Macys 1st woodduck!

Went into my local woodduck spot this morning to try and get in a hunt before class. It's a quick hunt because I can drive out, walk in the swamp, toss out a few decoys, wait for the woodies to fly out from their roost, and if successful I'm home in time to grab my books and be at 8:30 class. It's a bit weird watching some of my teammates headed to morning practice on their scooters as I drive through campus on the way to hunt... Leaning against a cypress in the woods listening for ducks to announce their approach is a piece of cake compared to a 2 hour workout! I brought Macy since it was a bit cold and I had a tiny leak in my waders- if things came together and I could shoot straight she could retrieve my birds without me having to get wet/ cold.. luckily things panned out and Macy got to retrieve her 1st wood duck- a beautiful drake that flew by in small group. I couldn't have had a bigger smile on my face as she swam back in to me with her drake! Gave me a feeling I imagine my father had when taking me on some of my first hunts...  I'm sure I missed a few birds flying out while I took her picture with the drake and sent to my dad but oh well... there's always tomorrow...

Snapped this pic as soon as she came in..

Solid ice on the water!

Hunted a public spot this weekend with a buddy, the coldest Fl morning I've ever seen with the truck reading 13 degrees as the temp on the drive to the ramp. Backing the boat down into the water we actually had to break through ice on the water- in hindsight we were glad that we were the first ones at the ramp or we would have been met with a ramp of ice from the other trailers pulling out. Only shot 1 Blue Winged Teal that landed in the spread but was one of my memorable hunts to think of due to the cold weather and toughing it out with one of my best buds! We hunkered down hoping more birds would move as the sun got higher to no avail and ended up the day with a stalk on a group of ringers that earned us 4 drakes.

Here's my bud and his teal on a 1/4 inch piece of ice! Never thought I'd have the boat running through ice like that!

On another duck hunt during this cold front I found this gator while walking out... I suppose it was just in a deep coma mode trying to tough it through the cold night and warm up once the sun rose. I am under the impression the big gators hole up during these cold fronts so they aren't as vulnerable.

On a sidenote.. similar to this gator I was handicapped a great deal by this freeze, not so much in my body but more in my equipment. As I was driving to the lake in the morning I noticed a small amount of ice on my windshield and without thinking I used my spray and wipers to clear it off. The combination of liquid, temperature and highway speed turned my whole windshield to SOLID ice. Luckily the highway is empty at 5:30 a.m. and no traffic had to slow down as I drove the last couple miles with my head peeking out the window to see. I still had ice on the windshield hours later on the drive home and had to scrape out a spot to see, lesson learned the hard way I suppose..

Afternoon Woodduck

Here's some pictures from our last hunt of the season..went to a local hole for the afternoon hunt and was able to pull a drake woodduck from a group I jumped while walking in.. missed the other drake in the group, can use it for motivation to practice shooting this offseason.. A memorable hunt since I rigged up some decoys I was handed down by a old friend and added them to my simple spread I bring to this walk in spot..