Opening day on Saturday was a spectacular hunt. Many things that had been idle for a great length of time lined up. I finally got a trailer for my hunting punt that had become too difficult for me to load atop my truck. My older lab was home after campaigning for a year and my 5 mo pup was showing lots of promise.
I decided on a water hunt for diving ducks something I hadn’t done in a few decades since most of my waterfowl hunting is over harvested fields. I knew the precise place for a nicely paced hunt in a channel between a small island and the mainland, about 75 yards across. As the birds occasionally flew by it would provide a sustained hunt throughout the morning. The shooting itself would be swift as the fast flying divers presented crossing shots.
I needed some specific decoys and purchased 3 teal, 3 goldeye (bluebill) and 2 redhead along with a teal mojo, just enough for the birds to swing closer for a look and perhaps slow down a touch.
About sun up we were well placed with the decoys out, us well covered in the wall of cattails along the shore and rafts of ducks sitting out in the open water. A clear sky, a spectacular sunrise and enough wind to create some motion in the decoys.
I had decided on a BSS with 26” barrels. It is only one of a few I own that can handle 3” steel loads. The short barrels would allow quick acquisition of the target and the weight and styling of the BSS would contribute to a sustained follow through.
It all came together. The birds came in one, twos and sometimes eight to ten hurtling along a foot off the water. Seeing them in sufficient time to decide on a shot presented a nice challenge. Some spectacular shots with 10 to 15 foot leads and great retrieving from both dogs. The older dog dived twice completely below the water line for a wounded goldeye and the pup showed a remarkable ability to mark the falls with his reduced visibility in the cattails.
The BSS functioned as I expected and while my shot placement was only about 50% two of us limited out in an hour with a gaggle of teal, bluebill, redhead, scaup, bufflehead and a lone suzy.
By mid-morning we were paddling back to shore well contented. The dogs had had their exercise and were curled up in the bottom of the punt and we were looking forward to a nice dinner of fresh duck stuffed with green crabapples and onions.
Sorry, no pictures. With two dogs in and out of the punt everything was soaked and a camera would surely have been ruined.
