Cloudless, Balmy and Calm...

...the perfect mix of conditions for a great hunt. Yeah right! Well a few more hours logged in the Ditch and another Zero. The conditions were more like early summer than fall, but can you really complain about the weather? Well sure you can if you're a Waterfowler. While most people we work with, hang out with, and talk to, are loving these unseasonably warm temps, us "crazy's" are wishing for wind driven snow, low ceilings and temps just above freezing. What can one expect when just under 2 weeks ago we saw our first push and less than 7 days ago another one? When it starts, it's hard to take when it just shuts off. The short trip back to town via some county roads uncovered some concentrations of birds lying around on un-hunted, un-disturbed WRP projects. A little drive around this "bottom" and you'll soon see why the birds get smart quick. In just over a 6 mile stretch there must be at least 10 set-up's all large and on large bodies of water. No wonder they don't just swing around and let us "take-em". There's a ton of competing spreads up here and all with the same thing in mind: Get up early, have some coffee, BS a bit and go home. We just haven't convinced the birds of that, these are waterfowl viewing blinds hasn't anyone told them? Well that's the report for the day.

THANK YOU LEGENDS DITCH!

I would like to say THANKS to the guys in the Legends Ditch, it appears that Killer Karl has found this blog and has posted it on the ever famous Kohler Report (http://www.ducksrdead.blogspot.com/). I used to be on the email list for the report and then when it moved to the Blog I thought it was great, I must admit, the idea for the blog I did COPY. We all have people we talk to concerning our hunts, why not post them on a blog, it is a great idea, thanks Carl. The Legends ditch is just that, a legend! We've all heard the stories from back in the day and remember when "what's Kohler doing?" was a part of every waterfowlers conversation. Heck it still is today after all these years. With their Blog we can have it whenever we want it. Maybe someday people will ask "What's Muck Bottom doing?" I seriously doubt that as none of us have the time to dedicate to the sport as RK has. We all share the passion but aren't lucky enough to make it come true as he does everyday. So, with that I again say THANKS to Carl for dedicating, almost entirely, today's Kohler Report to us "sand bar" hunters who drive Dodge Trucks and Chrysler Vans, who have names like SureShot and DuckDominator and who have smoke pole's with names like "Feather Duster." You will see the duck character on our trucks and on our trailer when we go by the cafe in the morning, or head back home after a hunt. Just in case you're wondering, the trailer has a life-sized Bill Callahan VooDoo Doll in it, we use it to pattern our Marlin Bolt Action goose guns.

Shorts T-Shirt and a Sun Tan

Well you're definately not going to hear about how many ducks we saw migrating today. There were just too many to count. Ducks by the thousands coming from North belly up. WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP. Sorry I was dreaming again. Today's temp on the way to the Ditch was 33 degrees, we were hoping for it to stay there, but the Sun came up and boom 60, just like that. We headed home about 1030AM with two Widgeon in the bag. With the loss of our old friend ICE we had to play birddog. First one took only 5 shots. One miss, One hit, One miss, One Miss, One Hit. DANG cripples! That action packed 15 mins started off the morning. Soon after, we had two Blue Bills come screaming in right at us, called the shot a bit late and...yep you guessed it, nothing but wad's fell to the ground. We we're packing up about 915AM and took the 4wheeler to the trailer to bring in some gear, I parked right behind the blind, we took out the robo ducks, untangled some deeks and..yep you guessed it again, ducks from the North about 15 or so, migrating sort of ducks just appeared out of nowhere, they responded to the call, banked, saw still water the 4wheeler and a wide open black ditch. Even in those perfect conditions just described, we didn't get into them. We decided to stay another hour, as I'm sure you all would have. Just as we were loading up to leave another Widgeon popped in just outside the deeks. The great sneak was on! Normally I'm not much of a "sneaker" but we hadn't had much luck so I gave him a try. Got fairly close as he got up on the other side of the CANADA deeks and almost didn't get the shot off. He banked right back in and we scratched our second bird of the day. That's it for today's action, the North West Ditch had 3 rounds today, haven't heard how they did. We should have the Ditch manned all weekend so keep checking back for the latest action.

60's and 70's?

