Two Friends Meet (12/5/10 Duck Hunt)

Eric and I met Casey at the Wal-Mart in Kennewick early this morning to head down to the Umatilla Wildlife Preserve.  I had hunted there exactly two times before, with mixed success.  My first trip was about this time in 2009.  I bagged three woodie drakes, a wigeon hen and my first banded mallard.  The other time, I fired one shot and missed my target.

We had a little trouble finding a spot to set up once we got there.  The area didn't really look anything like it did last year.  The wind was also not working in our favor.  We finally settled on a spot in a small cove.  On the way, however, Eric's day started in a bad way with a slip on an underwater rock causing him to sit in water.  His waders began to fill from the top, I later learned.

Between Casey's, Eric's and my decoys, we had a small navy of decoys in the water just in time for shooting hours.  As usual, ducks flew overhead as we stood in the water arranging things.  There were many more this time than normal.  Hundreds, if not thousands, of ducks passed overhead as they went to eat.

We finally sat down and were ready to go.  We waited...and waited...and waited.  Nothing gave us a second look.  Finally, a bufflehead hen zipped from left to right.  I raised my gun and fired.  It was a hit, but not a kill.  I stepped out into the water and fired again.  She was dead.  Now the race was on to get her out of the water before the wind carried her away or the current moved her too far.  As I made my way out to get her, I could see her drifting into the deeper part of the river.  As I got chest deep, she was still 30 feet from me.  I was not going to able to get her.  I hate not being able to retrieve an animal that I have harvested, whether it be a duck, deer or bear. 

Eric stood a little while later.  He said he was going for a walk to warm up.  I couldn't blame him.  He was soaked.  He left the blind and Casey and I stayed.  Some time later, we heard shots coming from Eric's general direction.  About 10 minutes later, I found out what Eric shot.  From behind me, a bufflehead drake dropped in to my right.  It was already dead and the mystery of what Eric had shot at was solved. 

Eric called in a couple of canada geese.  After 9 shots, they escaped with not even so much as a feather being knocked off.  A bit later, a mallard hen flew straight at us and turning to our left just before our decoys.  Casey shot and knocked her down.  When he got around the point to pick her up, she wasn't there.  He couldn't find her.  Next, a goldeneye flew straight at us.  As it passed straight over our head, all three of us got a shot off.  He kept going.

Having been cold long enough, we decided to call it a day.  All was not wasted, though.  We had some good laughs and told some funny stories.  We also talked about our upcoming trip to Missouri to hunt snow geese.  Another great morning in the field with some of my best friends was drawing to a close.  I wish every day could start like this.