Got to get after em one last time thanks to the military/veteran hunt weekend out here in California. The forecast was for rain in the morning and then mostly cloudy skies with 15-25mph winds gusting to 35mph. Sounded pretty sporty and a little much for bass fishing so I decided to load up the AquaPod and gear to try the birds one last time. With the early morning rain I sat in the truck until shooting light before paddling out. The place I chose to hunt was two big ponds separated by a pair of parallel levees that have a few breaks in them.
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For whatever reason this area doesn’t get mallards during the season but they get in there in decent numbers as soon as the season closes. They love sitting between those levees once the hunting pressure goes away. It’s only about 35yds between the two levees and with the wind blowing hard I figured jump shooting would be the ticket. I slid the Aquapod into the water just as legal shooting time started. I didn’t take long before I could hear birds just over the dirt levee from me. I had to stay low as the levee is only about two feet high. When I was just about to take a look over the top a group of geese busted me and jumped to the air. This caused all kinds of havoc as they spooked a giant group of ducks nearby. Birds were going every direction. I picked a pair out of the air and as soon as I heard the mallard hen quack I swung to her partner and let a few shots fly. Miffed!!!! I couldn’t believe it. The only thing I can figure is that the wind was blowing my shot as soon as it got up over that levee. I paddled on looking for the next group.
About a two hundred yards down I peeked over the top again. I saw a pair of pintail drakes about 50 yards up. I sat back down and slowly pushed forward towards a small bush that I used to mark their location. As I stood up I discovered that this was another large group of mixed birds. I found a greenhead and folded him clean. Back down into my seat I paddled on. There were a couple chances that I passed on for gadwall while hoping for another mallard or pintail that never came. Once I got to the end I put out about a dozen decoys and started my wait. Didn’t take long and a pair of teal landed just out front of me. I leveled off on the closest one and rolled her over. Then about an hour later four gadwall landed just down the bank from me and started swimming in. I waited for them to get close enough, lined up on a pair, and folded them as well. That was pretty much it for decoying action. I sat for a good while and watched a few big ducks trade here and there but nothing really wanted to work. Looking back down the thin strip of water between the levees I could see several groups of birds between me and the truck. I decided to pack it in and sneak my way back down the levee towards the truck.
The first bird that I jumped was a GWT drake. He had been sitting on the bank on the pond side of the levee. He actually spooked me when he took flight at about five yards and I never even lifted the gun! LOL. It didn’t matter as I knew there would be a shot at big ducks just down the way. Again, a goose busted me when I got close to the first group and everything took off before I could get into range. The last group was holding tight about 100 yards from where my truck was parked on the edge of the highway. The levee was a little higher in this area so I was able to get right in line with them before they knew what was happening. When I looked over the top I could see a mixed flock of gadwall, wigeon, teal, canvasbacks, and ruddy ducks. The cans were my target so after making sure I was as close to them as possible I stood up. They took off running across the top of the water. There were three drakes in the group out front. I dropped the lead drake on my first shot. I tried for a second one but no dice. Then I noticed a drake wigeon that had jumped to my left at about 18 yards. Down he went on my third shot. Birds were in the air everywhere at this point. I figured my hunt was over and I’d be one shy of my limit. I paddled on to the end and pulled the AquaPod up to the edge of the bank closest to my truck. Then I noticed another trio of drake cans that hadn’t taken flight. I belly crawled about 20 yards and took three shots at the closest drake. He didn’t seem phased and the group headed to the middle of the pond where they lit with some other birds.
I unloaded all my gear from the boat, hiked it over to the truck, and started loading up. Took a few pics of my six birds on the tailgate and called the wife to let her know I was done and would be heading her way shortly. The birds that I had disturbed were working their way back into the ponds by this time. Lots of spoonies, pintail, gadwall, and cans were landing here and there. I grabbed the binoculars to take a look around and as I scanned the ponds low and behold what did I see??? That other drake can that I emptied the gun on was now stone dead and being washed right back to the levee where I had shot from. Turned out I got a limit today afterall! LOL.
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What a way to end the season! I made 20 hunts this year and killed 125 birds. My first hunt wasn’t until the 23rd of December. I’d say that isn’t too bad at all!!!
2020-2021 duck season
Wigeon 33
Pintail 5
Spoonie 2
Canvasback 21
Gadwall 5
GWT 56
Mallard 1
Canada geese 2
Total 125
Hunts 20
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