OUT WITH A BANG

The new year is here and the 2013 duck season is history.  It was a great one for sure as both water and ducks returned to the Sunflower State once again and all was good in the duck hunters' world.  And so it was last weekend on the final days of the Kansas duck season I found myself ringside once again to send the 2013 duck season out with a bang.

I joined several friends, Jim, Matt and Ty for a big river hunt.  The morning was a brisk 23 degrees with a relatively fresh coating of snow blanketing the countryside.  The river had just opened back up after a stint in the deep freeze.  Conditions looked favorable for a wonderful morning with bluebird skies and a decent breeze.

But someone forgot to inform the ducks of our plans that morning.  Save a loan honker scratched from a group of geese flying the river at daybreak our pickings were relatively slim for the first two hours.  We saw a couple small groups of ducks but they were off in the distance and apparently had definite plans.

We had just got done discussing the "good ol' days" when huge flocks of greenheads, sometimes numbering in the hundreds would descend from the heavens and land in our spread.  It had been quite some time since we've seen that but our luck was about to change when Jim spotted a flock of mallards and they looked interested.  Soon, several smaller flocks became one and it numbered nearly 100 birds. 

Plenty of calling and several passes later some finally got close enough to go.  Guns blazed and ducks started falling.  Five greenheads floated in front of us as Trav, Jim's yellow Lab, hustled to get them slicked up.  Although we should have killed more from the flock we were in awe of the spectacle they just provided.  The mere site of those birds cupped and committed is still vividly etched in my mind.   

A short time later we had a flock of big Canada geese that acted interested in the full body goose decoys we had sitting nearby on the sandbar.  Jim and Matt started pleading with them to join us and the sounds of their calls convinced them to venture too close on one pass and we killed three nice honkers from the bunch.

And we weren't done with the ducks, either.  We were blessed with a repeat performance from another nice flock of mallards.  Although not quite as large, the results were the same and five mallards splashed down belly up.  We added another single a short time later and ended the morning with 11mallards and four big Canada geese. 

The morning shoot wasn't hot and heavy by any means.  Those two flocks of ducks really saved the day.  But the experiences of what few birds we worked will be enough to tide us over until our duck segment opens back up for a week at the end of this month.  We'll be back after them hoping more bluebird skies are filled with big greenheads and they're locked up.  Here's hoping the 2014 duck season starts the way the 2013 one ended.