3 JUICY RINGBILLS
Well we were chosen last for our blind, and my guide wasn't sure if he chose the right one. Ducks were flying high and low. They were all going to the upper end of the lake. We could hear their calls, and them boom, boom, boom. Again and again this went on.....not steady, but my guide was having second thoughts, but I wasn't. I had a good feeling and boy was I right. The first flock of about 30-35 birds locked on to our decoys, Mark did the calling. They swung by once, he called again in real seductive calls. He sounded almost as good as me, so I didn't call much! For some reason they didn't want to finish, and we decide to light 20-25yds outside our decoys, but still within range. We jumped up and they jumped. We took 4 mallard drakes....off to a super start.
Next flock arrives about 30-45 later and we scratch down 4 Ringbills. There was about a dozen or so in this flock. Unfortunately, we lost one, after chasing it all over the lake...argh I hate loosing birds. They buzzed the blind countless time, but the sun was smack in our faces, which you all know what that means.
Next flock arrives about 30-45 later and we scratch down 4 Ringbills. There was about a dozen or so in this flock. Unfortunately, we lost one, after chasing it all over the lake...argh I hate loosing birds. They buzzed the blind countless time, but the sun was smack in our faces, which you all know what that means.
My guide hears a quack, but I thought he was loosing it, so we
never paid much attention to it. We see four ducks flying up the lake, and my guide wails on the call...they swing...set up...wings locked, webs down.....yeah...in the middle of the lake. We both seen a darker bird, and both agreed it was a black. These 4 birds taunted us for about an hour....and then finally they swam in. Every now and again...we would quack, or give some lonesome hen calls. I also used my mallard drake call which helped seal the deal. Just when they were about 50 or 60 yrds from the decoys, they swam out again...I wasn't going to let that happen. I gave a few bursts on the drake call, they all turned tail and swam back in.
We jumped them at about the same distance as the first flock. We again scratched down a hen mallard. The funny thing is...when we fired on those...the guides duck that he heard quacking about an hour before hand...was in behind the blind and escaped intact...never a shot was fired upon it.
Next flack about a half hour later which was just amazing.....somewhere in the region of 65-75 birds, my guide called, they came, called them on the corner, they amped back to the decoys...set up, wings locked but just wouldn't do it. Low and behold....a hen dropped all by it's lonesome into the decoys. The guide said take it. Well, after I had to look twice to make sure it wasn't a decoy...and a lot of sloppy shooting, we got her in the blind. Of course this all happened, when lunch was being prepared...:doh
Another smaller flock locks up again and we have had a great day so far. Just for chits and giggles I checked behind the blind...and low and behold, and nice mallard drake, sitting behind the blind and decoys. His safety net was short lived. He was a blind mate. So, overall we bagged 7 mallards and 3 juicy Ringbills. A great day anytime in my books. Thank you so much to my guide, I had a truly wonderful day.
Rob Dickson © 2010
We jumped them at about the same distance as the first flock. We again scratched down a hen mallard. The funny thing is...when we fired on those...the guides duck that he heard quacking about an hour before hand...was in behind the blind and escaped intact...never a shot was fired upon it.
Next flack about a half hour later which was just amazing.....somewhere in the region of 65-75 birds, my guide called, they came, called them on the corner, they amped back to the decoys...set up, wings locked but just wouldn't do it. Low and behold....a hen dropped all by it's lonesome into the decoys. The guide said take it. Well, after I had to look twice to make sure it wasn't a decoy...and a lot of sloppy shooting, we got her in the blind. Of course this all happened, when lunch was being prepared...:doh
Another smaller flock locks up again and we have had a great day so far. Just for chits and giggles I checked behind the blind...and low and behold, and nice mallard drake, sitting behind the blind and decoys. His safety net was short lived. He was a blind mate. So, overall we bagged 7 mallards and 3 juicy Ringbills. A great day anytime in my books. Thank you so much to my guide, I had a truly wonderful day.
Rob Dickson © 2010
We received a letter from a young hunter. Nolan is nine and enjoys hunting with his Dad. Thanks Nolan for your letter.
TOO FUNNY!!!!
Sent in By: Rob Dickson © 2010
I had been invited to come back north for the third year to hunt with Rob Dickson on
the opening day for Illinois Northern Zone waterfowl season, but he had just called to let me know he hadn’t seen much but four geese using his pond. Now I live about 145 miles away and while I have driven further and come home empty handed many times the thought of making this drive again with a limited chance at harvesting anything brought me down. You see I have another (new) addiction and that is fishing. Let me rephrase that I am hooked on Crappie fishing and have made it to Lake Shelbyville every weekend but once since turkey season. Heck, some weekends and holidays I have made the drive two or three times but I realized I would have to put that all aside when waterfowl season opened here in Illinois for me.
