Saturday, October 23, 2004

Mississippi duck hunt OK, I promised a report on my post-birthday duck hunt on the Mississippi, so here it is. When Jon and I met Dan Datillo at the DeSoto boat landing at 4:00 a.m., there were already two rigs parked. Danny had his jonboat in the water, so we piled in our gear and shoved off. The wind was howling out of the northwest, making whitecaps on the river. Halfway across Big Lake, we ran aground on a sandbar. Jon and I jumped out and pushed. If you don't think that's spooky at 4:30 in the morning, try it some time! We got the boat off the bar and the Go Devil took us up into our appointed slough, where Danny left us and headed back to get the crew. Jon and I sat in the makeshift blind awhile and shined a light every time another boat appeared to be anywhere near us. No one even came close, but we watched a steady parade of lights from boats that launched at the Lansing bridge and ran south through the channel. From there, they spread out south and west of us, somehow each finding a spot to hunt in the dark. Did they all have spots picked out ahead of time? I can't believe they did. Around 5:30, Jon and I cut some willow sticks and strung the camo netting around the outside of the blind for Duane and Art, who arrived with Dan around 6:00. It was a struggle getting them out of the boat and into the blind with the camera gear. In borrowed waders, they slogged throught the mud like troopers. We were set up before shooting time, then waited for the ducks to arrive. As on our last hunt there, the shooting began with a shot here and there, then built to war level, and still we had not seen a duck. Finally, a pair of mallards came winging up the slough and Danny dropped a drake. Jon had a couple shots at passing birds, but nothing wanted to decoy. About 7:30, a greenwing came streaking in from the east and I dropped it through the willows with my second shot. Mindy retrieved it to me, then swam back to Danny and Jon, who were set up in the reeds across a shallow channel. More ducks came over too high to shoot, and a few got by us when we were looking the wrong way. Danny and Jon moved into the cover of the willows when it got light enough for ducks to pick them out where they had been sitting. Jon made a nice shot on a drake mallard, but that was our last opportunity. Danny headed back to the landing with Duane and Art at about 9:00 because Duane had to catch a plane in Milwaukee for Buffalo, where he was shooting the Bills/Dolphins game. Jon and I stayed to hunt until Danny got back, but never had another opportunity. Dan picked us up a half-hour later. As we motored back to the landing, we watched other hunters sky-bust at too-high ducks. "That's what we've been hearing mostly," Danny said. Back at the landing and over breakfast at the Bright Spot in DeSoto, we spoke with other hunters, none of whom had done any better than we. It remains a mystery to me how it can sound like a military operation out there, but whenever you talk to other hunters, they have very little to show for their efforts. After a brief visit to Danny's cabin, Jon headed for Minneapolis, where he would spend the night with friends and catch a plane home to Seattle in the morning. I headed for Watertown to speak at a dinner benefitting the Rock River Fishery Rescue, a group working to restore game fish in the Rock. It was a challenging evening. I was running on fumes, having been up since 3:00 a.m. When I got up to speak, there were about three minutes left in the Wisconsin/Purdue game, which meant a half-hour of football. The bar was adjacent to the dining room, and the game was on in the bar. My remarks were punctuated alternately with cheers and groans, and finally one loud roar when Purdue missed that field goal attempt at the end. Dragged myself home and slept until about 9 the next morning. A long, full weekend, and one I thoroughly enjoyed, even if the ducks let us down. Later... 9:46:33 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2004 Dan Small. Last update: 10/23/04; 9:50:16 PM.