winds the more the birds can’t raft up on the open bays and they generally have to come back into the marsh ponds to seek refuge.
When I got to the marsh I was pleasantly surprised at the number of birds in the pond I had chosen. Looks as though a big push of birds had occurred this week. The rafts were spread out but there was a good number of wigeon, gadwall, shovelers, and canvasbacks but the number of pintails is what was amazing! They were everywhere mixed in with the other birds.
As I poled the AquaPod across the pond I watched as flock after flock of birds jumped up and headed out. I noticed a single drake wigeon that held tight. His head was down and I wondered if maybe he was a cripple. He was in my path and when he didn’t jump at my approach I slowly reached down and slid a couple shells into my gun. At 25 yards I suddenly realized that the bird was asleep. I’m not sure if he heard me at that point or if his survival instinct just kicked in but all in one motion his head popped up and he sprang into the air. I scrambled to swap the push pole in my hand for the gun from the floor of the boat but managed to do so in time to fold him clean with a single shot. The noise was enough to clear the rest of the birds from the pond.
When I got to my blind the wind was indeed blowing pretty good but not from a direction that works well for my hide. I tried to compensate by putting my spread farther out in hopes that the birds would skirt by the edge of the blind on their way to the decoys and not have to fly over me while making their approach. As I was putting out the last of the six dozen decoys the birds began to return in singles, pairs, and small groups. One of them, another drake wigeon, locked his wings from way out and sailed straight towards me as I stood in the boat in the middle of my decoys. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t flaring but I shouldered my gun and knocked down the second bird of the day before I even got into the blind.
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For the first couple of hours the wigeon came to the pond fairly steadily. The first couple groups gave me enough of a look to provide a couple more drakes for the pile. Then the pintails started working back in as well. A four pack came in from behind me but worked up the string of wigeon decoys just as I had hoped. They were grouped up tight but as they started to land one of the drakes separated enough to give me a clean shot. He hit the water and the wind pushed him straight to me.
Then came the lull. The skies emptied and it seemed like forever before another bird made an appearance. A swan came in low and landed only 20yds out to my left. I wish I had my big camera with me as it was quite a sight! He stayed beside me feeding and preening until the canvasbacks started making a show just before dark.
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Usually canvasbacks are a gimmie bird for me in the salt marsh. However, due to a slight change in the wind direction they just wouldn’t come by close enough for a shot. They were actually landing into a cross wind to keep from coming over the brush that I was hiding in. It was very frustrating to watch group after group dive in and land just outside the spread and just outside of my range. I did have a couple that came close enough for a hopeful shot but with the strong winds it just wasn’t meant to be. I ended my second hunt of the year with four wigeon drakes and a pintail drake. I think it’s going to be a good year and I can’t wait for my son to get here in two weeks so we can start stacking them up!!
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