2008 MN Duck Opener Recap

[Mayfly]

2008 MN Duck Opener Recap

PJ Maguire
   
At seven am the fog was as thick as I have ever seen it on the small water in front of our family cabin in northern Minnesota. It was two hours before legal shooting time for the 2008 duck season and I was down on the dock. Still in my pajamas I had carried a bag of goose decoys down to help my father and cousin in their preparations for the morning.
   
The two men loaded the duck boat and my father’s old black lab Cullie jumped in. The air temps were much cooler than the water, so I bid them good luck as the disappeared into the fog. They were headed to the big water join the ‘boat parade’ as I call it to fight for a spot in the wild rice patties. My friend Matt Gouette, Stella the pup and I were going to try our luck in one of our ‘honey holes’ away from the big water, were we wouldn’t have to deal with crowds.
   
I awoke Matt at eight and by eight thirty we were on the water heading the opposite direction of my dad and cousin. It was a pleasant boat ride to our spot, through a small channel and across a calm lake. When I checked the time after we had placed our decoys and concealed my new boat blind it was nine o’clock exactly. Perfect I thought, then Matt and I shared a laugh about having to wake up at four am to get the best spot on the big water the previous year.
   
In the early part of legal shooting time there was very little wind for the birds to work into. A few small flocks of mallards gave our decoy spread a look before a nice drake made the fatal mistake of venturing into gun range. I dispatched him cleanly with one snap shot from my Berretta auto-loader.
   
Stella, the fourteen-month-old female black lab, retrieved her first mallard. One of the nicest looking drakes I have seen on opening day in some time. More time would pass before she had the opportunity for a second retrieve. This came when Matt doubled on a flock of wood ducks harvesting two drakes.
   
Matt and I ended up sitting in the boat blind over the decoys till almost the end of shooting time at four o’clock. The action was not fast or ferocious but I managed to shoot two more wood ducks and a blue-winged teal, Matt shot another mallard. The two of us limited on wood ducks, which is pretty much par for the course in the area we hunt, the mallards were a nice surprise.
When we returned to the cabin we discovered that my father and cousin Bill had also harvested more mallards then usual. Both proudly displayed their combined take of five mallards, two wood ducks and a blue-winged teal.

I had to check my records, but it was the most mallards we had harvested in our traditional opener duck hunt since 1996. So it will go down as one of the better opening days since I first began to hunt ducks as a boy in 1989. Which by the way was the first year my relatives harvested a Canada goose.

Matt and I shot well and therefore capitalized on the opportunities that were presented to us. Setting up off of the big water in hopes that birds would go seek shelter in a secluded bay it not go as well as I had hoped. Matt and I only saw a handful of birds while my father and cousin swore they saw ‘thousands.’ Even though we shot a similar amount of birds, we had completely different experiences.

The following two days we enjoyed relaxing hunts on the big water from the boat blind. Sunday the four of us harvested four mallards and a blue-winged teal. Monday three wood ducks, another blue-wing, and a Canada goose were fooled by our decoy spreads.

On the drive north to get to the cabin before the opening weekend Matt had commented that we were due for a good mallard shoot. On the way home he mentioned that we had harvested as many geese as we did over the opening weekend of the early season. For me it will go down as one of the best in a trend that seems to be getting better. The last three years in a row we have fooled Canada geese at the cabin. 


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[dag1980]

Driving in to work today there were a ton of ducks and geese flying around. Must have been right around 8 am. Saw probably 300 geese and 200-300 ducks. made me want to call in sick for the day and do some killin