I knew toward the end of the summer that this wasn't going to be a year of real hard core hunting for me. I simply had too much going on and with me still being lower on the seniority list at work and with the upcoming birth of my son, I just didn't have enough time. I am pretty sure this might be my only hunting trip this year, I know deer hunting is out of the question and I might try and do some late season pheasants, but who knows.
The only real hunting trip we had planned this year was for the second weekend of duck hunting. We (my brother Michael, Dad, and myself) were invited to go to Ryan Everson's cabin (one of Michael's close friends) just outside of Big Fork, MN. Michael had been to his cabin before and always said the hunting was very good. Dad and I didn't really know what to expect, the said it was public hunting land, but it is almost never used by anyone else.
Since we in a new environment, Dad and I made a point of asking Michael many times what we needed to bring. We got most of our gear together and really didn't need anything different that normal, but the Friday morning that we were supposed to leave, Michael called and asked if we could bring the S.S. Dinghy. I agreed, but that meant I had to get some serious work done in a few hours. I hadn't even got the boat out of the backyard yet this year! Not that I was real surprised, but the trailer lights didn't work. So after Dad and I spent about 2 hours completely rewiring the trailer, it was finally ready to go. It was still without a motor, but we had everything else strapped in a ready to go!
We all met at my parents house and hit the road just before dinner time. My brother would be driving up (since he knew where he was going and all) and we would be in his wife's Tahoe.
The drive went pretty good and we hardly had any traffic. We stopped at the Applebee's in Grand Rapids for dinner and continued our drive further north. A little past Grand Rapids, it started snowing. It wasn't a real heavy snow, but was more than just flurries. It was real pretty to see and brought back great memories of duck hunting when it is actually cool out! When we pulled into Ryan's cabin, the snow was a little heavier than before, but hardly accumulating. Dad and I were very impressed with the cabin. It is a year round walk out lake home. It is pretty much just like a house, kitchen, bathrooms, showers, ect. It has an amazing pole barn filled with toys and sits on about 5 acres. Ryan showed up about an hour after we got there and we settled in for the night. My brother and I would be sharing a room with two full sized, pillow top beds, and dad was across the hall in his own room sleeping on a king sized pillow top bed. We sat around and talked for a few minutes, watched the flat screen TV, had a couple beers, discussed the plan for the morning and hit the hay.
The alarm came at 0500 and Michael and I both woke up very refreshed and ready to go, Dad was soon to follow. We got all of our heavy weight hunting clothes and proceeded to get our gear ready. When we got upstairs (we were sleeping in the basement) we were greeted by about two inches of snow on the ground! This had the makings of being a great morning hunting! We got all of our gear ready and started the short drive to the lake we would be hunting on. Michael, Dad, and I drove in the Tahoe (with Tanner the dog) and Ryan and his two cousins (who were joining us) rode down in his Kubota towing his duck boat. It turns out we didn't really need my boat anyways!
We arrived at the lake (I guess it is technically called Grass Lake) and got everything unloaded. I was excited about hunting on a lake and using a boat to get from point A to point B since most of the duck hunting I am used to involves hunting and getting around on land. The boat we were assigned to was a 1982 12' Alumacraft fishing boat. It would be powered by a 45 ft lb thrust trolling motor (since my motor is messed up still). Michael piloted us out to were we would be hunting. The area we were hunting was on the south end of the sitting along a small creek that flows to a natural rice bog. What a perfect area! We got the boat unloaded and hidden and set up our blinds. The morning was crisp and beautiful. We saw quite a bit flying, but only a few were within shooting range. We ended up with two ducks (it could have been a few more, but I think we were all a little rusty shooting this years!) and Tanner had two nice retrieves. We headed back in after about 4 hours of the morning hunt. We needed some food and the warm up!
Saturday was the last day of the early closing time, so after we got breakfast and spent a few hours warming up, Michael, Dad, and I headed back down to the lake for another hour or two of hunting. Ryan and his two cousins needed to get their deer stands set up, so we would be the only ones one the lake. We changed our location to a point about 1/2 way up the lake (the blind where Ryan and his cousins were in the morning) where a fixed blind was located. We sat out there until closing time, had a few missed opportunities, but enjoyed the day and talking with each other.
The rest of the day, we spent cleaning ducks and lounging around. We all caught a couple movies (thanks to DirecTv) and had pizza for dinner. I don't really remember the exact time, but I think we were all in bed by 2200 hours!
Sunday morning came again at 0500 hours. Pretty much the same morning getting ready as before. However, this morning, we would be heading back out to the point we were at in the afternoon the day before and Ryan and his cousins would be at a different point down the lake from us. Since we only had the trolling motor again, we were towed about 3/4 of the way to our point by the other boat. We got the decoys out, boat hidden and blind set up just in time for shooting time. Today was much slower than the day before. Not as much flying at all. I don't know if it had something to do with the thin layer of ice around the edge of the lake or what, but we only had a few shots and no kills for the morning. It was another crisp morning and after about 3 hours, we packed it up. The other group had a few ducks for the morning, but they also noted how much slower it was.
Since it was getting closer to the middle of the day, we figured we should start getting things packed up for the trip back. We helped get the boats and gear put away and then got our things packed in the Tahoe. We straightened up the beds, had a late breakfast, and said our goodbyes. We were on the road at about 1130. I think I slept 3/4 of the way home!
Once, again another great duck hunting trip. I always look forward to spending time with my Dad and brother in a duck blind every fall. Hopefully I will have at least one more hunting trip this year, but if not, it was still a good year. I think next year we are going to do some late season scouting and find a few more spots to try out. I think Dad and I are going to try and join Michael in North Dakota also!
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