After years of talking about it I finally decided to set up a spot on my lease just for duck hunting. With the limit raised to three on Wood Ducks it makes it worthwhile. The $50 Canoe I bought was still there. The water had risen close to it, but not enough to float it away to the Brazos. Yes, I have a rope on it now. I picked a spot on the creek far from where I Deer hunt to stay legal on the baiting issue. I had a place in mind that was a bend that pointed north that makes the prevailing winds tend to bunch up anything floating in the river at that location, including Pecans and Acorns. It is hard to reach by land, but I have always been able to jump Wood Ducks there.

So here is the bend. Water is up, but with the high banks it looks about the same even with lower water levels.

Though not the intent of the trip, we had a short morning free for a blind duck hunt before we were to cart my Goose decoys into the Refuge.



We had been informed by a park ranger that other hunters the week before had been hunting the cove we intended to hunt, but we stayed with it since it was just a quick hunt to shoot whatever we could at sunrise then leave kind of thing. All we had room for in the truck was a small mixed 10 decoy collection of gadwall, mallard, bluebills, and teal. Plus a half dozen Higdon Motion Canadas.



Divers had some attraction to our two Scaup decoys but since we had set up on a flat they would not land and just buzzed us. We did get teal and gadwall in the decoys though. Mallards were no where to be seen. One flock of Geese came by, but I had forgot my call in the truck.



Redheads



Bigfoot Lives!



I full choked some Divers with Hevi 2 reloads, making Blaze earn her keep with some long rough water retrieves.

So not a bad morning being short on time.



Left by slob hunters before us. We packed it out for them.





We scouted and found the Geese, but wanting for more traditional hunting we held them in reserve for a possible Sunday morning instead of ambushing them on the spot. If our Goose hunt Saturday was a bust they would be our alternate Sunday morning hunt.



Being my 4th year in a row to make this stop, tradition has been that everyone on the hunt must eat a Merganser. Roadgoeson20 got to sample my teriyaki Merganser last year. This year Peppered Teriyaki Redhead Duck worked just fine as a substitute. It really was not bad at all.