I think it is going to be a tough year. The water is too high and the grass too thick. I scouted Saturday at the lake I have hunted most over the last thirty
years and didn't put up a single bird. Sunday morning was opening day so I went to the lake where I hunted the second half of the season last year. Before
the sun topped the trees as the ducks were moving from the roost to feed I heard the first snipe overhead in the darkness. I knew there was at least one. When
the sun had risen I bailed out of the boat and started walking. That is when I discovered how poor the hunting conditions are. It's cyclical and there have
been years when they were worse but not for the last decade. I've gotten spoiled.
Anyway, with the new thirty-two gauge in hand I was intent on finding birds. I hadn't walked a hundred yards when the first bird flushed. I wasn't quite ready and never shouldered the gun. I watched him turn into a speck in the distance and disappear. The next two birds that flushed folded up and crashed into the thick grass. I missed the third bird twice but knocked down the fourth. With five empties I had three birds in the bag. Not bad considering I was shooting half-ounce loads, the same as in a 2 1/2" four-ten shell, and a gun I'd never shot before. Then I started missing. I didn't miss everything but I wasn't doing as well as I started out doing. I burned through a couple of handfuls of shells getting birds four and five.
I was starting to get tired and considered calling it a day. I was also supposed to hunt Monday and I didn't want to be so tired that I couldn't. I decided that I'd keep hunting and because I was seeing so few birds I'd go to work Monday instead of going back to the lake. I knocked down the last three birds without missing any and only needing the second barrel on the next to last bird. At this point I don't know if I will hunt again one day during the week or wait until Saturday to go again.
Anyway, with the new thirty-two gauge in hand I was intent on finding birds. I hadn't walked a hundred yards when the first bird flushed. I wasn't quite ready and never shouldered the gun. I watched him turn into a speck in the distance and disappear. The next two birds that flushed folded up and crashed into the thick grass. I missed the third bird twice but knocked down the fourth. With five empties I had three birds in the bag. Not bad considering I was shooting half-ounce loads, the same as in a 2 1/2" four-ten shell, and a gun I'd never shot before. Then I started missing. I didn't miss everything but I wasn't doing as well as I started out doing. I burned through a couple of handfuls of shells getting birds four and five.
I was starting to get tired and considered calling it a day. I was also supposed to hunt Monday and I didn't want to be so tired that I couldn't. I decided that I'd keep hunting and because I was seeing so few birds I'd go to work Monday instead of going back to the lake. I knocked down the last three birds without missing any and only needing the second barrel on the next to last bird. At this point I don't know if I will hunt again one day during the week or wait until Saturday to go again.
