I have so many memorable hunting stories with my dad, brothers and friends. Of hunting waterfowl,upland birds and big game, I'm not sure which to share.
Home for Christmas break from college a good friend and I went out in the evening to locate a good spot to set up the following morning for some waterfowl shooting. We turned west on a narrow gravel road that skirted along the edge of one of the many lakes in the area. The water was at it's winter level exposing some mud flats where earlier some wild rice had been growing. As we topped out on a slight rise in the road, we stopped to watch mostly mallards and widgeon flocking into a mud flat area.
Calling another friend to let him know that we had found a potential hot spot, we made plans for the next morning. There was an old farm fence that skirted the edge of the mud flat, with some sparse brush growing along side. The plan was to sneak in along the fence before daylight and hide behind the brush, hoping that the birds had rafted in the lake the night before and would fly back in the morning.
We met up in town and drove the 6-8 miles to our destination, snuck in along the old fence line and luckily, the birds had done as we had hoped. We didn't set out any decoys on the mud flat and just hunkered down for the 30-45 minute wait.
As dawn approached we could hear the wings and see the silhouette of birds as they landed on the flat to feed on the exposed wild rice. The birds just kept piling in and by shooting time, there must have been 700-800 birds sitting in front of us, some within 15-20 feet of where we were sitting. in unison we stood up and one of the friends shouted HEY! Nothing happened, so he yelled ""HEY" again and the birds exploded off the mud flat. We opened up and when it was all over, we were 1 bird shy of our limit.
What I particularly remember of that hunt is sitting behind the old fence, hearing the wing beats and watching the birds come sailing onto the mud flat as the sun started to rise and after the smoke had cleared, thinking I'm going to have a coronary as I chased a few cripples across the mud flat that oozed to mid calf or higher with each step!
