Beasley Brothers 2007 Hunts are brought to you by: |
||||
     |
||||
  
|
||||
|
December Ducks -- By Keith Beasley -- |
 |
|||
|
Being in southwestern Ontario for a late season archery doe-a-thon was exciting enough but when good friend James Vanos mentioned the northern ducks were down, that just took it to another level. We love nothing more than archery hunting for whitetails, but like any other die hard hunter we love it all. A good duck hunt is something we can't pass up. James Vanos works for the Canadian Wildlife Services, so not only is he an avid hunter but he is also a migratory bird technician. It was our pleasure to hunt ducks with a man of his knowledge and experience. The weather had turned cold and the northern birds were migrating heavily at this point. The mallard flocks had come into the area by the thousands. To our benefit the local roosting ponds were mostly frozen and the nearby river still had some open spots due to the current; this in turn was as a magnet for the birds. James knew of a large bend in the river with swirling pools located on the edges. The open water presented a nice resting spot for the traveling birds. It also had a large Soya bean field running alongside of it. |
||||
| Here's our host, James Vanos, in between flocks. |
 |
|||
|
An hour before daylight, the four of us loaded the truck and headed out across the frozen terrain. As the tires crunched to a stop we piled out and began setting up 75 silhouette decoys. As we put the two-piece units together we quickly laid them out across the field with the closest only 30 yards from the river bank and the furthest 50 yards out. As we finished the large spread we placed three mojo decoys on our side of the flock in hopes of focusing the ducks in closer to us. We all nestled in the long grass along the rivers edge just in time for first light. We lined the bank four abreast, roughly 15-20 feet apart. The birds would be coming mostly from our left if all went as James expected it would. No sooner did we load our guns for legal light and the whistling of wings echoed across the open field. A quick call from James and two mallards opened their landing gear and the morning began with a bang. Only a few seconds later a flock of ten poured into our spread, as the guns fired 5 large beautiful mallards fell. Not a ratio you would call perfect but some real fun. Minutes later a flock of six, dove from the overcast sky. We all fired as the birds twisted and turned looking for a hole to land. The action was fast and we were loving every second of it. |
||||
| This beautiful black duck was one of the birds we shot that morning. |
 |
|||
|
For the next 30 minutes, the sky was littered with ducks; it was just a matter of getting them to come in and give us a look. There were flocks in the sky of two birds to seventy five or one hundred birds. It was a duck hunters dream. Within the first 45 minutes of our hunt we had harvested 16 ducks. One was even a large male black. The set up worked to perfection and the mojos were an excellent addition. We had a great morning in the field and it felt great to do some wing shooting after a few weeks off. Even though it was cold no one even noticed. It was a December duck hunt that was worth every minute. They key was finding the right spot, putting out a large spread and having the mojos located where we wanted the ducks to land. The calling was a team effort with James leading the pack and depending on the flock we called heavy to nil. It was a great way to start a day of deer hunting. Can't wait until next year. |
||||
