January 2004 - Last Hunt of the Season

Saturday Afternoon - Incredible Duck Hunting

We woke up from our nap feeling energized. We had conked out pretty good and we were glad we had set the alarm clock. We headed back to the launch and back into the marsh. It wasn't raining right then but the wind was blowing hard out of the southwest. The warm front was passing through. The water in the marsh was rushing in and it was as high as we had ever seen it. When we got to the decoys, there were swells coming in from the Gulf and crashing over the bow of the boat. We knew we couldn't hunt there so we picked up all the decoys.

As we left the area in search of another place to hunt we realized there were no more canals. The marsh was completely covered in water with only the tops of the marsh grass exposed along with patches of cane here and there. We could run the boat anywhere we wanted. It was very weird. We just rode the boat straight to what is normally our pond to check our wooden blind. The entire marsh was one big pond. When we got to the blind, we were amazed to see only the tops of the 4x4's out of the water. If we had sit on the bench seat in the blind, the water would have been to our necks or higher. Neither of us had ever seen the water this high.

Joe knew what we had to do. He knew we had to go to where we call "Don's Teal Spot". There are patches of cane there to hide the boat. We set out the decoys among the grass tops and drove the boat directly into a patch of canes. We then had one of the best hunts of our lives.

We were in the canes no more than a couple of minutes when the first ducks arrived. I had taken out the camera to take these pictures and as we were fiddling around with the camera, ducks came overhead and we didn't get a shot. I quickly put the camera away. A big band of spoonbill came in and we let them land. They were followed by teal. We shot the teal. The spoonbills got up, flew around and landed again. Then more teal came. Next we had gray ducks flying overhead. There were ducks everywhere. This lasted about 30 minutes when a line a thunderstorms passed through. Protected by the canes on our backs, we hunkered down as the wind blew up to 50 mph and rain came down very hard. The sky turned an ominous-looking black and the wind was blowing so hard the decoys were laying on their sides.

Big clumps of marsh debris were flowing all over the place. It was like a storm surge. The water was at least 3 feet above normal and rushing in. It was very strange indeed.

Eventually the hard rain and wind slowed a bit and even stopped. As we looked up spoonbill, teal and gray ducks (gadwalls) were everywhere. The grays were flying with the spoonbill. Some would light out away from the decoys, some came in over the decoys. We would shoot and still more ducks would come. Occasionally we would run the boat out of the canes to chase the cripples but there weren't too many cripples. We were deadly accurate and what cripples we did have had no cover to hide in. We had duck after duck after duck come in over the decoys. In no time we filled out the limit we had started that morning. And ducks kept coming but we didn't shoot anymore. Instead we picked up the decoys. Even as we picked up the decoys, ducks continued to fly over us. It was one of these most unbelieveable hunts I'd ever been a part of.

High water in the marsh. No canals, just canes and the tops of the marsh grass - and LOTS of ducks.

Hidden in the canes, Joe shows off a Gadwall. High tide and high times - one of the best hunts ever.

It stopped raining long enough for Joe to take my picture. Man, did I have a good time!

It was dark when we got back to the launch. At the trailer we ate, watched TV and went to bed early. We must have been pretty tired. We slept through 30 minutes of the alarm going off the next morning. When we got to the launch, it was crowded. It took some time for others to launch ahead of us and eventually we made it into the water.

It was a warm calm morning with no clouds. We had seen these conditions too many times before and we knew it would be a slow morning hunt - and it was. We hunted our regular blind for the first time all weekend. The water level in the marsh had fallen with low tide that morning, but it was still higher than than normal for a low tide. Joe shot a high flying gray duck and I got a teal low on the water. At 7:30 we picked up the decoys. On the way back to the launch, the engine in the boat overheated. After stopping to let it cool down, we limped it into the main canal and dropped anchor. Eventually a young man and his son stopped and towed us back to the launch. It was the first time in over 20 years of fishing and hunting that Joe and I had broken down together and needed a tow. That's a pretty incredible statistic and breaking down only put a small damper on what turned out to be one of the best weekend hunting trips of all time. We bagged 10 ducks Friday, 12 Saturday and 2 on Sunday. We ended up with 3 Mallards, 2 Widgeon, 2 Mottled ducks, 5 Gadwalls and 12 teal - a smorgasbord of duck!

Being towed back to the launch Sunday morning after the mud boat overheated.

We learned a few new things this weekend. We learned that duck hunting a warm front can be very productive. We learned a new way of using the mud boat by running it into the canes for cover. Who said you can't teach old dogs new tricks?

It was great ending to a somewhat slow season. Thanks to Joe for bringing me duck hunting. I'm already excited about next season. Teal season is only nine months away. Joe has already said he doesn't want to hunt Teal season this year because it's too hot. But he says that every year and every September we end up out in the marsh. I guess we will wait and see. It will be hard to match the success we had this weekend but I know we will work hard to try.