I had a chance today to get out and hunt the Sauvies Island area with a couple of my duckbrothers.
In attendance: Me (duckboy)
Mike and his son Chris (Qh's Paw and Quackhead)
,duckbrother Mark.
and Mikes Chocolate lab (Kodi).
and Approximately 160 decoys.
We checked in with the checkstation well before dark and a long long line of cars moved along in the dark (in front and longer in back) of us.
The folks at the checkstation were able to check everyone's Licenses and give them the chip and tag to hit their spot.
Soon we were off and running to our location.
I should mention that whn Chris and Mike get out and do something, they do not fool around.
It is not part time deal, they are full timers with their passion.
We all decided to shoot drake mallards today.
Some girls just don't realize how lucky they are.
We had good numbers of birds today.
Everyone knows that duckhunting is an inherently dangerous past time.
People can get stranded on tidal flats, or have their boat tip over.
No one expected that mike would be bombarded by coots while he was working Kodi on a retrieve, but it happened.
Mike was a real ace today, We all had plenty of chances at birds, but Mike was the top shooter today.
It has been almost a year since Kodi retreived his very first bird. Kodi is destined for greatness, and Mike really has a close bond with him.
It is great to see two spirits that connect like theirs do.
They make a great team.
I can not imagine having to put my anatomy into the water out there today. It was COLD.
Somehow, Kodi was able to do it over and over and over.
Me and Mark kept taking turns running in the field or doing pushups to re warm ourselves.
I must have underdressed, but dang, I was chilled.
I'd bet we saw 5000 geese, and I was suprised to see as many snow geese down there as we did.
In all of the years I have hunted the Lower Columbia river, I have seen maybe 10 down there.
We were lucky to have as many good shots as we did, the ducks just kept dropping in.
Another bird for the bag and Kodi crashed into the frigid water again.
Kodi is a real joy to hunt with.
So mellow in the blind and when the time comes, he goes into hyper-drive duck mode "code brown" style.
From the looks of it, Mark and Chris had a pretty good time too.
All in all it was a heck of a shoot out.
Lots of birds and lots of chances for Kodi to shine.
Was a real pleasure to get out with these guys today.
Chris and Mike and Mark (and especially Kodi)
Now I am going to try to get warmed up in front of the wood stove.
duckboy
And now for something completely different
Thanks for sharing your hunt and making me want to go so much more.
--Brian
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