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DUCK
OPENER IN THE NORTH!
By Ron Wilson
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A view across the ponds we would be
hunting. |
October 21, 2004….
Last Saturday Duck-A-Holics from all over the state headed to northern
California and Oregon for the waterfowl season opener.
Those who ventured
into Oregon paid $108 for a hunting license and well over $2 a gallon for
petrol to get there!
I along with Buzz
Ferrarese, Bruce Hamby, Brian Michaels and his son Mark of Eugene Oregon
spent the weekend in Oregon hunting private property for quail and
waterfowl.
We set up the blinds
on Friday and there were ducks everywhere! Mallards, Widgeon, Teal,
Gadwalls, Sprig and spoonbill ducks covered the vast majority of the
ponds. Some of the larger ponds held thousands of ducks.
In the fields
thousands of honkers and Specs were feeding on grain. It sure looked like
Saturday’s opener was going to be a great one.
Friday afternoon the
wind started blowing, with gusts up to 30 MPH. White puffy clouds floated
overhead from the nearby mountains and then the rain came. It was storming
pretty good as we headed to bed to get some sleep for the upcoming morning
hunt.
The weather had
quieted down and the stars were out by the time we awoke Saturday morning.
It was going to be a real nice day for hunting.
Everything was
perfect; we were on the south end of the pond with a south wind blowing.
The decoys had been set on each side of the blind with a 20 yard hole in
the middle for the ducks to light in.
As daybreak came we
could see that the spread was perfect as a hen mallard came in and set
down right where Bruce had intended for the birds to land.
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Brian Michaels and his son Mark with a mess of ducks! |
We chuckled as she got
up and flew off going quack-quack-quack-quack! Bruce said, “Hear that
warning call, I gave a low score to a contestant in a duck calling contest
for using that call!”
Shots off in the
distance signaled it was time to start hunting. The flocks of ducks that
were here before the storm were no shows today. But it was a steady flow
of a bird or two here and there.
We quit about 1 p.m.
to go do some quail hunting. We hurriedly cleaned the ducks, got a quick
snack and then it was off to the nearby hills.
It didn’t take long
for me to see that this was a fantastic quail area. We soon were chasing
and shooting at quail all over the hillside.
I wished I had Sierra,
my Brittany spaniel, with me. Once the coveys of quail were busted up
they would fly into the junipers and wait for you to walk by and then fly
out the other side once you went by. We must have jumped a good 300 birds
in a couple hours of hunting!
Sunday Bruce predicted
doom and gloom; he said the ducks wouldn’t fly. Daylight came and the
birds started flying as the north wind started to blow. No big bunches but
a bird or two here and there.
Our best shooting was
to knock down 3 out of 4 birds that came in. Unfortunately the one that
got away was on my end!
The ducks would come
from the back of the blind and drop into the spread. The louder you called
the better the
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The whole gang with a mess of quail
for the dinner table! |
ducks reacted to
it. Bruce, Brian and Mark would be out of breath hi-balling on the calls
by the time the birds settled in! With a long trip back home we started
packing up by 9 a.m.
In the Alturas area
hunters had about the same success with limits of mallards on the opener
and then Sunday things got tough. The opener in northern California from
my reports was better than last year; then again I guess that depends on
where you were hunting.
Waterfowl have wings
and they can move hundreds of miles overnight, or they can just fly over
the hill out of sight to loaf on another pond!
I had a great weekend
sightseeing and enjoying Mother Nature in all her splendor. Visiting new
areas of our great nation and enjoying the great outdoors is one of the
things I like to do best!
A killing weekend, not
really, we did Ok it could have been better and it could have been worse.
The weekend for me was more about relaxation, scenery and camaraderie and
it could not have been better! |
