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When it all came together...

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
After my first couple of duck hunts, I knew I was hooked and that in order to do it as often as I'd wanted to, I would need to find my own spots. I went on Google Earth and went an hour either way of my house up and down the Ohio River looking for places I could hunt without a boat. I located one such spot that just happened to be right on the drive I make 2-3 times a week for work. I made an attempt one morning to fight my way back to the water only to be stop by an impenetrable thicket of brush. It would later take me with a chainsaw, my buddy with an 8" saw blade on the end of my weedeater and another buddy pulling brush out of the way more than 2 hours to go 200 yards through this brush. When we finally popped through and saw the water, it was like angels were singing to me! I knew we had something and after a 12 hour day a few weeks later, I finally had my own little slice of Heaven.



Last year we had some good hunts, but nothing that really lived up to what I expected. One problem that became apparent after our first hunt was the amazing fluctuation of the water level thanks to a nearby dam. The water can rise and fall a good 8-10" during a hunt, often leaving decoys beached on the mud who were previously floating in the perfect about of water. This also spelled disaster during the harsh winter. Our spot froze over easily and even if you broke through the ice, when they started letting water in/out at the dam, it would cause ice to flow back in to the hole you had created. Overall, our first year was mediocre at best, so there was a lot of room for improvement.

Going in to this season we knew that the first split was only going to be adequate hunting and that the second split was the best if we could avoid the ice. We held off on hunting the opener so we could hunt a spot on the main channel of the river. Since our blind is beyond navigable waters, we can hunt it on Sunday. When I scouted the blind on Friday at 2:30, there were 22 mallards on the water and I was certain they had come in via smaller groups. If Sunday was similar, we would be in the action most of the day.

Yesterday proved to be as good as advertised. At first light, we had a pair of mallards land in the decoys. Despite being legal light, they were hard to make out, so we decided to hold off thinking we'd get another flight soon and we'd shoot them when the other flight came in. Unfortunately they swam off before we could get a shot and I hope that it wasn't an omen for how our day would go! Around 7:30, we knocked one drake down out of a group of 4 and again, I hoped this wasn't an omen. By 9:45, we had 3 drakes down and it was going slow, so I started breakfast and apparently that was the key! By the time we were done eating at 10:25, we had 10 birds down. I could barely fry bacon, scramble eggs, call birds, shoot and get Remi on them it was so crazy! It was an amazing bit of action and something I will never forget!

I'm a self taught waterfowler from calling, to decoy set up, to when to call the shot. Yesterday the decoy set up worked exactly as I hoped it would. I was able to call in the group of 4 gadwalls (we killed 3) even though they bailed on our set up after the first call. I also called in a pair that we killed after they made 3 passes and decided against coming in. After a few minutes of coaxing, they gave us a great passing shot and we put the hammer down. I had much more patience on calling the shots and it paid off with much better opportunities. Having faith in the decoys made it easier to hold off. And to top it all off, we shot really well after the first group.

What we experienced yesterday beats the dick off any deer hunt I have ever had. In fact, it was the greatest hunt of any kind I've ever been on. The hunt I had with Zach when we killed 21 on one of the most beautiful, and brutal mornings you could ever experiences was and will always be legendary. However yesterday takes the cake because I wasn't relying on someone else to make it happen for me. We did this on our own and that makes it the most satisfying hunt of my life. I'm still riding the high today!

 

Strother23

Member
1,405
0
Columbus, OH
Congrats on your success. Looks like it would be a blast. I have heard that from people before that waterfowl hunting is 10x more exciting than deer. I will give it a try one day.
 

Carpn

*Supporting Member*
2,234
87
Wooster
Cool man. Hopefully its not so long before it comes together again . Duck hunting sure is fun , no doubt about that .
 

Mao

Member
1,695
109
Coshocton, OH
Glad to hear you guys did well Jesse! My buddies that hunted the Ohio this weekend only killed 5. They said they saw a lot of birds though. I will be down in your backyard this weekend hunting. Can't wait! Hope you guys keep puttin it to em.
 

rsmith

Member
1,835
52
Great read, and awesome story! That looks like a awesome spot and a very nice glory photo! Congrats it sounds like it was very well deserved!
 

Curran

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,971
172
Central Ohio
Great stuff Jesse!! There not much better than when it all comes together and you're dropping cupped up birds right in the hole.
 

CJD3

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
14,630
201
NE Ohio
Very nice write-up Jess!
It really helps to have a second passion afield to go to.