| Opening of 2nd Split Duck Season 2002 Page 3 |
| Suddenly around lunch time the fish stopped biting. We had fished right at low tide and when the tide had just started to rise. As the tide started getting a little stronger, the fish stopped cooperating. So we headed back to campsite where Joe cooked us another one of those great hamburgers. Damn those things were good! After lunch, Dick wanted to fishing again. I didn't feel much like fishing. I was anxious to get back to the blind. So at 2:30 that afternoon, Joe dropped me off in my blind with a six-pack of beer. It was a warm sunny day and there wasn't much flying. But I enjoyed the peacefulness and the beauty of the marsh in my solitude. And I enjoyed my Budweiser too. I saw a few ducks but they were mostly high flying big ducks and they would not come down despite my calls. I thought I'd get a single teal or two drop in but there was nothing for over 2 hours. As the sun prepared to set, I was beginning to wonder if I'd shoot anything when all of sudden, out of nowhere, came that huge flock of teal of several hundred and they landed in the canal before I realized what the hell had happened! I shot two and missed a 3rd and was reloading when damned if they didn't come back around and straight over the decoys again. By the time I had reloaded, they were out of range. What a rush! There's nothing like the feeling that comes over you when a huge flock of teal invades your pond. It's like nothing you've ever experience. The tide was rushing in and the current in the canal was quite strong. The two teal I'd shot were quickly floating away so I jumped in the pirogue and retrieved them. I still had about 30 minutes to hunt, so I decided to pick up a couple of my decoys and put them in the pond since there was water there now. Then I quickly paddled back to the blind as I saw ducks flying here and there. I hadn't gotten back to the blind five minutes when two big ducks came straight at me over the pond. I was glad I'd moved some of the decoys. They came directly at me and when I beaded in on the first one I realized that Mr. Budweiser was affecting my vision. I took an extra second or two to steady the gun and shot the first duck almost too late. He fell behind the canes on the other side of the pond. It would take a big effort to find him so I decided not to chase him down and to wait for Joe and Annie to show up. I had taken so much time focusing on that one duck that I didn't have a shot at the other. The sun began to set. Joe and Annie came to pick me up. Joe brought the mud boat to the location where the big duck fell and there it was sitting on the side of the pond still alive. Annie retrieved it. It was a nice big gray duck. It would be the only big duck I'd shoot all weekend and it made my day. Joe brought me back to the campsite in the mudboat. Dick had the fire going and the lanterns lit. Joe fixed gumbo for dinner but forgot to bring the rice. We ate the gumbo, drank a few toddies, watched the moon rise and went to bed. We arose at 0430 Sunday. Dick fixed coffee and we were all a little sore from our 2nd night sleeping on the hard ground. We headed to the blinds. Dick and Joe picked up their decoys and moved to another spot since there was no water in their blind. I shot two teal and they didn't shoot anything that morning. We packed up early and headed on in. The weather was too nice for ducks. By the time we made it back to the lauch, it was 75 degrees in Venice. Heading back to the launch I was able to catch two excellent shots of Dick driving the mud boat. |
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| From the smile on Dick's face, you can tell he enjoyed himself. And we all did. The weather was too nice to bag a lot of ducks but the fishing and comaraderie more than made up for it. It was another in a very long line of excellent trips to the marsh for the Pecot brothers and me. Our only wish was that their younger brother Buck could have been there. Thanks for another memory guys! |
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