Don, Neal (Don's brother-in-law) and I found ourselves in Burbank early this morning. It had been over a year since I had been duck hunting with these two guys. Anytime we all get together, one thing is guaranteed; laughs. None of us take ourselves very seriously and we don't take each other seriously either.
We got the spread set at about 4:00, and the the wait was on. Shooting hours took forever to arrive today. As to be expected, though, we passed the time joking and telling funny stories. All the while, wads of ducks passed over on their way out to eat, knowing that we couldn't shoot at them yet.
When shooting time arrived, nothing was in the air. We waited...and waited...and waited some more. Finally, I heard a lone goose over my right shoulder and he was low. I pulled out my goose call and went to work. He flared and was coming our way. Slowly, he swept down to within shooting range. Once again, however, I was without my goose decoys. It didn't take the goose long to realize that something was not right. Goose noises should not be coming from someplace that there were no geese. It jinked to its right and we fired. Nine rounds shot and the goose flew off without so much as dropping a feather. We laughed at ourselves and each other for a bit then we sat back down and waited...and waited...and waited some more. One single mallard drake came rocketing in. Don and I popped our primers. The bird went down. One of the two of us got him but we fired so close together that it was hard to tell whose steel connected. I ran out to get him and we sat for another 1/2 hour before we decided that it was of no use to be out at that spot this morning. We picked up and I received word that we were headed to "Pond X."
I was introduced to Pond X last year. It was a fast and furious hunt that had all three of us limited out within a 1/2 hour of setting up. That adds up to 21 dead ducks in a very short amount of time. This pond is on private property and few people are allowed access. I knew I was in for a treat. Our plan this time was to jump shoot the resting ducks. After we scared them and they took flight, we would fire as many shots at them as our guns would hold. We made our plan and deployed. I haven't experienced that level of coordination with a gnu in my hand since my time in the middle east.
We were ready for the big moment, after scouting the ducks' exact location on the pond. 3...2...1...Here we go! As we popped over the levee, hundreds of birds took flight. Five mallard drakes fell back down. Now, part of the problem with Pond X is the water's depth. It is far too deep to wade into. Normally, a small boat is dispatched to collect the dead ducks. This time, however, we had no boat. I was wondering how we were going to get the ducks when Neal emerged from the other side of the levee with a fishing pole. This was no ordinary fishing pole. Neal had affixed a homemade duck retriever to the end of a huge river fishing rod. I was beginning to catch onto how we were going to get these ducks. Having grown up in Hawaii, I was confident that Neal would have the accuracy the cast over the ducks and reel them in. I was not disappointed. He made short order of bringing the ducks to shore (but not without a fair amount of laughter from Don and I).
This morning I was reminded why I like to hunt with these guys so much. They are both very funny and genuine people. They love the sport as much as I do. However, our loyalties lie in different type of hunting. Waterfowling is my number one obsession, while turkey hunting is theirs. Deer hunting ranks high on all of our lists. This blog will post many more adventures of the "Terrible Trio."
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