Opening Day Duck TR

"Fuck 'em Up!"

October the second could not have come soon enough. With the camper fully loaded, I left work Friday for North Park. As I crested Willow Creek Pass, thoughts changed to beauty in nature. With a light wet snow falling, the aspens peeking, an incredible sunset ahead, I was entering my happy place.

With the cocktails kept to a dull roar, rolling out of bed at 5am was no big deal. A broken boot lace, a pot of coffee and couple dog issues had us setting up the spread. 6:22 and we were setup, 10mins till shooting light. There were tons of birds up, at 6:30 four buzzed our spread. This is gonna be good.

At 6:32 the other end of the lake let loose, It wouldn't be the to only skybusting of the day. About 5mins later 4 came in on our decs "Fuck 'Em Up". We got 2 but should of had more. Through out the morning we had a good amount of ducks come it. They were mostly flaring off or staying high. I think our spread was too tight and we had too much movement. Either dogs were moving or people were antsy on opening day. In 2 hours we got about six or seven. I got a nice hen malard.

During the afternoon we went to go jump a new spot, what is now known as the Honey Hole. As we were throwing the 'neak down to about a 10 acre pond, about sixty duck took off. For the next two hours they were coming hot and heavy. About every 10mins a set would come right down the middle. A couple of times we got them to turn 180 all the way back to us. I think we took about 12 there. The dusk hunt was a bust.

This morning we set up on the same lake. We had an extra dog Otis that I was handling. It's only his second year so he's quite a handful. If the birds were coming in close, he wouldn't hup so I had to hold him. We shot a lot better this morning staying more still and allowing the birds to come all the way in. I think we took 8 or nine.

It was a great opening weekend. I caught up with some old friends and put a ton of steel in the air. It was great to work the dogs and get out in the wetlands. I saw elk, speed coat, mullies, fox, owls, skunks, sage grouse, canada geese and a pile of birds. We got mallards, widgeons, gadwells, green wing teal, skaup, a pintail and a redhead.

1st retrieve of the day

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...DaleOtis1a.JPG

Sunrise

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...ormal_Dec1.JPG

Honey Hole

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...rmal_Koz1a.JPG

Good Boy!

http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...mal_Bito1a.JPG

I miss pecan island, La. this would be nearing the opening day and just after the teal hunt. marsh hunting at its finest down there. only drawback is that the mosquito swarms are big enough to carry you and your dog off. if you don't keep your safety on a big bug is liable to waste a shell for you.

btw foggy, where was your hunt at?

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Originally Posted by AltaPowderDaze

btw foggy, where was your hunt at?

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bwahh!!! I'm not giving up the goods, my buddies would shoot me. With a map and the clues above, you can figure it out.

i'm not from up here, i was just looking for a vague nw utah or near denver colorado. i know how a good duck hole works. it's only good as long as you keep it a secret.

nice foggy!

Nice, Foggy! Great pics and TR. I won't have any pics for at least a week or so, but here's our TR:

At 4:50am my eyes were wide open and someone was apparently shooting my temple with a repeater BB gun. I was in my sleeping bag, lying on the wooden plank floor of a 19th century wooden cabin nestled on the Big Lost River. The cabin, which was owned by an elderly friend of one of my hunting buddies, was refurbished only to the point of general functionality, with additions like a new roof, plumbing and a few electric fixtures. Elk racks, huge brown trout and antique firearms hung on the walls next to black and white photos of the area and tattered maps with hunting spots marked off. The night before, we had decided to "keep it real" by eating a barbequed steak dinner, do some fishing on the river 40 feet in front of the cabin and play poker around the old beaten table in the middle of the main cabin.

At some point in the evening, I had set my cell phone alarm to ring at 5:15am but thanks to the primate syphony playing away in the corners of my head, the alarm really wasn't necessary. I sat up and wearily looked around the cabin. It was dark out of the big windows, save some white milky highlights from the 3/4 moon in the sky. My compadres snored loudly except for Mark who was wide awake. "Fuck, my head hurts," were the first words out of his mouth. Now standing, I glanced at the table. We had killed a bottle of scotch and still managed to cover the table with Budweiser cans between 4 of us. No wonder. "Gross," I said as I stumbled outside onto the lawn to pee. 30 minutes later everyone was awake, we had cleaned the cabin and were driving through the pastures, through countless cattle gates until we pulled onto the road and headed up towards the duck blind.