Here we are 2 days away from Halloween and temps are approaching the mid 60's. The forecast has it going higher the next couple days. Well as avid waterfowlers, the sun and balmy temps almost never bring ducks, especially after a front just moved through. Halloween weekend has brought snow storms and freezing rain in the past that has lead way to some great days, looks like it'll be "Christmas hanging lights" weekend this Halloween. Still holding up hope until the AM report from today, nothing, nada, zip, ziltch, the occassional groups of 7 to 10 ducks is all that was around today, nothing in the way of migration. A single shot fired at a single teal and missed, that was the only action. The message boards and field reports confirmed the SureShot Predictive Index saying Sunday/Monday push of birds. The Fremont Area reported a MASSIVE amount of birds moving in Monday along the Platte River, and we all know how well the Legends Ditch did on Sunday, so there was a big push, just not in line with our Ditch. We'll be out in the AM and expect another report when it's over.

Hurricane Winds - Few Ducks

A couple of brave soles from the Halloween party managed to get up and go to the ditch. A couple of us, going on 3 hours of sleep, decided to stay in bed as the clear skies and lack of wind at 5AM just didn't look promising. After a morning of picking up Big Foots, rounding up deeks that had moved with the wind and the dipping robo-duck lost battery incident, the boys headed back to the couch for an afteroon of football with 7 ducks in the bag, along with a single ross goose. So we've managed to scratch our first goose of the season, finally. I just recieved a text message from one of the "sleepers" from this AM who went out at 130PM and it said "pointless!" Sounds as if he's on his way back and giving up for the rest of the afternoon, it's now 430PM. My earlier thoughts were to perhaps take my first morning of the season off in an effort to scratch a few birds before work, but based on the text message I just recieved there seems to be no reason to do that. The South Ditch (blair boys) reported 9 ducks during the morning shoot with very few birds migrating. The "Legends Ditch" to the South reports there were Ducks and Geese all over the place according to what I have heard they took 30 Can's and almost 13 limits of ducks. What is hard to believe is that we didnt' see them 6 mi North and the South ditch didn't see the 15 miles South. Guess that was the spot to be today. All locations reported seeing migrating birds at Oxygen Mask levels. The weather man is saying 29 degrees tonight with NW wind again tomorrow at 15MPH and 21 degrees tomorrow night, that's getting down there. Only thing wrong with that is it looks like from Wednesday on 'til the following Tuesday the temp's climb back into the 60's with unseasonably high low temps. It appears things will be shutting down a bit after tomorrow. Our next hunt will be Wednesday AM, I will post all I hear from around the area.

"nothing to be proud of rusty"

Another day in the ditch with very little action. Admittedly should have taken a one man limit but nada. Saw the area birds going into another setup just a mile or so away, the guys over there shot more than a dozen ducks as of the last report. The South ditch (outside of Blair) managed 5 ducks on the day with a good mixed bag, gadwall, widgeon, spoon bills. The whole gang will be out tommorrow AM hoping the North wind blows in a few more new birds. If we don't see a trickle tomorrow we should see it on Monday, problem with Monday is we'll be empty. We will keep you posted.

Personal Note - Sad Day

All those that know me, know that my dog Ice has been by my side for many years. He has passed today to a better place. He got several retrieves this fall before heading home...... A hunter has several dogs in his lifetime, many times one stands above all others and Ice was that one..... He was the best!!!!!! I will miss him. Maybe my Dad can throw him some bumpers until I see them both again.....

Good Conditions No Ducks For US

As we left for the ditch, the rain was coming down, again, at a fairly steady pace. We made it to the blind after pushing through about 3 ft of water on the four-wheeler. We settled in about 10 mins before shooting time and right as the rain ended. The wind was blowing about 12 mph out of the NorthEast. I really don't know that exactly, but it was more than 10 mph and less than 15 mph, sure sounded good though. 15 mins after shooting time we had teal, belly up, 'bout 7 of them came screaming right it. Now belly up is something we haven't experienced a whole lot, so that alone was a positive note. Two guys, one measely teal. And yes, we emptied our guns. We thought we dropped two but no luck. Not real sure why only one, they were right there! Well, that about does it for the day. We saw a decent amount of birds and heard quite a bit of shooting. (Updated 10/24) The guys about a mile1/2 West and 1/4 mile North scratched 32 of the ducks we saw moving around, and they left at 1PM. The ducks have been here since Sunday afternoon and they pretty much got us figured out. It was tough leaving but we headed out about 11AM after not having pulled the trigger since sun-up. Conditions were about as "ducky" as they could get, low ceiling, overcast, damp air, and good wind. Sunday or Monday looks to be the next chance for new birds. We will have a full crew in the AM Sunday if we can all get up from the Halloween/Costume Party Saturday night. Considering costume-ing up in my waders, coat and hat, just so I can save some time in the morning, don't figure on getting much sleep. That's it for now, might have some attendance on Saturday AM, if we do I'll put in an update.

