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The Wizard of Oz

1K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  huntsem 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Well, I witnessed my first honey hole today...

So, I've been driving/scouting/hunting up to 2 hours away from my house. A guy that I know stops over my house on Thursday, used to coach my son in baseball, we've talked about hunting a couple times but nothing serious. He stops over and sees the canoe on my wagon and he says, "Wanna going duck hunting tomorrow?" I said, "Hell yes!" I am always hunting by myself so I was extremely excited to be invited.

I took Friday off because I had been watching this extraordinary front pass through this week and I figured the ducks would be on the heals of it. I watched the weather and they forecasted the front to break at first Wednesday, then Thursday, and finally it looked like it would "kinda" break on Friday. Now it looks like it really will break on Saturday and I new Saturday would bring extreme hunting pressure on all the public land so I committed to Friday.

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I was planning on driving 1.5 hours to where I knew I could count on some birds. So his invitation really got me excited. So I asked him, "Where are you going to hunt?" He says, "Right over there." Indicting a place less than 1 mile from my house. I thought to myself, "...I've never seen a duck fly around here at all." I will admit the doubter in me came in full force but since I had someone to hunt with I cheerfully accepted and looked forward to the morning.

So I live in a rural but urban setting, it's a small place surrounded by country. He was taking me to a river bend that snaked through on the edge of the urban and rural setting. Right next to a ball field that are kids played ball in. Oddly enough there was a cow farm right next to it that is somewhat out of place. Nevertheless, he told me he shot ducks there all the time.

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So he picks me up at 6:45, mind you I'm used to getting up at 3 am to go to a spot, and we are off to the spot. We had hoped to cross the river bed and avoid crossing the cow farm as it was a sludge fest of manure. Unfortunately, the river was really high so we had to walk through the muck. We arrived and a couple fences later we were there.

We were setup on the high back of a river bend, the cow pasture was behind us. I sat there thinking to myself that perhaps this was a mistake. Hell, I could probably hear a shotgun blast sitting at my house we were so close. Time passed on. Finally, he says, "I'd feel a lot better if we'd say some ducks by now." I start thinking to myself.... "great."

All the sudden he says... "Did you see them?" I said, "No." He said, "They passed just north of us." Admittedly, I saw nothing. Only minutes later I see two coming in, then four coming in, then six coming in, Mallards and Woodys. We had a complete blast fest. I started grabbing for shells that I didn't have. I couldn't believe it. I probably went through 15 shells in the first hour of shooting time. We brought down 7 birds in all. Hell, I had to borrow some shells from him. We probably had 30+ ducks blow by in the first hour (with no decoys because the river was raging).

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Then he turns to me and says... "The geese aren't even here yet." I thought to myself, "Are you kidding me?" Negative, band after band of geese made passes at the cow pasture, we couldn't put decoys in it because the cows would just mess them up. So they made there passes and we'd call them in and take shots. All in all, we hit 7 ducks and 3 geese. Needless to say I was floored. And honestly, I we would have had more, but a fair number of shots where misses. :) I was home by 9 AM.

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It was the best damn time I've had in a long time. Damn it's fun.

Oddly enough it reminds me of a quote in the Wizard of Oz, after all the time I've spent scouring Ohio in search of birds....

"and it's that if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard..."

Tonight for dinner I had, Wild Roasted Mallard, Rosemary and Apple Sage, Sherry Cream Sauce.

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#4 ·
Great analogy. I like the tale, pics and recipe too. :thumbsup:

Your story telling is enjoyable to read.

Re your profile pic; Hemingway was one of my earliest favorite authors.
No doubt that his love of the outdoors and hunting and fishing helped
make a connection with me too.
 
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