Hunting Karma
Saturday morning found Jason and I up and at 'em at 0330, meeting at 0430, and heading down the lake to another one of our duck hunting spots. The boat ramp that we usually utilize to get the canoe into the water is under construction; it cuts down on the other guys in there, but makes launching a pain in the butt. Well, we're standing there at five in the morning and see a boat out on the lake, motoring toward "our" bay...there really is no where else to go in there. And...there is one primo spot that were were confident he would set up in. After about 30 minutes of paddling on our 2-mile trip in, we saw headlamps in the good spot, so decided to pick our way up the creek a little ways and set up on a deep bend. Once it got to be shooting light, we realized we were actually fairly close to them...probably within 400 yards, and felt a little bad about it. But these guys had two of those "robo ducks" that utilizes a little motor to turn the wings of a decoy on a stick; the flash of those wings brings birds in in droves! (Neither one of us is really a fan of mechanical decoys, but watching this thing work is tempting.)
Being the nice guys that we are, we would notice all the ducks and geese working that guy's spread, so when they'd come in range, turning over us, we'd let them go. Now I'll tell ya right now, we're the kind of hunting neighbors you want. I've had people shoot at birds that were working MY decoys and it gets extremely irritating. We had a single teal come in and land in front of us. Again, Jason stood up and she wouldn't fly. When she finally did, he nailed her a foot off the water. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and simply said, "Jason. That was RUDE." That got us giggling, but we finally had a duck. There were plenty of birds in the air, but either they were out of range or going to the other guys, so our morning was pretty slow. We'd watch these birds and geese buzz him well within range, and he wouldn't shoot! These guys would wait until the birds were on the water, every single time, before they'd shoot. It was bizarre and kinda drove us nuts since we weren't getting any shooting in. But...they were collecting ducks (and one goose) and we weren't, whatever works for you I guess.
Things finally slowed down and we decided to paddle up the creek to try jump shooting the pocket birds. That yielded us no birds, but it's entertaining to just paddle up there. We finally got to where we couldn't go any further and suddenly I found my RIFLE in my hands and us hiking up the hill to a good vantage point of the marsh / brush / hillside. (Yes, this was a true combo trip.) We'd seen a BIG doe earlier, but I was still in duck hunting mode and didn't feel like chasing her at that point. Well, we sat up there for a while and saw nothing but a little yearling doe. But after a while, we watched the other fellas through the binoculars (half a mile away) picking up their decoys! They were heading out! Then we saw Fish and Game motor up the creek and eyeball our decoys and stuff we left at our spot. They then went up the creek and threw a white buoy....backed down the creek and threw another one. What the heck?
It was about one o'clock and we decided we were going to move to that other guy's spot and make it a full day. We were getting close to our decoys when I saw a big doe skylined on the hill above us. Hunters education stuck with me and I decided not to shoot without having a backstop. We moved further down the creek and another doe gave me an incredible shot, stopping in the open at a little over a hundred yards. Something felt "off" so I didn't shoot, but that's when the yearling followed her out. Very proud of my decision, we picked up our decoys when I looked up on another hill and saw a different doe run by! Usually that's a sure sign of something chasing her, so I quickly got set up and Jason had the binoculars out. Then he said, "There's orange boundary paint up there. I don't remember that. Hey Tom, that's some guy's orange hat!" I quickly dropped the rifle off my shoulder, unloaded and said, "I'm done deer hunting. Let's go get some ducks." Now, this guy wasn't close to where I was pointing the rifle (75 yards away from that spot), but he popped out close enough to make me uncomfortable...and HE was what the doe was running from, with him on her trail. No thank you. Karma take one.
We found out the Fish and Game had thrown a gill net into the creek for a fish survey, which I've never seen before. I've only seen them shocking. Learn something new every day I guess. But, we did know they were in the area...
So we're paddling the little ways out the creek and across the bay to this new spot when we see a boat in the distance motoring towards us! It was going to be a race to our new spot! (Jason has had people motor in front of him to where he was going. No kidding.) We frothed up the water and made it there just as these guys pulled up on the throttle and idled up the creek...it was the Fish and Game checking their net. Again we got set up, and they left...never checking us. I said, "they probably saw two dudes, two miles up the lake from the nearest access, in a canoe, and figured we were legit." That'd be a lot of work to break the law. Okay, in this guy's blind I sat on a nice rock, positioned just right, with a forked stick in front of it. It was in the way and we both wondered why they needed a stick stuck in a cairn to lean their shotguns on. I put my shotgun in the forked stick from where I sat and it was a perfect rest. Finally we put it all together and figured out this other person was likely disabled! (I've seen that done before at the trap range in Hauser.) Thus the reason he was shooting them on the water! We felt extremely grateful that we were good people and didn't spoil that guy's hunt...he darn near limited out on ducks and got a goose to boot! Karma take two.
