Growing up I hunted and fished on the river. I still have many great memories of the PeeDee at sunrise. However after a grew i did not get to do this as much as I used to. After my boat messed up I had to rely on others to go. Well this past November I solved that problem. I bought a new (to me) boat. It is a sixteen foot Polar Craft, not to big and not to small, perfect for hunting, fishing, shrimping, and taking the family out for a ride. Anyone who buys a boat knows that it is an expense and not a whole lot of an investment, unless you enjoy it.
Lets just say this has been an investment, because i got to witness Bo on the river.Bo had never been hunting on the river, in fact the only experience he had on a boat with a motor was when he went out with his Great uncle fishing for sheepheads earlier in the summer. He was used to the normalcy of waking up, getting dressed and walking out the yard to the beaver pond where you may not always get a shot but you will see some birds. Now i have him getting up hours before daylight, ridding to a new place he has never seen before (and I having just got the new boat had not had a chance to scout) and hoping to see some birds.
All went well as we put the boat in the water and everyone climbed aboard. We headed down to an old spot I hunted years ago and hoped that no one was set up there. Low and behold it was empty and we began setting up the spread. We threw out a few woodies since that was mainly what we would be hunting and a few mallards just in case. After we got them all thrown out in their perspective places we noticed that something did not look right. (Now in case you don't know let me explain to you now that we are not the worlds best at planning stuff out. We more of less wing it.) Most of the decoys were floating on their sides. When we got the decoys straight and redid the lines and weights no one thought to clean out the keel holes since they had been sitting up for years. It was not a hard problem to fix but it started the doubt in the boys mind.
Like I said Bo was used to normalcy in his duck hunting and here we had drug him out of his element to some where where we were hoping things were going to come together. With all the decoys out and floating correctly we got the boat set up, and waited for day break. It was a very cloudy morning and the river was quiet. Shooting time got closer and Bo began to doubt our decision to hunt here. All I could hear was "we should have went to the pond", "we are not going to see anything". I finally explained to him that if he did not want to hunt hear he was welcome to swim back to the hill and walk back to the pond. Shooting time came and went and I was starting to doubt my decision, and Bo was continuing on voicing his doubt. Then things started moving. A few woddies passed by over head, but that still was not enough for the boy, "we should have stayed home" Then it happened. A group of about six woodies buzzed the decoys. Buckman and I both whiffed and when i looked at Bo his eyes were as big as saucers "DID YOU SEE THAT, THEY FLEW RIGHT INTO THE DECOYS" "THIS WAS THE GREATEST IDEA WE EVER HAD" On and on he went about how we were the smartest people in the world to have come here. Another group came in and we knocked a few out of the flock.
All in all it was an OK river hunt. I had had better hunts there years ago. But nothing compared to the excitement on that little boys face the first time he saw woodies buzz the decoys on the river.
Joe
i just accidentally bumped into this website but found it interesting.I would like to know what kind of a gun do you use for duck hunting?
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