Now Rob has a sweet place to hunt and in my two previous outings as a guest for the northern opener we had a great one and last year we wondered if it was actually hunting season since we never heard a shot the entire hot and sunny morning and we are just a mile or so from some duck clubs on the Illinois River! So while I had planned for several months to drive up and take my chances, this news brought a dark cloud over the prospect of driving 300 miles to stare at empty skies like last year. Sure I would spend time with friends and that in itself is usually worth the price of admission but my boat and the Lake Shelbyville Crappie were calling to me…
We talked several times in the days leading up to the opener and it looked grim. So grim that I made sure all my fishing gear was ready to roll. Added fresh line to the spools, selected what poles to take and developed a game plan with advice from friends who know the lake better than me. To show how obsessed I am, I was going in my boat without a motor! Yes, the Johnson 15 HP was broken again and I was going to fish with just trolling motors and two batteries. I had done it this past spring but the fall is a different beast. I was dead set on tackling some Crappie by myself on both days if I didn’t go hunting!
So here it is, Friday night and I am about to go get the boat from storage when Rob calls and said, “You won’t believe it but as I was putting out decoys I had anywhere from 50 to 100 geese try and land on top of me!” Well, in a different time I would have gotten in the Jeep right then and there and headed north as I would have had all my gear loaded in anticipation I was going no matter what but as I was pessimistic about even going the Jeep was already loaded with fishing gear and I hadn’t even got my gear together to go hunting!
It was game on and as I searched the house and garage for my camo, shotshells and the like but I found that they were all pretty accessible as I had just used them the past month for the early season. So I was able to be ready and into bed by 9 PM as I had to hit the road shortly after 3 AM to get there on time. That alarm went off way too early and I finally hit the road by 3:30 AM, a tad later than I wanted and then I had to make the time up. I used my DROID GPS and was actually there at the pond before they were! This year besides Rob and me, Ed Walsh and Andy Symons were joining us. Ed had been there last year and he brought his new Yellow Lab with him just in case any of us got lucky. Greetings and introductions were quick as we still needed to put out some more decoys even though Rob had not only set decoys the night before but had built a blind for us too!
In the three years I had been a guest of Rob’s on the opener we had moved around the pond to where we were now setting up on the opposite side of where we started and the wind was perfect for it – whenever the wind would arrive – and it all looked great. Pretty soon we were all in the blind and the magic time arrived with shots from all around us erupting along the Illinois River and from the fields nearby. This was 180 degrees from last year when we never heard a shot– we achieved a goose egg last year - and even better than two years ago when we did hear shots, saw birds and harvested birds. Now you couldn’t see across the pond for the most part as I had hoped that maybe the four geese that had taken up residence were still there but that didn’t matter as we could see geese coming off the river and headed our way. Unfortunately, while we had an excellent decoy spread, a great blind and a location that attracts geese on the move, no one brought a flag! And as the pond is situated in a bowl and out of the wind, the waters were like glass and I kicked myself for not bringing one or at least a jerk string.
However, things really started to brighten as the geese started to fly closer and lower in our direction. In fact, as the other three were watching to the south and southwest, I was doing my usual and looking in the opposite directions with my Beretta in hand as a Wood Duck came straight at the blind. As it flared mere yards in front of me, I yelled out “duck” and we all watched as it departed without a shot fired. Boy did I get ragged at for not taking the shot! Way too often I will defer to the host or others I am hunting with if and when I take a shot. No one else even saw it till it was too late.
Now Rob has a sweet place to hunt and in my two previous outings as a guest for the northern opener we had a great one and last year we wondered if it was actually hunting season since we never heard a shot the entire hot and sunny morning and we are just a mile or so from some duck clubs on the Illinois River! So while I had planned for several months to drive up and take my chances, this news brought a dark cloud over the prospect of driving 300 miles to stare at empty skies like last year. Sure I would spend time with friends and that in itself is usually worth the price of admission but my boat and the Lake Shelbyville Crappie were calling to me…
We talked several times in the days leading up to the opener and it looked grim. So grim that I made sure all my fishing gear was ready to roll. Added fresh line to the spools, selected what poles to take and developed a game plan with advice from friends who know the lake better than me. To show how obsessed I am, I was going in my boat without a motor! Yes, the Johnson 15 HP was broken again and I was going to fish with just trolling motors and two batteries. I had done it this past spring but the fall is a different beast. I was dead set on tackling some Crappie by myself on both days if I didn’t go hunting!
