My second trip down to Argentina, we shot in a completely different part of the country than we did the first year. That suited me just fine. I wanted to see all of Argentina that I could. I also wanted to shoot as many possible species of ducks as I could. I knew very little about the migration paths of the birds down there. I still don't know everything, but I have studied it quite a bit now, and you can definitely see where some species are migrating through in greater numbers than in other areas.
Anyhow, the first morning I shot by myself on a very small pothole. Didn't see many ducks, due to being right in the middle of a stand of very tall reeds. The only ducks I saw were either straight overhead, or sailing into my decoys. I had a great shoot, killed my very first Rosy Billed Pochard. Actually killed a nice pair of them. Shot Teal and Pintails and had a really great shoot. When I left, and met up with the other hunters, I saw that one of the guys had killed a beautiful White Cheeked Whistling Duck. He had no idea what he had killed, just another duck to him. I was a little jealous, but, what the heck. He had killed 8 birds and I had killed 50.
The next morning we hunted on a private gunning club. Somehow Jorge had membership to the place, or at least permission to use it. We hunted in pairs that morning and when the hunt was over and we got back to the truck, I saw that the other pair of hunters had killed a Fulvous Whistling Duck. Again I was a little jealous, but once again I had killed far more birds than the other guys and I had killed a Coscoroba Swan as well, so I couldn't be too disappointed.
The following morning we boated out to blinds well offshore on a big lake. For a while it looked like a bust. Very few ducks were flying, but we could hear some shooting in the distance. That was the only time I ever knew of any other hunters within miles of our party. There were hundreds of Black Necked Swans on the lake, and eventually one ventured close enough for me to drop him. Drop him I did! Right in the boat we had tied to the back of the blind.
As the morning went on some ducks began moving around and our shooting picked up. Jorge had promised me that we would see a lot of whistling ducks on this lake. I didn't understand why - there certainly weren't any trees near the lake. But he was right. I saw several White Cheeked Whistling Ducks and finally got a few of them moving near us and I killed a half dozen or so. They are truly beautiful. I'd give anything to have one mounted.
Well, we were watching opposite directions, and without any warning Dave started shooting. I looked up and saw a small flock of Fulvous Whistiling Ducks passing high on his end of the blind. He killed one on his last shot. I was crushed. Travel halfway around the world and missed out on the opportunity. Whatever, I was stacking up the birds, so I wasn't going home too disappointed. About then, Jorge motioned to me that a duck was coming over real high and he wanted me to try the shot. I led the bird about 10 yards and folded it up. It fell probably 75 yards in behind the blind. I wanted to go look for it immediately, didn't want it lost in the reeds, but Jorge said we would get it on the way out.
Finished up our shoot, gathered the decoys and headed in. Sure enough, in a patch of open water back behind our blind we found that high duck I had killed. My first Fulvous Whistling Duck. I was good to go after that.
I have since killed a bunch of both the Whistling Duck species, but will always remember my first one of each.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
A Nice Break
Living here in North Carolina, we have long, hot Summers. Most years, Summer lasts well into October or even November. That is tough. Growing up in the Midwest, we were having cool weather in early September and Fall was in full swing by October. So, waiting on Fall to arrive in coastal Carolina can be an ordeal.
Anyhow, a few years back I just happened to have a day off that coincided with the opening day of our little three day early season. I thought, what the heck, even though the weather was still in the low 90's, I'd run up the Pamlico Point and give it a try. On the drive up there, the night before, I noticed the wind was freshening and the temperature seemed to fall a little more than the previous evenings. By the time I got to the trailer in Lowland, it was real nice out. Cooling off nicely and a stiff breeze. Humidity seemed to be way down, even the mosquitoes had vanished for the evening. At least it made it feel sort of like duck hunting weather. I had no idea what the forecast was, but you know "hope springs eternal" with duck hunters, so I was quite content when I went to bed.
Morning came early and I immediately stepped outside to see what the weather was like. It was still real windy. Hadn't cooled off much more, but the air was fresh and I was pretty excited by the weather change. Even if there were no ducks, at least it looked like a good morning to be out.
I went to Spring Creek and picked out a spot in the marsh to take advantage of the strong NNE wind. I don't think there were any other hunters in the marsh that morning. Probably the hot weather we'd been having had discouraged anyone else from hunting. So I settled in to wait on daylight and see if any birds were down. A good half hour before shooting time the Teal started pouring into my decoys. Blue Wing and Green Wing both. I was really excited about my prospects for the morning.
I love to eat Green Wing Teal. Don't care that much about Blue Wings. So just before shooting time, when it was still too dark to tell them apart, I let the dog exercise a little and flushed the birds from my decoys. Thought I'd wait until the light was a little better, so I could try to bag a few GW's. About actual sunrise the marsh really came alive with Teal. Some shooting in the distance stirred up a lot of ducks. In 15 minutes I had my limit of Teal; all Green Wings.
Picked up my decoys and headed back to the trailer. I was really happy with the morning's shoot and felt lucky to have caught such a nice break on the weather. When I got back I saw a friend just pulling into his driveway. I hollered at him, told him to come over and help me pick some ducks. He drove over and dropped the tailgate on his truck to show me three Canada Geese he had bagged that morning. Said he had been hunting the entire early goose season with no luck. But, the nice, cool, windy morning had paid off for him too.
Of all the bad luck that you can have while hunting, that day the luck had been all in my favor.
Anyhow, a few years back I just happened to have a day off that coincided with the opening day of our little three day early season. I thought, what the heck, even though the weather was still in the low 90's, I'd run up the Pamlico Point and give it a try. On the drive up there, the night before, I noticed the wind was freshening and the temperature seemed to fall a little more than the previous evenings. By the time I got to the trailer in Lowland, it was real nice out. Cooling off nicely and a stiff breeze. Humidity seemed to be way down, even the mosquitoes had vanished for the evening. At least it made it feel sort of like duck hunting weather. I had no idea what the forecast was, but you know "hope springs eternal" with duck hunters, so I was quite content when I went to bed.
Morning came early and I immediately stepped outside to see what the weather was like. It was still real windy. Hadn't cooled off much more, but the air was fresh and I was pretty excited by the weather change. Even if there were no ducks, at least it looked like a good morning to be out.
I went to Spring Creek and picked out a spot in the marsh to take advantage of the strong NNE wind. I don't think there were any other hunters in the marsh that morning. Probably the hot weather we'd been having had discouraged anyone else from hunting. So I settled in to wait on daylight and see if any birds were down. A good half hour before shooting time the Teal started pouring into my decoys. Blue Wing and Green Wing both. I was really excited about my prospects for the morning.
I love to eat Green Wing Teal. Don't care that much about Blue Wings. So just before shooting time, when it was still too dark to tell them apart, I let the dog exercise a little and flushed the birds from my decoys. Thought I'd wait until the light was a little better, so I could try to bag a few GW's. About actual sunrise the marsh really came alive with Teal. Some shooting in the distance stirred up a lot of ducks. In 15 minutes I had my limit of Teal; all Green Wings.
Picked up my decoys and headed back to the trailer. I was really happy with the morning's shoot and felt lucky to have caught such a nice break on the weather. When I got back I saw a friend just pulling into his driveway. I hollered at him, told him to come over and help me pick some ducks. He drove over and dropped the tailgate on his truck to show me three Canada Geese he had bagged that morning. Said he had been hunting the entire early goose season with no luck. But, the nice, cool, windy morning had paid off for him too.
Of all the bad luck that you can have while hunting, that day the luck had been all in my favor.
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