South Wind

Out at our blind on Rhodes Point a south wind usually isn't good. South and Southeast winds just don't work for that blind. Thank goodness we don't get much wind from that direction during the season. I have tried radical changes to the decoy spread, but it pretty much just spells disaster on a South wind.

Except once.

One Winter, a few years ago, we had terrible luck with the wind all season. It seemed like most every day 2-3 little mini-fronts would go across the area and change the wind direction. We had days that year that I completely reset the decoy spread 3 times in a day. A lot of work. Made me very conscious of how each brand of decoy I used rode the wind and tide a little differently. Since that year I have quit using some brands of decoys completely. I also went to the same exact decoy cord on all my decoys. Hard to believe, but when the wind and the tide were opposite, some cords would float or sink differently than others and cause the decoys not to line up properly. So, I learned from the experience, but it was tough on me when I was fighting it all day, every day.

One morning we started out on a due North wind. It was forecast to switch to Southwest over the course of the day and die down slightly. Kelly and I had a friend with us that morning and we shot ducks really good. Had a big limit down in just a couple hours. My friend asked if it would be OK to go get some other hunter he knew who had never shot any Bluebills. Thought it would be a great day for his buddy's first diver hunt. I told him he was welcome to go get the guy, but that the weather was supposed to change and I didn't know how well it would go in the afternoon. He said he would take a chance.

He took all the ducks home with him , so we could start fresh when he got back with his friend. Kelly and I just napped and ate up all our snacks for a couple hours waiting on them to get back. The wind started coming around so I reset the blocks for Southwest. Well the wind stopped in the South and really picked up. Probably got up to 20-25 mph. The tide was low so we had whitecaps right in front of the blind. Didn't look promising at all when the other guys got back.

Kelly and I had both shot well that morning and that continued through the afternoon. We were getting a shot every now and then and Kelly and I were really working them over. I adjusted the decoys one last time and that was the trick. The Bluebills started picking up our trailers about 150 yards downwind of the blind and riding that wind right into the pocket. We were waiting on them. The other guys were having trouble hitting the birds (it was pretty sporty with that much wind) but Kelly had her best shooting day of all time. I don't think she missed a bird, and I don't remember missing any either.

The other guys shot a lot and had a lot of fun. So it worked out to be a great day. Now every time we get a stiff South wind, Kelly reminds me that "it could happen" again.