So here it is, Friday night and I am about to go get the boat from storage when Rob calls and said, “You won’t believe it but as I was putting out decoys I had anywhere from 50 to 100 geese try and land on top of me!” Well, in a different time I would have gotten in the Jeep right then and there and headed north as I would have had all my gear loaded in anticipation I was going no matter what but as I was pessimistic about even going the Jeep was already loaded with fishing gear and I hadn’t even got my gear together to go hunting!
It was game on and as I searched the house and garage for my camo, shotshells and the like but I found that they were all pretty accessible as I had just used them the past month for the early season. So I was able to be ready and into bed by 9 PM as I had to hit the road shortly after 3 AM to get there on time. That alarm went off way too early and I finally hit the road by 3:30 AM, a tad later than I wanted and then I had to make the time up. I used my DROID GPS and was actually there at the pond before they were! This year besides Rob and me, Ed Walsh and Andy Symons were joining us. Ed had been there last year and he brought his new Yellow Lab with him just in case any of us got lucky. Greetings and introductions were quick as we still needed to put out some more decoys even though Rob had not only set decoys the night before but had built a blind for us too!
In the three years I had been a guest of Rob’s on the opener we had moved around the pond to where we were now setting up on the opposite side of where we started and the wind was perfect for it – whenever the wind would arrive – and it all looked great. Pretty soon we were all in the blind and the magic time arrived with shots from all around us erupting along the Illinois River and from the fields nearby. This was 180 degrees from last year when we never heard a shot– we achieved a goose egg last year - and even better than two years ago when we did hear shots, saw birds and harvested birds. Now you couldn’t see across the pond for the most part as I had hoped that maybe the four geese that had taken up residence were still there but that didn’t matter as we could see geese coming off the river and headed our way. Unfortunately, while we had an excellent decoy spread, a great blind and a location that attracts geese on the move, no one brought a flag! And as the pond is situated in a bowl and out of the wind, the waters were like glass and I kicked myself for not bringing one or at least a jerk string.
However, things really started to brighten as the geese started to fly closer and lower in our direction. In fact, as the other three were watching to the south and southwest, I was doing my usual and looking in the opposite directions with my Beretta in hand as a Wood Duck came straight at the blind. As it flared mere yards in front of me, I yelled out “duck” and we all watched as it departed without a shot fired. Boy did I get ragged at for not taking the shot! Way too often I will defer to the host or others I am hunting with if and when I take a shot. No one else even saw it till it was too late.
However, a few minutes later we had maybe a dozen or so look like they were going
to do it and on their last pass they flew right over where we stood in the blind at about 25 to 30 yards and I asked to take the shot but no one wanted to (except greedy me) and these birds flew on. Would this be our only opportunity? I mean even though we had a great decoy spread and location, there was no guarantee we could entice geese onto the water in front of us and we ought to take advantage when they are there – shouldn’t we? A little later another group passes directly overhead but a tad higher at maybe 40 to 45 yards and we let them go too. Will this be how it is or will we get some birds in to us and on the water? Time will tell.
Anyway, now here it is well after shooting time maybe 7:30 AM when a family of five Canada geese come towards us and make several swings low and through the fog but right over where we hid behind the blind. Just as it looked like we had all five on a string to land they split and at least two land across from us and to our right. I questioned whether the other three had also landed but the others claimed they had continued on but I was sure I had heard some honks across from us by the opposite bank in the fog. As we continued to peek through the brushed blind it was difficult to discern any birds at that distance (maybe 110 yards across) and with the fog you just couldn’t tell the difference between the white feathers of a goose and the chunks of foam that lined the far edge.
Finally, we had a pretty good idea where they were so Rob and I decided to put a stalk on them to try and get closer and a shot. Now there isn’t much cover along the bank and it was maybe a couple hundred yards to the end of the pond but that didn’t stop us as we low-rided. Trying not to make much noise and keeping our outline small and low to the ground we finally saw our prey on the opposite shore about 100 yards across. Wait a minute do I count five geese or four? I thought only two landed? After minutes of straining our eyes we discovered there were not just the two we had seen and heard land. And, no, there weren’t all five as the others had seen the other three fly on through the fog but we had six across from us!
Anyway, now here it is well after shooting time maybe 7:30 AM when a family of five Canada geese come towards us and make several swings low and through the fog but right over where we hid behind the blind. Just as it looked like we had all five on a string to land they split and at least two land across from us and to our right. I questioned whether the other three had also landed but the others claimed they had continued on but I was sure I had heard some honks across from us by the opposite bank in the fog. As we continued to peek through the brushed blind it was difficult to discern any birds at that distance (maybe 110 yards across) and with the fog you just couldn’t tell the difference between the white feathers of a goose and the chunks of foam that lined the far edge.