Nestled between the Pioneer range and the Big Lost Range with its 12k' foot peaks, the Big Lost River flows through meadows of reeds and huge bramble bushes. There is more wildlife in this area than any other I've been to in Idaho. Elk constantly bugle while moose stumble around in the eary predawn mist that sits on the valley floor. From my little corner on the blind 20 minutes before shooting hours, I stared at the towering peaks to my right, the rolling huge hills that were the foothills of the Pioneers to my left, and the slowly slurping river that flowed towards the blind in front of me. We were situated on the point of a sleu that broke off the river. The water directly in front of us was calm and the decoys floated lazily in the moonlight, seemingly content with their plastic existence, basking in the white glow. The river, which flowed on down to our left, had more of a current and the couple decoys we placed on the side of the river, swam left to right with the current; a string tied them to a weight that was dropped in the water upstream so that they appeared to be live ducks, paddling against a small current.

This was Opener...the day that every duck hunter waits so patiently for from January until the fall. It is always a special day where the same group of friends get together in the same special spot, year after year. For me, though, this season opener was extra special because it would be Paco's first day duck hunting. I had purchased him for this very purpose. He was a water dog, a duck dog, a working dog that lived to retrieve downed birds. He had been trained by an expert, then drilled over and over and over in my yard, at the pond, in the park and many other places. His training had gone well and he showed a lot of promise. So many hours and so many dollars had gone into this dog that I had lost count months ago. Paco is also one of the sweetest dogs you'll ever meet. He is definitely a lover and aims to please, tirelessly working and learning, then becoming so excited when he performs correctly. At this point, he was also untested.

With a few minutes to go, about 5 Teal ducks landed right smack in our decoys, swiming around and socializing with their plastic counterparts. We whisperd to eachother to leave them be in order to see if their motion and noise would attract any other ducks. The landscape was now a redish orange as the sun made its way towards the horizon. The mountains were glowing and the temperature begain to fall.

Suddenly the whistling sound of mallard wings closing in fast. I couldn't see them yet but Paco, who was sitting next to me in the bush, craned his head up and to the left, presumably on instinct. I looked up left just as a drake mallard and a hen mallard cupped their wings and decended like maple leaves in fast forward into view in front of us. Due to a big bramble bush to my left, my shot wasn't clear so I let it go.

WHAM!

One shot from my friend, Scott, and the drake went spinning down across the slew, into the huge 10' tall bushes that made for a wall opposite our blind. "Hen! No shot!" Matt reminded everyone. The hen slammed on the brakes and then hit the gas as she flew out of our spread as fast as she could, unaware that we had no plans to take her, too. We could all shoot one hen per person but we always try to save those for undistinguishable shots in the sun or huge groups. The drake, on the otherhand, was quite dead and very deep in a wall of brambles and bush about 30 yards across from us. I was definitely pleased that Paco had "held" at the gun shot--breaking the sit and immediately chasing the downed bird was not only a common mistake for young retrievers, it is pretty much expected on their first duck hunt. But he had held though he was shaking with anticipation. "Shit," I said outloud. This was certainly not an ideal first real retrieve for Paco since he couldn't even see where the dead bird was AND had to cross the sleu to get to it which often confuses and distracts young dogs. He sat by my side, ears cocked, staring with his bright yellow eyes at the wall of bush across the sleu. I felt that he had definitely seen the bird go down. "Send him?" I asked the guys. "Yeah...nothing else coming in," was the reply.