Long story longer, the birds came back with a vengeance! But NOTHING would try to set down or pass within range of us. It got comical after the first hour of this and we were running out of light quickly. I jokingly said, "I'll get them to come in" which usually happens when you're in the water messing around with the decoys. The commotion on the water actually seemed to get some attention, so there we were (both of us) standing out in the lake, wiggling our legs around to make ripples. The sun was setting off to our left and we saw a sunset rainbow on the right! It was simply a red rainbow...never seen that before either. It got dark and no ducks or geese had come in range, so we unloaded and started packing up at the time we figured shooting light was over. Of course. OF COURSE that's when a huge flock of geese, countless widgeon, and a bunch of mallards flew within range. We laughed; and cursed. Jason sat there with a shell still palmed in his hand, poised to drop into the barrel and he summed it up when he put it in his pocket and said, "No. I can't do it."
Right then, a boat on the other side of the bay, a boat we didn't know was there, fired up and took off up the lake. It wasn't, but it could have EASILY been Fish and Game keeping an eye on us. One shot and we'd have been done for. Karma take three.
Well, it was pitch dark by then but calm so the paddle out was nice, easy, and quiet. Every once in awhile we'd both stop paddling and just drift there, smelling the tangy woodsmoke from fireplaces being started up and listening to the coyotes howl their welcome to the night. I didn't pull the trigger the entire day, but I've got to tell you, I felt extremely pleased and comfortable with how everything played out. We had a total of 7.5 miles of paddling, we got up at 3:30 a.m., finally got home at 7:00 p.m., and had been sitting in the rain for about half the day. Sleep came easily for me that night.
But wait! Then Sunday rolled around and I went on an evening deer hunt. I saw absolutely no deer and no sign, but right before dark heard something moving in on me. I blew on my grunt tube and got ready for something that never showed itself, time to move in on IT! I crept up over the top of a hill and saw the culprits, a veritable herd of turkeys! One big one with a bunch of big small ones (Make sense? They were the early clutch from this spring, still with mama.) At ten yards I pulled up on them and had one dead to rights with a perfect head shot. My finger started to squeeze....Tom, you aren't supposed to shoot them with a rifle....finger relaxed....screw it....finger tightened, tightened....what do I do....
buzzz!!! buzzzzz!!! buzzz!!!
My phone, in my pocket, was buzzing. I put the safety back on and dug it out...guess who? It was Butch! I simply told him he'd make a GREAT game warden because his timing just kept me from breaking the law. Karma take four.
Overall, a DARN good weekend for learning, listening to my gut, and following my instincts.
Being the nice guys that we are, we would notice all the ducks and geese working that guy's spread, so when they'd come in range, turning over us, we'd let them go. Now I'll tell ya right now, we're the kind of hunting neighbors you want. I've had people shoot at birds that were working MY decoys and it gets extremely irritating. We had a single teal come in and land in front of us. Again, Jason stood up and she wouldn't fly. When she finally did, he nailed her a foot off the water. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and simply said, "Jason. That was RUDE." That got us giggling, but we finally had a duck. There were plenty of birds in the air, but either they were out of range or going to the other guys, so our morning was pretty slow. We'd watch these birds and geese buzz him well within range, and he wouldn't shoot! These guys would wait until the birds were on the water, every single time, before they'd shoot. It was bizarre and kinda drove us nuts since we weren't getting any shooting in. But...they were collecting ducks (and one goose) and we weren't, whatever works for you I guess.
Things finally slowed down and we decided to paddle up the creek to try jump shooting the pocket birds. That yielded us no birds, but it's entertaining to just paddle up there. We finally got to where we couldn't go any further and suddenly I found my RIFLE in my hands and us hiking up the hill to a good vantage point of the marsh / brush / hillside. (Yes, this was a true combo trip.) We'd seen a BIG doe earlier, but I was still in duck hunting mode and didn't feel like chasing her at that point. Well, we sat up there for a while and saw nothing but a little yearling doe. But after a while, we watched the other fellas through the binoculars (half a mile away) picking up their decoys! They were heading out! Then we saw Fish and Game motor up the creek and eyeball our decoys and stuff we left at our spot. They then went up the creek and threw a white buoy....backed down the creek and threw another one. What the heck?
 |
| Coming back down the creek |
 |
| The only photos I got since it's hard to paddle the boat from the front. Looks nice up that creek doesn't it? |
It was about one o'clock and we decided we were going to move to that other guy's spot and make it a full day. We were getting close to our decoys when I saw a big doe skylined on the hill above us. Hunters education stuck with me and I decided not to shoot without having a backstop. We moved further down the creek and another doe gave me an incredible shot, stopping in the open at a little over a hundred yards. Something felt "off" so I didn't shoot, but that's when the yearling followed her out. Very proud of my decision, we picked up our decoys when I looked up on another hill and saw a different doe run by! Usually that's a sure sign of something chasing her, so I quickly got set up and Jason had the binoculars out. Then he said, "There's orange boundary paint up there. I don't remember that. Hey Tom, that's some guy's orange hat!" I quickly dropped the rifle off my shoulder, unloaded and said, "I'm done deer hunting. Let's go get some ducks." Now, this guy wasn't close to where I was pointing the rifle (75 yards away from that spot), but he popped out close enough to make me uncomfortable...and HE was what the doe was running from, with him on her trail. No thank you. Karma take one.