Rain Rain Go Away

Much anticipated heavy Northerly winds gave way to a soaking rain. To start off the morning 2 teal came right in and we took them both. Shortly after that it rained, and then a bit later, it rained. When the rain let up a bit a group of 4 came in and we managed to drop 2. Did see ducks floating around in between rains. Most ducks observed appeared to be just getting exercise showing no interest in sitting amongst the spread. Compared to Sunday afternoon, the amount of birds was disappointing. We packed up around 11AM and called it a day with 4 teal in the bag. Not the day we were looking for but a cold, wet, windy, rainy day in the blind is better than a good day at work. It sounds like the rain should start to give way around 8AM Thursday, the ducks should be right behind. A prediction from one of the boys says "sometime in the next 36 hrs we're gonna have ducks everywhere." Based on the DU article "think like a duck" (posted and the bottom of this blog) he may just be right. If it doesn't happen tomorrow I hope it holds off until the weekend. None of us are able to make it to the ditch on Friday. We will be up and at 'em early tomorrow hoping for a little cooperation from Mother Nature. Coffee and heater's will be a brewin'. Expect another report after the hunt. The SureShot predictive index says don't miss Sunday/Monday give it a chance and it'll happen. Jet Stream setting up to make a huge push Monday, might just be the day to call in sick.

PM - Unexpected Afternoon

With the temps climbing into the upper 60's and the limited amount of AM luck, the afternoon turned into an above average push day. From about 1Pm on there were constant groups of gadwall coming down and looking at what was going on. My phone was lighting up with text messages: Got 4, Got a couple more, just limited on Pintails, etc, etc. The good action started about 230PM and didn't stop until around 530PM. As I said in today's earlier post, we scratched 4 this AM, a couple guys who stayed scratched 3 just after noontime and the late boys, 3 and a happy youngster, scratched another 8. They managed to limit on Pintail which is no small feet! This front coming through is definately pushing some bigger ducks south. We worked ZERO groups of Mallards. Today's bag included Gadwall, Widgeon, Pintail, Teal and another dang Shoveler. That pattermaster just can't seem to find anything else. The afternoon birds provided much, much more cooperation than the morning birds. It's good to have new birds! Sounds like we have this system setting up on us the next 4 or so days with mixed North and East winds. If today is any indication of the rest of the week I would recon there will be plenty of opportuntity the next few days. The group is done until Wednesday AM we will have a report then.

AM - A Little Action

The front coming from the North is pushing a fair amount of smaller ducks down despite the South winds. We observed plenty of high migrating ducks during this mornings ditch trip. We had 4 rounds today managing just under a handful of birds. The wind had 'em working outside the spread and the shots were very marginal. We all managed to burn through some shells but that was about it. The picutre says it all. When the owner has to be in the water with the dog, you know it was a long shot with a wounded-bird retrieve. There was a lot of shooting around the area, so it sounded as if all had good action. Cooperation from the ducks was hard to come by, we had 6 bunches land outside of shooting range. They would work the spread and land about 65 yds away from where we wanted them. There were also numerous groups of spooky ducks that would work us, work the guys to the south, work us again, work the guys to the south and then take off. Very Wary Ducks! Not sure if the competing spreads had 'em all jacked up or what. Can't wait for a big North wind day.

OFFICER PLEASE I'M TRYING TO GET HOME IN TIME FOR CHURCH: While all of Tekamah was in Church, we found one representative from the County who was not! It appears that 40MPH North of the school is a bit too fast. We mentioned that we were just talking ducks and not paying attention, "it's not even good yet" he replied. Thank goodness he keeps track of the ducks. Have a good day sir.

