Another day in the duck marsh

[Richard Flanders]

We couldn't help ourselves. Up at 0500 yesterday and drove 4hrs to Minto village and put into the Tolovana river for some late ducks.... and there were ducks. Big mallards, the big northern birds are finally here. Every duck that came by was a big fat mallard. I have 8 here that fell to my #2 frame VH-12. Didn't even have time to pluck but two; too many birds coming over for that. We dressed for 0deg and got 40deg and roasted all day.... Back at the landing after dark and drove home under flashing northern lights for 4 hrs. What a day. At one point coming down the river I shut the motor off so we could just take in the silence, the setting sun, and the cacophony of hundreds of swans on a nearby lake. It really does not get any better than that.

Time for some serious plucking today....

Almost forgot... what's with this $50 reward band I got on a very determined mallard hen(see it barely down on the lower left of the pic I think)??? They picked a good one for it. I knocked her down but she flew off low for 150yds before setting down. I mushed over in the mud and she took off about 2ft off the mud and I took a 70yd shot at her put her down again. When I got close she fluttered off again! and I had to swat her twice to get her anchored! This was one determined duck. I approached this lady with 'guns drawn' you can bet. This is my very first ever banded duck by the way. Too cool!

Update: That hen actually has a band on both legs! Likely has something to do with the reward band?? I named her Bonnie because she has 25 holes in her and was still game to try to get away, just like Bonnie after Hamer and crew got through with she and Clyde...

[MarketHunter]

Your first band and it's a double banded $50 reward???!!! To say I'm envious would put it mildly.....

Destry

[Richard Flanders]

Thanks Destry! The bands went a long ways in cheering me up after expending so much ammunition for so few ducks! I seemed to make the hard 50+ yd shots and miss the ones that came right over me at 25yds...go figure... Tom would say of some incomers, "they're way too high" and not shoot.... I'd shoot and down one would come.... or he might shoot twice and miss and I'd swing on a bird way the hell out and down it would go.... maybe it's the F/F chokes....

She was banded Aug 8, 2009 on Minto Lake, not far from where I got her..... and the check's in the mail....!

[Steve McCarty]

Originally Posted by Richard Flanders

Thanks Destry! The bands went a long ways in cheering me up after expending so much ammunition for so few ducks! I seemed to make the hard 50+ yd shots and miss the ones that came right over me at 25yds...go figure... Tom would say of some incomers, "they're way too high" and not shoot.... I'd shoot and down one would come.... maybe it's the F/F chokes....

She was banded Aug 8, 2009 on Minto Lake, not far from where I got her..... and the check's in the mail....!

How's that thumb doing?

Say, what kind of shells were you shooting?

[Richard Flanders]

That thumb gets pretty painful after a weekend in camp if I don't drink enough liquids and isn't bad at all here; it gets way worse. After last night's plucking session out in the back woods it's my plucking thumb on the right hand that's really hurtin' today; good thing I have a good in-house pharmacy.... Shooting Hevi shot Classic Doubles, KTM, and Bismuth, mostly all in 4 shot as much as I can, with some #3 an #5 mixed in there. The old bismuth shells are the dirtiest burning shells I have ever seen - terrible!. The bbls look like I've been shooting black powder. The KTM and Classic Doubles hit pretty hard and kill well. Pic shows where the "fat meets the road"... or the Food Saver as it were... I swear I'm going to show some serious respect and have a moment of silence when I roast and stick a fork to ole' Bonnie... what a fighter! I actually feel a little bad about taking her. She obviously had good genes to pass on. I will pick her bones absolutely clean out of respect and in hopes of taking on some of her tenacious spirit We all better hope that ducks like her don't discover some long lost scattergun in a marsh and start toying with it and figure out how it works...

[charlie cleveland]

what a fine storey about bonnie...she just didnt want to give up did she...still about 6 weeks till us in mississippi get to shoot any of them big ducks...if any any of them get by them big parkers... charlie

[Dean Romig]

Cool picture with the ducks strung over the log. I remember catching a few ducks in muskrat traps when ran a trapline in the late fifties and early sixties. Ususlly just had to cut the leg off at the first joint above the foot if the trap broke the bone. One particular black duck I did that with lived for five more years.

[Autumn Daze]

He may have lived for 5 more years but I bet he was pissed.....

[ch]

Richard, crazy glue works great on cracks but make sure the infection is out of it if it is infected may not be. But me and Dad use it all winter.

Dave,

Dean, I caught a greenhead on a beaver drownder rig he drounded.

[Richard Flanders]

I've done the glue thing in the past Calvin but this thumb wasn't bad enough to bother. You should see the other thumb.... much much worse. Sometimes you can just duct tape the cracks shut if that's all you have.