Signs of Life

Hello again all my technologically advanced and well connected waterfowl enthusiast friends. Welcome to Muck Bottom Outfitters Waterfowl Report. Good winds today gave high hope. Disappointment was not present today, finally. The walk down kicked off about 30 Mallards from the pond, a nice sight to see and the first real sign of migrating birds. Up to this point all we've been kicking off has been brown ducks and teal. Within minutes the first bird of the day was down. Within another few minutes the second bird of the day was down.
A great start to the morning. I could say the day ended there and should as there were no more successful shoots. So there you have it! Two ducks. Saw migrating snow geese, migrating mallards and even some more specs. Movement, up to this point, has been not existent since the uncharacteristic opening day. There were chances after the first 15 minutes but the sun played havoc with one man's depth perception. You see you can only follow the birds in so far before the East facing blind gets the best of you. Looking up after that will only make your face light up like the Christmas Tree in Time Square. After experiencing the first couple groups of decoying birds and the 10 yd shot that accompanied them looking down away from the sun seemed to be logical. However, when you imagine where the birds are before flipping the lids, you should be certain that you are right. What a difference 4 or 5 seconds makes with dumping birds. The bloods rushing, the birds are cupped and dumpin, the sun forces you to take your eyes off the birds...but that last look had 'em comin', you wait for just a couple seconds thinkin' they should be there, you flip...and...(insert expletive)...what you thought was 10-20 yds turns into 50-60. Shots fire out of frustration and nothing drops. Not only did this happen once, it happened twice. First time on a small bunch of Gaddy's and second time on 30 or so New Mallards. Now while you may be laughing about that, you know it's happened to all of us at one point or another. Whether it was the sun, a cell phone, an itch, fumbling for your call, or looking down too make sure you safety was off, it's happened! To all of us! The day ended a bit short as much of the early movement slowed to a bit of a crawl and a nap just seemed like a better idea. The bunks haven't yet been installed so a trip home to the couch was the afternoon plan. Good signs of mother natures clock tickin' on the birds. Goin' out tomorrow with the South wind forcasted and will definitely move the spread. That's all for now. Check back for the latest and greatest and thanks for all the hits.