HOLD THAT THOUGHT - Just got a phone call, 3 more ducks down the two guys who stayed had some more chances. According to the report, they've seen hundreds of ducks since we left at 1015AM, it's now 110PM. The other guy who left with me is heading back out with his son. I'm watching the Chiefs, my boy is taking a nap, my wife is in Omaha and I can do nothing except sit here and wait for the updates. I'll check back in later.

According to the DukMaster

If you can trust this guy, there are ducks all over up and down the the MO River from Decatur to at least Blair. This handsome fella, hunting just outside of Blair, sent me a bit of a "ha-ha-ha" your working instead of hunting picture. What he forgot is that we have this blog, so I can post his ugly mug right here. Hope you all are having a good day.

Two Day Mixed Bag

Wednesday - AM walkdown kicked off whitefronts by the dozens. Plenty of new ducks in the area, mainly Gadwall. Non-stop action until about 930AM. Managed 6 ducks. There should have only been 5 but I guess a shoveler came by at the wrong time and found the pattermaster. The morning action warranted a 1/2 day off of work, only to yield a big fat ZERO. No decoying birds in the afternoon and into dusk. Nonetheless still a repectable day.

Thursday - Got a bit of a late start, arrived in the ditch about 815 and kicked off just a few ducks. After the Wednesday walkdown and North wind all day, I was hoping for a "reserve" on the walk in. Who knows, had I been there earlier, I may have seen that. Shortly after settling in 4 teal gave a buzz and I scrached just one. My focus was a bit off as I was really hoping for some of the Wednesday ducks. After fetching up the teal I had a group of bluebills come from the South, luckily I was ready and I knocked down one, alive as can be in the NW corner of the lake. I made the trek and found him nesstled in the weeds. Good thing my "sniffer" was working. Folowing the bills there were tons of ducks floating around the area, but no committments. We had no wind, the clouds had moved on and I left the Robo Duck in the trailer. I went out and messed around with the decoys, returning to the blind just in time for a huge group of Widgeon. They worked extremely hard over the spread not sure just where to go. 4 dropped out and came hard, no doubt due to the sweet music coming from my Folies Dead Meat Mallard, and just one ended up in the pond. Shooting was a bit off today but still managed 3 ducks. Again no Canada Geese, and yesterdays Whitefronts had apparently moved elsewhere. I gave it 'til 1PM and called it quits for the day. Next hunt will likely be Sunday AM with the whole gang, should be able to have a least two hours of non-stop ducks.

Late Start

A 2PM late hunt on Monday and nothing. Just a couple of shots fired. Kicked off a large number of teal, gadwall and a few pintail from the pond. Good to see some bigger ducks flipping around. Zero birds in the bag for today. It was an unscheduled trip to the ditch so the expectations were minimal. Thought a few more birds would have been visible after the rain ended, figured they'd been sitting tight all morning, but not the case. Next hunt tomorrow AM hoping for the morning caos of teal to sharpen our shooting.

Evening Miscue

On the trip back to the ditch we found out that the 45 mile/hour wind had shifted some deeks, so while the re-designing of the spread was going on we had a repeat of this mornings first 40 minutes. A short lived rain shower almost gave way to dryer, softer seats at home in front of the TV, but they stuck it out. First group of workable, bigger ducks came from the north about 200 yds, "close up" is the call, in the act of closing up there were ducks coming from the South, at about 8 feet, one "filet-o-duck," courtesy of pattern master, dropped as the group from the North headed out on the sounds of shotgun blasts. One more in the bag for the night ending up with 6 total for the day. Again, no local geese observed and very few "bigger" ducks. With the weather changing tomorrow, we may get a few ducks floating in on the North wind. Work calls the next couple of days and it's a bit too early to call in with "duck" fever. Wednesday will be the next day in the ditch.

First Hunt

Finally, opening day for the group. Unfortunately all of us had to work on Saturday, but we did hear some reports of some success on local geese in the area as well as some teal moving through. Shooting time was just after 7am and from then until about 750am there were teal all over the place. We took 5 teal for the day. Had 3 go arounds and boy them suckers are quick. Had a few decoying issues so all shots were marginal at best. The 20+ mile/hour wind proved to get the best of us. Zero Canada geese seen and less than a handfull of "bigger" ducks. The PM hunt will prove a bit difficult according to the weather man, rain and wind, should be interesting.