The weather bore no resemblance to the rain and gray skies we saw for two days with tropical storm Ida this week. The day was a little short on birds but
I've accepted that it is going to be that way this year unless I can get another game plan. At least I am able to get out there and get some exercise. I
flushed a total of three birds in about five and a half hours of walking.
I missed the first bird but thankfully that was the only one. Not much margin for error when you are only seeing three birds. I flushed the bird that I missed three times. The third time he flushed he headed to a large floating grass mat where he was safe. I hadn't gone a hundred yards from where the first bird flushed the first time when the second bird flushed. Only an hour of walking and I already had one in the bag. Most years that wouldn't be a good thing but I am happy to get one bird this year and given a choice I'd rather get it early in the hunt than late.
After slipping it in the game bag I headed in the direction where the first bird had gone. I was ready for him but I couldn't find him. I figured he had either not landed there or had left between the time I thought he went there and the time I got there. I continued on passed the area and when I was least expecting it I found out where he had gone. He took off heading back in the direction I came from and cut straight across the lake. I wish I could walk around it and with as little expended energy as it took him to fly across it. I saw him drop in close to where the bird I had in the game bag had been sitting. Back around the lake I went.
This time he sat tight and let me walk past him. I was a little too far off the water. When he didn't flush I reversed course and made another pass further away from the water. I couldn't believe he had vanished. I couldn't believe he wasn't there. When I turned around again and made my third pass right at the water's edge he took off fifteen yards straight ahead of me. Just like the second time he flushed I wasn't expecting it and I wasn't ready. He was tired of playing with me so he headed for a large offshore mat where he would be safe. There's always a chance we'll see each other again.
The third bird flushed well out in front of me. I wouldn't have had a chance of knocking him down with anything less than an anti-aircraft gun. He circled a couple of times and I thought he might come back to the same island I was on or the one I was about to walk next. Instead I saw him drop somewhere out in the open water. He went down behind a large floating mat so I didn't have an exact location but with no other birds getting the boat and trying to find him seemed more interesting than it normally would.
It took a while to hunt my way back to the boat and then get to the approximate area where I saw him go. I circled a couple of floating mats on the way to see if there were any other birds that had the same idea as only other two I knew of on the lake. There weren't any others but fortunately the bird I marked was still there. I was lucky to have my boat positioned so when he flushed he wasn't able to put anything between he and I but open water.
I started checking a few more mats but had to cancel that plan because my battery was getting tired. I think I need to do some scouting before next weekend. Otherwise I might be chasing that one remaining bird.
I missed the first bird but thankfully that was the only one. Not much margin for error when you are only seeing three birds. I flushed the bird that I missed three times. The third time he flushed he headed to a large floating grass mat where he was safe. I hadn't gone a hundred yards from where the first bird flushed the first time when the second bird flushed. Only an hour of walking and I already had one in the bag. Most years that wouldn't be a good thing but I am happy to get one bird this year and given a choice I'd rather get it early in the hunt than late.
After slipping it in the game bag I headed in the direction where the first bird had gone. I was ready for him but I couldn't find him. I figured he had either not landed there or had left between the time I thought he went there and the time I got there. I continued on passed the area and when I was least expecting it I found out where he had gone. He took off heading back in the direction I came from and cut straight across the lake. I wish I could walk around it and with as little expended energy as it took him to fly across it. I saw him drop in close to where the bird I had in the game bag had been sitting. Back around the lake I went.
This time he sat tight and let me walk past him. I was a little too far off the water. When he didn't flush I reversed course and made another pass further away from the water. I couldn't believe he had vanished. I couldn't believe he wasn't there. When I turned around again and made my third pass right at the water's edge he took off fifteen yards straight ahead of me. Just like the second time he flushed I wasn't expecting it and I wasn't ready. He was tired of playing with me so he headed for a large offshore mat where he would be safe. There's always a chance we'll see each other again.
The third bird flushed well out in front of me. I wouldn't have had a chance of knocking him down with anything less than an anti-aircraft gun. He circled a couple of times and I thought he might come back to the same island I was on or the one I was about to walk next. Instead I saw him drop somewhere out in the open water. He went down behind a large floating mat so I didn't have an exact location but with no other birds getting the boat and trying to find him seemed more interesting than it normally would.
It took a while to hunt my way back to the boat and then get to the approximate area where I saw him go. I circled a couple of floating mats on the way to see if there were any other birds that had the same idea as only other two I knew of on the lake. There weren't any others but fortunately the bird I marked was still there. I was lucky to have my boat positioned so when he flushed he wasn't able to put anything between he and I but open water.
I started checking a few more mats but had to cancel that plan because my battery was getting tired. I think I need to do some scouting before next weekend. Otherwise I might be chasing that one remaining bird.
