Heidi, Tommy, Savana, my dad, my brother, and I went to a creek that kind of paralells the Snake River, leaving my parent's house at just after 4 am. I thought we'd have the creek to ourselves, I've never seen anyone else duck hunting there, but that was not anywhere near correct. In not more than 600 yards of the creek, there were at least 5 groups hunting the small waterway. Due to the warm weather over the last few weeks, I don't think the migrating birds have come south yet. So, between the large numbers of hunters and the lower bird numbers than I expected, and the rain, it wasn't the morning I had been dreaming of. We did make the very best of it, and had as much fun as the weather would allow. The only regret was not getting picture of dad in his "camouflage." He wore a BRIGHT yellow poncho, while the rest of us were decked out in total camo, even the kids who had adorable flannel camouflage ponchos that their mom made them.
Anyway, to the hunt. It took a few minutes and a few high flights of ducks past us, but we finally got a couple to commit to our decoy spread and light calling. They came from upstream, and my brother pulled up and dropped the first one, while I followed with the second. A couple missed shots later from our whole group, and Heidi hit what we later found was a young drake mallard, then my brother finished it off so I made him cross the creek and retrieve it. We brought a couple more groups in but were unable to put any more birds down. Looking back, the day was a complete success, my dad even took a few shots.
Because of the rain, I decided to leave the camera in the truck, so we only have after-the-hunt pictures. I'll try to get some better field pictures next time.
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