Duck Hunting 2010

This is the fourth duck hunting season that I will have written about on my journal since I started keeping it back in 2006. To be completely honest, duck hunting is one of my favorite hobbies, but there is only so much you can do when writing about it to keep it exciting for someone reading it. So in an effort to keep my duck hunting posts less boring this year, I am going to combine all my duck hunting trips into one post and just hit the basic highlights of each trip. I'm not sure if I am going to stick with this format or not, so let me know what you think!


10/06/10

Since we were hunting public land, we decided we were going to try and do most of our hunting during the week to avoid over crowding. This worked out well since I work on a rotating schedule and often get days off during the week. This was out first trip out for the season and first trip to the MM WMA. We arrived and got set up on the west side of the slough close to the boat launch area. It was a warmer morning and we only needed light coats. We heard one other hunter on the east side who must have walked in. There was a moderate amount of activity and Dad bagged two drake Mallards. It was a beautiful morning and we really enjoyed this new area.

10/15/10

Another trip during the week for Dad and I to the MM WMA. The temperatures were much cooler and required us to actually wear our full hunting gear. We arrived and set up on the southwest corner of the slough. We saw one hunter who arrived later than us and set up on the east side of the slough. Moderate amount of birds early, but once the sun was up, the birds were no longer flying. We didn't bag any birds this morning but had a couple shots.

10/19/10

Dad and I again on our third trip to the MM WMA. The temperatures were still a little cooler, right around 30 degrees. We got set up and got our decoys out on the south side of the slough. We had no other hunters on the slough today. Beautiful morning, but no birds were flying. Most of the crops have been harvested and the local ducks are gone and very spooked. It hasn't got cold enough up north for the northern birds to come down yet. Neither of us got a shot of today.

10/29/10

I visited the MM WMA with a couple guys from work who are just getting into duck hunting. The temperatures were cold. It was about 20 degree when we arrived. We set up on the south end again. The slough had ice in the shallow areas and frost on everything. The birds were very active. We had one other person on the slough with us who was on the southeast corner. The birds loved our decoy spread and were very responsive to calling. However, the other hunter was using a motorized decoy (which are not allowed on WMA's) and he was getting all the bird to land by him. We didn't get any shots off, but it was impressive watching a flock of 40 birds land on the slough bases on our decoy spread and calling!

11/02/10

Dad and I again, back to the MM WMA. The temperatures were in the high 20's and we had a pretty strong wind from the northwest. We set up on the northwest corner of the slough. We saw a couple small flocks cruise over but nothing was interested. The wind made the morning very cold. We packed it up around 0900 and headed back. No shots, no birds. Still nice to be out though!

We still have over a half month to go before the end of the season and I think the northern birds are just starting to get here, so hopefully we will a chance to go out again, but if not, it was a great season trying new things and exploring new areas!