Early Ducks

October 8

We haven't hunted doves since opening day...no birds anywhere that we can find. Finished the skeet season with the closed club shoot in Sept. It's been a busy Fall. Cris has been under the weather and we missed having him here for our ducks opener.

Dad and I hunted on George's side of the creek. Went in plenty early. The corn's not cut, so we slipped into our little honey-hole by walking between eight foot tall rows of corn and then creeping to the beaver dam. The beaver made known his dissatisfaction with our intrusion before we even got set, and kept popping his tail until the shooting sent him back into the lodge. Flip fidgeted and protested that he couldn't go "play" with the beaver, but he sat tight and didn't yip.

Right at legal time bunches of woodies came piling in, mostly in twos and fours, but some bigger groups too. The suckers came, as they always do, screaming in through the trees, fast and furious. You only get a second or two to commit, mount the gun, and get off a shot before they're either past up the creek or down on the water...no circling and quacking for these guys...you'd better be ready and quick about it.

We got in plenty of shooting but only two down for sure, with one lost. By 7:30 it was over. No pics today.