"Dead bird," I said to Paco. He whined in excitement, as if he was acknowledging the obvious by saying, "no shit, dumb human?" I placed my hand above his head, point directly down his nose to the bush, simultaneously saying "Paco". With a grunt he was off like a bullet, jumping about 6 feet out into the sleu before hitting the water and swimming like a torpedo across the sleu. Upon reaching the other side, he began frantically sniffing the other shore at the base of the bush. "Shit. This could be a lost cause," I warned my friends, knowing what Paco obviously didn't--the mallard was a good 10 yards back in the thick bush. Weeeee! I delivered one quick blast on the whistle. Paco immediately sat down, facing me and awaiting the next command. I put my right arm straight up in the air, hand in a fist. "BACK!" I said sternley. Without hesitation, my 16 month old chocolate lab turned on his haunches and disappeared into the wall of bushes behind him, only to emerge about 2 minutes later with a huge mallard in his mouth, his tail looking like the propeller that was pushing him towards us. He jumped into the slue with the duck in his mouth, swam over to us, ran up to me with his ears back and tail going crazy as he sat down, healing, next to me. "Drop." I said nearly crying with pride as he gently dropped the duck into my hand, then exploding into excited grunts, jumps and tail wagging, knowing he had done his job and done it perfectly. I couldn't have been happier. I pinned him down and rubbed his belly for 2 mintutes, praising him as he grunted and wagged at warp speed in happiness while my friends all praised him. Paco would end up retrieving 16 of the 17 ducks shot on his first day as a real water dog, only breaking on 2, and losing one in a fast current in the river which we went and picked up later in the day. I am a proud, proud papa. He is an exhausted brown dog.

By 10 am, we had shot 4 Teal, one 1 mallard, one hen and a wigeon--a pretty par number for our location. We picked up the decoys in the warm morning light and loaded up the truck to head south to a different evening location 90 miles away. The ensuing evening hunt would prove to be some of the best duck hunting I've ever done--something that rarely happens this early in the season. Groups of 30-40 mallards would continuously fly into our spread. The trick wasn't getting them within shooting distance as it usually was...it was singling out a greenheaded drake out of the fowl hurricane and taking it. Then the challenge became sending Paco to retrieve 3 to 5 ducks while reloading fast enough before the next wave hit--the best challenge a duck hunter could ask for.

At the end of they day we had hit our limit and were exhausted. I gave Paco a couple slices of steak leftover from the night before which he happily devoured before retiring to his kennel for the ride home, caked with mud and happy as a clam at high tide. It simply was the best opening day I've ever had and was compounded by an incredible "break out" performance by my rookie dog. A truly special day.

Nice work Rev. You're a much better writer than I, you expressed many of the same feelings I had. Except for the pup that would hold, I spend a good part of my weekend fighting my rental dog Otis would would release on anything. That part of Idaho is in the pacific flyway right? I was in the central. I have high hopes for this season.

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Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles

Nice work Rev. You're a much better writer than I, you expressed many of the same feelings I had. Except for the pup that would hold, I spend a good part of my weekend fighting my rental dog Otis would would release on anything. That part of Idaho is in the pacific flyway right? I was in the central. I have high hopes for this season.

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Nope..we're central, too. I wish we were in the pacific. Growing up in Oregon provided some pretty mean duck hunting. Yeah...nothing is more frustrating than an unruly dog. But what can you do?

We'll have to go out next year for sure.

Huh? I thought everything west of the divide is pacific?

http://www.hwcn.org/link/ndscs/images/flyway.jpg

Hmmmmmm...not sure what to tell you other than it is accepted as fact that our ducks come from central/eastern Montana and central canada. Perhaps we're technically Pacific but our particular location gets central ducks due to the rockies? Really not sure.

wow. great read rev. please post the pics if you can.

2 weeks 'til opener here and you guys are killing me. have a good season!

Way to get on it fellas.

breaking my heart.

The only blind I was in this weekend consisted of the partitions in my cubicle :(

FUCKING NEXT WEEKEND TOO MOTHERFUCKER

Foggus, I did score a reservation at banner Sat Oct. 16 if you want to go.

Foggy and Rev, thanks for the writeups. I've never hunted and probably never will, but always enjoy reading about the other passions besides skiing everyone has.

Hunting is fucking stupid.

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Originally Posted by Darkside

Hunting is fucking stupid.

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You care to expand on that intellectual gem?

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Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles

You care to expand on that intellectual gem?

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I, for one......am still waiting.

I'm going antelope hunting in Eastern MT next weekend. Should be fun, I won't know what the fuck I'm doing. I'll post a TR if anything happens.

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Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles

You care to expand on that intellectual gem?

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Sure. Killing animals for sport=really stupid in my book. I will just never understand it, unless of course if hunting is your sole means of feeding your family. Otherwise, I just don't get it.