We found out the Fish and Game had thrown a gill net into the creek for a fish survey, which I've never seen before. I've only seen them shocking. Learn something new every day I guess. But, we did know they were in the area...
So we're paddling the little ways out the creek and across the bay to this new spot when we see a boat in the distance motoring towards us! It was going to be a race to our new spot! (Jason has had people motor in front of him to where he was going. No kidding.) We frothed up the water and made it there just as these guys pulled up on the throttle and idled up the creek...it was the Fish and Game checking their net. Again we got set up, and they left...never checking us. I said, "they probably saw two dudes, two miles up the lake from the nearest access, in a canoe, and figured we were legit." That'd be a lot of work to break the law. Okay, in this guy's blind I sat on a nice rock, positioned just right, with a forked stick in front of it. It was in the way and we both wondered why they needed a stick stuck in a cairn to lean their shotguns on. I put my shotgun in the forked stick from where I sat and it was a perfect rest. Finally we put it all together and figured out this other person was likely disabled! (I've seen that done before at the trap range in Hauser.) Thus the reason he was shooting them on the water! We felt extremely grateful that we were good people and didn't spoil that guy's hunt...he darn near limited out on ducks and got a goose to boot! Karma take two.
Long story longer, the birds came back with a vengeance! But NOTHING would try to set down or pass within range of us. It got comical after the first hour of this and we were running out of light quickly. I jokingly said, "I'll get them to come in" which usually happens when you're in the water messing around with the decoys. The commotion on the water actually seemed to get some attention, so there we were (both of us) standing out in the lake, wiggling our legs around to make ripples. The sun was setting off to our left and we saw a sunset rainbow on the right! It was simply a red rainbow...never seen that before either. It got dark and no ducks or geese had come in range, so we unloaded and started packing up at the time we figured shooting light was over. Of course. OF COURSE that's when a huge flock of geese, countless widgeon, and a bunch of mallards flew within range. We laughed; and cursed. Jason sat there with a shell still palmed in his hand, poised to drop into the barrel and he summed it up when he put it in his pocket and said, "No. I can't do it."
Right then, a boat on the other side of the bay, a boat we didn't know was there, fired up and took off up the lake. It wasn't, but it could have EASILY been Fish and Game keeping an eye on us. One shot and we'd have been done for. Karma take three.
Well, it was pitch dark by then but calm so the paddle out was nice, easy, and quiet. Every once in awhile we'd both stop paddling and just drift there, smelling the tangy woodsmoke from fireplaces being started up and listening to the coyotes howl their welcome to the night. I didn't pull the trigger the entire day, but I've got to tell you, I felt extremely pleased and comfortable with how everything played out. We had a total of 7.5 miles of paddling, we got up at 3:30 a.m., finally got home at 7:00 p.m., and had been sitting in the rain for about half the day. Sleep came easily for me that night.
But wait! Then Sunday rolled around and I went on an evening deer hunt. I saw absolutely no deer and no sign, but right before dark heard something moving in on me. I blew on my grunt tube and got ready for something that never showed itself, time to move in on IT! I crept up over the top of a hill and saw the culprits, a veritable herd of turkeys! One big one with a bunch of big small ones (Make sense? They were the early clutch from this spring, still with mama.) At ten yards I pulled up on them and had one dead to rights with a perfect head shot. My finger started to squeeze....Tom, you aren't supposed to shoot them with a rifle....finger relaxed....screw it....finger tightened, tightened....what do I do....
buzzz!!! buzzzzz!!! buzzz!!!
My phone, in my pocket, was buzzing. I put the safety back on and dug it out...guess who? It was Butch! I simply told him he'd make a GREAT game warden because his timing just kept me from breaking the law. Karma take four.
Overall, a DARN good weekend for learning, listening to my gut, and following my instincts.
posted by geotracker12 at 12:24 PM
2 Comments:
I used to raise hell with Belle (my Lab) because she could never stay still in the blind. If I wasn't watching she was out sniffing around, and several times even swimming around in the dekes! I finally noticed that the ducks were more likely to come in for a look when she was doing that and stirring the water up was even better. Got a lot more duck when I just let her do her thing
Looks like you've been having a some fun with the bird hunting! Good luck with the deer!
Z
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