Finally, we had a pretty good idea where they were so Rob and I decided to put a stalk on them to try and get closer and a shot. Now there isn’t much cover along the bank and it was maybe a couple hundred yards to the end of the pond but that didn’t stop us as we low-rided. Trying not to make much noise and keeping our outline small and low to the ground we finally saw our prey on the opposite shore about 100 yards across. Wait a minute do I count five geese or four? I thought only two landed? After minutes of straining our eyes we discovered there were not just the two we had seen and heard land. And, no, there weren’t all five as the others had seen the other three fly on through the fog but we had six across from us!
While the first one was stone dead for the most part, the other two were low-riding
back to the other side and heading south. So I hand Rob my shotgun and some shells (he was out) and I take his 870 as he goes running to finish them off. As he gets closer to them I direct him to dispatch them quickly and then I set out to retrieve the third one but the others want Ed's Lab, JR, to retrieve him so I wait out in the water. Now we are several hundred yards from the blind and while they have moved closer they are still 100+ yards away or so trying to get JR on his first goose. The poor Lab hadn’t seen the shot, nor the dead goose in the water and now he had four of us trying to direct him. Needless to say, you can’t blame JR and I finally went out and got the bird but not till after we had tried for some time.
Rob and I get back to the blind and we are all in a good mood – especially Rob and me – when lo and behold we get a big flock of 16 birds or so work us but this time we weren’t going to let them fly directly over us and away so the shot is called just as they start to pass overhead. Ten shots ring out and not a feather is missing from these birds. At least Ed was the only one who shot just once while we all unloaded and took a pact to never talk of this again (this is writing, not talking) and we all reload. Not five minutes later a flock of 10 birds begin to work us but this group doesn’t fly directly over us and on their third or so swing they are committed!!!!
As the birds begin to light in front of us with the one bird on the water down at Ed’s end, the shot is called and we have three more down – two dead and one that comes back to life and tries to swim away. And this is when the magic happens as JR is sent on his retrieve for a pretty active bird. With a little direction from his master JR is soon upon the bird and after a couple attempts makes the connection even after the goose biting him several times. But just as he gets back to us the bird gets loose and the chase is on with the bird diving and JR going after him. Fortunately, the chase is over in a minute and JR has made his first retrieve on a crippled and active bird no less.
Rob and I get back to the blind and we are all in a good mood – especially Rob and me – when lo and behold we get a big flock of 16 birds or so work us but this time we weren’t going to let them fly directly over us and away so the shot is called just as they start to pass overhead. Ten shots ring out and not a feather is missing from these birds. At least Ed was the only one who shot just once while we all unloaded and took a pact to never talk of this again (this is writing, not talking) and we all reload. Not five minutes later a flock of 10 birds begin to work us but this group doesn’t fly directly over us and on their third or so swing they are committed!!!!
As the birds begin to light in front of us with the one bird on the water down at Ed’s end, the shot is called and we have three more down – two dead and one that comes back to life and tries to swim away. And this is when the magic happens as JR is sent on his retrieve for a pretty active bird. With a little direction from his master JR is soon upon the bird and after a couple attempts makes the connection even after the goose biting him several times. But just as he gets back to us the bird gets loose and the chase is on with the bird diving and JR going after him. Fortunately, the chase is over in a minute and JR has made his first retrieve on a crippled and active bird no less.
In quick succession JR brings back the other two and all is right with the world.
Ed got his first Canada goose in years, Andy made a heck of a great shot on a departing far away bird and Rob and I have limited out. We give it another 30 minutes and decide to call it a day around 10:30 AM as the shooting had died down and we hadn’t seen any birds in awhile. You know it was a great morning where we shot at passing, decoying and jumped birds – scoring on two of the three attempts with everyone getting a bird and a Lab entering the waterfowl world. Of course, I would have paid to see a video of Rob and me stalking the first birds but we all acted a little like Japanese tourists as JR made his first retrieve with still pictures and videos being shot for posterity sakes. After picking up the decoys and going over the morning’s events one more time before Andy headed to his tree-stand and deer hunting that afternoon and the rest of us for lunch before heading our separate ways, I just had to smile that I had made the right decision after all. Sure, I could have gone fishing by myself but even if I hadn’t scored on a bird that morning I had spent some quality times with old and new friends and witnessed a man’s best friend achieve his first retrieve. It just can’t get much better than that as it sure was the best of times this day.
By Bob Zettler © October 16, 2010
By Bob Zettler © October 16, 2010
