Hunt #2. Rainy day in the duck marsh.
Got out Wednesday for the second hunt of the season. I had a newbie with me that had never bird hunted much less duck hunted before. He works for me at the Coast Guard Training Center and was more then willing to learn and to purchase what was necessary to hunt so I told him I’d take him. Due to the rainy forecast we decided to not go at first light. The tide would be too low to get where I wanted anyway so we hit the water around 9am with plans to try for striper until the tide got high enough to set up.
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The fishing was less than stellar and after climbing a levee to take a look at the area I wanted to hunt we decided to push pole our way into the marsh.
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We got close enough to the area I wanted to be to set out decoys but would have to wait on a bit more water to push into the grass and get covered up. This area isn’t walkable if you’re outside of the tules. That mud is like axle grease. You sink up to about crotch deep and then the suction makes it pretty much impossible to move. You’re definitely at the mercy of the tide when hunting this marsh!
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Things started off with a pair of gadwall. I doubled on them dropping the hen in our lap and sailing the drake that I would have to pick up later once the water came in.
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It didn’t take long and we had the beginnings of a nice pile. My buddy’s first bird ever was a drake pintail!
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When it was all said and done we ended the day with 11 birds. I had a little mixed bag limit and the newb shot his pintail, a pair of canvasback drakes, and a GWT. Not bad for his first hunt ever. A little better shooting and he could have easily killed his limit as well. The teal put on quite a show but he just couldn’t connect with enough of them before shooting time ended!
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