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Ice cold and blowing...

Most of the small lake I hunted this morning was covered with half an inch of ice. When I arrived before dawn there was only a small area of open water which just happened to be right in front of my blind. I tossed my decoys out into the water but the wind was blowing hard directly toward me so most of them weren't far enough from shore to suit me. I climbed down the bank into the frigid water and waded out to place the decoys a bit further out. I went as far as the edge of the ice and grabbed it to see how thick it was. It was nearly half an inch and moving slowly toward the shore! I pushed against it, but it was like pushing against a solid sheet of ice almost half a mile square!
I realized that soon my decoys would be pushed under the ice and would be gone until spring so I hauled them all out and tossed them onto the bank of the pond. As I was in a hurry, and flustered, not knowing how I would make a good hunt of it, I slipped on a patch of mud beneath the icy water and fell headlong, drenching myself up to my armpits. Great, now I get to hunt wet and cold.

I finished collecting my decoys and went up and sat in the blind to warm up a little, out of the wind which was blowing nearly 25mph. I decided to just pass shoot until I could think of a better option. Just after dawn I saw a bunch of ducks off to my right, in the water, about 100 yards away. I thought I might sneak up and jump shoot them. Soon I was startled when I heard a loud shot from that area and realized they were another hunter's decoy spread. Oh well. Not long after that three canvasbacks flew in over my right shoulder, into the wind. I shot one which fell, of course, out on the ice. Buster bounded out to retrieve it but there was only 3 feet of open water before he hit the massive ice cover. He tried to get up on it but didn't have any leaverage. I called him off, not wanting him to hurt himself, banging on the edge of that ice shelf. A gust of wind came up and blew that duck 20 yards back, sliding off the ice and into the open water near the bank. It was hilarious seeing that duck sliding across the ice. I sent Buster back and he got the can and brought it back to the blind. One for us!

Around 9 or a little after, the other hunter started picking up his spread. He had two dogs with him which had been very well behaved. After picking up, he crossed the shallow channel that separates the little island that he was hunting on from the shore, walked up a bit and put down his game bag and started towards me. I went out to meet him and to have a chat. He pulled back his hood and I realized it was Dean, whom we'd just dined with a week before! Well, Dean and his dogs joined me and Buster in the blind for a while. A lone mallard hen crossed our left quarter, we both shot at nearly the same time and she went down. Of course all three dogs were after her, she'd landed in the field behind the blind about 50 yards off. Dean's new young chocolate, Bailey, came running back with the prize! After a while Dean left the duck with me in exchange for a promise of some duck pepperoni sticks and Buster and I were alone on the pond again. It's been a poor season here on the coast and we were fortunate to have these two in the bag. I winged another mallard later on but it landed past the first patch of ice (the ice was now breaking up a little but large pieces where jammed up against the shore). I set out in a row boat and chased it halfway across the lake but it lost me. So Buster and I packed it in and set out for home, a bath, some eats and hot chocolate.

Posted by phanvey at January 12, 2005 09:56 PM