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Originally Posted by Darkside

I just don't get it.

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Some people say cucumbers taste better pickled.

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Originally Posted by Darkside

Sure. Killing animals for sport=really stupid in my book. I will just never understand it, unless of course if hunting is your sole means of feeding your family. Otherwise, I just don't get it.

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Knowing three of the hunters who've posted in this thread, I'd bet that each of those birds either got eaten that evening or was cleaned and put away for some future dinner and that none of them went to waste.

But, overall, your comment bears as much relevance as my friends who can't comprehend my desire to ski at virtually every opportunity.

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Originally Posted by Telenater

Knowing three of the hunters who've posted in this thread, I'd bet that each of those birds either got eaten that evening or was cleaned and put away for some future dinner and that none of them went to waste.

But, overall, your comment bears as much relevance as my friends who can't comprehend my desire to ski at virtually every opportunity.

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I really don't care if they gave them a funeral with coffins and a minister, killing for fun just plain sucks. If they didn't need to kill them to feed their family, then that sucks.

And last time I checked, I didn't kill anything skiing, so actually your comment really bears no relevance.

I'm sure there are plenty of things we don't agree on, and though I may have been a bit blunt, I was just stating my opinion.

So, assuming you're good people (Foggy and Rev), and you're putting all that duck to good use, are you gonna freeze-dry some of it and offer to sell it on Gear Swap? ;) Edit: Actually, I'm halfway serious on this one... :)

Honestly, I don't really have a huge amount of respect for the hunting-for-sport types, but then again, what does that make fishing? ...And I do love fish.

Foggy - your dog is so cute! I love labs...

I don't understand the 'Fuck 'Em Up' attitude myself. It's a little creepy. But I'm a newbie hunter so what do I know. I figure this winter I'm going to buy hamburger meat and steak from the supermarket once a week or I'm going to kill a deer or antelope and eat that instead. I don't see a big difference between the two methods. With hunting, maybe I'll appreciate more the food on my table, get some exercise, be outdoors, and learn a little?

If you're a vegetarian, well......that's a different story.

yeahhhhhhhhh darkside = not worth the time fellas (but hey, thanks for shitting in a cool thread)

Slippy: I'd guess that "fuck em up" is the phrase that foggy and his boys use to "call the shot" when the whole group starts blazing away. Other parties often use just "take em" or something similar. That way everyone gets a good shot and you don't have somebody always screwing the shot for everyone else by going too early or nobody committing and the whole group missing out.

divegirl: the sale of game animal meat and body parts is highly illegal (including the solicitation thereof). However, donations are generally not :) :D

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Originally Posted by lemon boy

Slippy: I'd guess that "fuck em up" is the phrase that foggy and his boys use to "call the shot" when the whole group starts blazing away. Other parties often use just "take em" or something similar. That way everyone gets a good shot and you don't have somebody always screwing the shot for everyone else by going too early or nobody committing and the whole group missing out.

divegirl: the sale of game animal meat and body parts is highly illegal (including the solicitation thereof). However, donations are generally not :) :D

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"Fuck 'em up" is used exclusivly for the first shot after shooting light, otherwise its "git 'em".

gotcha :)


BTW- Slippy, I would say your goals are all easily realizable but I would change one to "learn a lot" :p :p

i don't really have the time or energy to defend this too much but i will make a couple points of my own.

- if most people that are anti hunting had any idea at all how many ducks/deer/antelope/snow geese there are in north america i would listen to them. as far as waterfowl goes, the numbers have been on the rise and if a certain species numbers are down they limit the harvest on that bird.

- how much money have you given back to create wetlands not only in north america but canada also?? between about 20 years of ducks unlimited and hunting liscense/federal duck stamp purchases/building wood duck houses.....yes i do give alot to help these birds out.

- what have you done?

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Originally Posted by lemon boy

BTW- Slippy, I would say your goals are all easily realizable but I would change one to "learn a lot"

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Ha, no doubt.

Great pics and stories guys, hunting is something that I've never done but have always had interest in doing. I think being able to enter the woods and return with food for your family is a great way to spend time in the woods. Some of the best food I've ever had was hunted, so long as it's done with respect and all proper tributes are paid to the Great Spirit then peace will be with you!