Trophy Birds from “The Trophy Boat”

The opening day of the south zone in Ohio came in with a bang! We had a great day! Good shooting and good friends is an unbeatable combination! According to Dan the Mojo Man,” the only thing worse than having a bad day in a duck boat is not being in a duck boat!”

We have had a good year duck hunting thus far, and this weekend was NO exception! The day started a little rough. Randy spent the night sleeping in his boat in order to save the spot we wanted. Dan G. and I came later. Randy had 45 decoys out and 5 mojo stands. Dan and I arrived with another 50 fakes and 4 more mojo stands. Setting all that up made us 11 minutes late setting up for shooting time.  We may have been on time if I didn’t have to drive through freezing drizzle to get there. I nearly slid off the road at one point.  What a duck hunter won’t do!

The skies were dark and gray and the stiff breeze was at our back as planned. It was 7:25, but it was unusually dark. The freezing drizzle stopped, but I am not sure we would have noticed. We were at full alert, scanning the skies for the black dots that race across the sky and listening intently for wing beats, quacks or anything which says DUCKS! Our olfactory senses were filled with stench from the bog behind us. It didn’t matter because Gunner was the only one who can smell ducks anyway!

Out of nowhere a big greenhead appeared cupped up and sailed straight into the space left in the blocks for our feathery friends to land, or at least try. Dan missed and his gun jammed (it happens). One bark from my Benelli and he landed abruptly with a splash! Gunner got so excited he whined and howled at the same time. Then he launched himself ten feet from the boat like a torpedo. He was on a mission! Five minutes later Randy saw a dark feather encrusted animal flying high. One round of high balls from his Haydel call and the duck squeezed his wings and dropped from the sky. A few feeding chuckles later a beautiful black duck was lined up for the harvest! One shot and Dan made up for the first attempt. Moments later Gunner reentered the boat using his WAG Boarding Steps ladder with a gorgeous black duck. After Randy and I hailed at the next two flocks of birds, a single mallard finally accepted our invitation. I sounded the feeding chuckle while Randy sat at the ready. It was Randy’s turn and he did not disappoint. One bark from the SBE and we each had a puddle duck.

Dan had to leave with his black duck at 10:30. Randy and I proceeded to fill our limit of mallards. Dan the Mojo Man invited us over with him. They finished their limit of mallards and had birds pouring in. It is great to have friends. He and John are great guys, and we are blessed to have them as friends!

As great as the duck hunting was, it was not the highlight of the trip. The highlight was Randy’s snow goose! We had a beautiful mature snow goose fly into the Canada fakes. Randy made the shot, and he became the proud owner of his first snow goose! A trophy for us in Ohio! It was as white as snow, a beautiful bird.

On the second day the sky was not a full of waterfowl as the first day. We had our blocks and flappers out on time, and we did have three singles lock up and coast in. As usual we took turns shooting and each member of our band scored on their rotation. Matt saved the spot for us, so he put the hammer down on a nice drake gadwall. I was up next. A big majestic drake mallard tried to land outside the decoys. He did, but upside down! As I reached for more shells, Randy said hello to a duck that I never saw coming. When I looked up all I saw was a duck on his back and a very white belly. It was a beautiful drake pintail!

Earlier this season Randy shot a beautifully plumed drake bufflehead. The lucky stiff then shot the snow and a sprig! For this reason, Matt anointed my boat as “The Trophy Boat”!