Opening Day 2012 Nearly everyone can recall an instance where they were doing something they have done many times before, but for whatever reason, a certain change of events made that particular experience a bit different than the rest. In my 25 years of duck hunting, I have experienced several opening days that have ranged from fast & furious, to downright slow, to anywhere in between. The anticipation of the preceding weeks almost always makes it a fantastic hunt regardless of the results. However, the duck season opener of the 2012-2013 season was a slightly unusual one for me. |
It all started in December of 2011 when I bought a membership in the Yellow Creek Hunting Club of McNab, Arkansas. Yellow Creek was established in 1946 & owns just over 2,200 acres of hardwood bottoms about 5 miles from Millwood Dam in Hempstead County. I had made by first duck hunt on Yellow Creek with my dad on December 5, 1987 & had been going there my entire life. Although I made several hunts there as a member the latter part of the 2011-2012 season, this was the first opening day for me.
At YC, every night at 7 p.m. the members interested in hunting the next day gather for "the draw" for order of choices of the Club's duck blinds. At the draw, numbered wooden balls are placed in a round roller (similar to a Bingo machine) & each member walks by & gets his ball, & will sign for his choice of blinds in that order. This is done the night before every day of duck season, with the exception of the first night, when positions are drawn for, i.e. what number ball you get is what blind you got. Normally, my hunting strategy would have been to attend the draw, hope for a good blind, & if not, go with Dad to Po-Boy (an adjoining club where he is a member). However, this weekend Dad had gone to Winchester (another duck club near the Mississippi River) to hunt the season opener over there. So, in short, I was on my own.
The 2012 summer& early fall had been fairly dry, although not as dry as the preceding year. We had been pumping out of both Little River & Yellow Creek since October 1 to flood the duck reservoirs & had a fair amount of water, although far below what we would have in a year with normal rainfall. Out of 26 total blinds, 17 were huntable. Under the dry conditions, we considered ourselves pretty lucky to have that many.
Opening night, I arrived at the draw with high hopes. In the weeks leading up to November 17th, quite a few ducks had been seen in "the bottoms" & the general mood of the hunting crowd was very positive. After visiting with a few other members, 7:00 rolled around & we numbered off. 34 members present drawing for 17 available blinds. So in other words, I had a 50% chance of getting a blind. We walked through the line & I drew #7. In a normal year, #7 would have been flooded & huntable, but this year the available water we pumped went to other areas, & #7 was as dry as a bone. I immediately began thinking of what "Plan B" was.
My friends that I hunt with regularly, the McQueen family, were all going to Cypress Bayou (yet another duck club in the same bottomlands. There are 6 total clubs in that area covering 15,000 acres). But Chris McQueen had drawn #35 & there was a large crew developing to hunt there. One of these guys was Holt Parsons from Texarkana. Holt was in the car business with Keith Orr & I had gotten to know Holt fairly well over the last 4-5 years. Well, Holt had drawn #21 & didn't plan to use it since he was going with the 35 group. Holt saw my predicament & offered me 21. #21 was one of the oldest YC blinds in what is called "The Reservoir" & had quite a reputation in the earlier days of being one of the best blinds on the property. In more recent years, however, The Reservoir had taken a backseat to the Bee Bayou hunting area further to the southwest. Bee Bayou had more open water & had been more of a producer in the last 15 years or so. But the next morning would prove different.
I accepted Holt's offer & went back to the cabin. I had misplaced a fuel tank for one of my outboard motors I had on a Sears square stern canoe & that night I decided to replace the outboard with a trolling motor. I got the trolling motor in place & returned to the cabin. My wife, Sarah, & I went to bed around 10:30 & I fell asleep fairly quickly. At 3:30 I woke up to get a drink of water & my mind began racing. How long will it take me to get to 21 in that canoe? What if something doesn't work right? I laid back down in the bed, but I knew sleep was over with. At 4:30 I decided to get up & moving. I got dressed, loaded up my hunting gear, & was off to the Reservoir parking lot, better known as "23 Turnaround". I arrived at the Turnaround at 5 a.m. & began loading up the canoe. The forecast had called for 37 degrees & sunny, but the truck thermometer read 27 when I got out. I looked up & could see every star in the sky. Everything was looking perfect.
The trolling motor setup worked much better than expected. I arrived in 21 after about a 15 minute canoe ride & began setting out decoys. I had a new motion decoy that I wanted to use as well, but decided to put that out closer to shooting time. Once the decoys were out, I went & hid the canoe & got up in the blind. Since I had about 45 minutes until shooting time, I figured a Coke & Honey Bun were in order.
Shooting time was at 6:20. At 6:01 a mallard drake fell right into the hole & lit near the blind. I thought, "this is a good sign!" In the next 19 minutes two more groups of mallards did the same thing. At 6:20 I had gun in hand & was ready to go.
It was a beautiful fall morning - right out of a storybook. And the ducks were working beautifully as well. About 6:30, a mallard drake & hen came in & I got both of those. In another 10 minutes, a single greenhead came in with a shoveler & I got them both. Then, at 6:50, a group of 7-8 mallards came down into the hole & I got my last greenhead.
Being only one duck shy of the full limit, & it being so early, I decided to see if a wood duck or gadwall would come my way. I saw lots of mallards all morning but very few other ducks. I just sat back in the blind & enjoyed watching the ducks flying. Finally, at 8:20, another shoveler came in with a small group of mallards & I decided to finish up. My new motion decoy never got put out!
On the way back in the canoe, I ran into two more friends of mine, Trey Garrett & David Broach. They had been hunting #11 that morning & lacked one duck to finish out their full 6 man limit for their group. They invited me out to the hole until they were done. I pulled the canoe to the edge of the boat trail & walked with them out to 11. They got their last greenhead in less than 5 minutes. By now it was 9:00 & we all had full limits for a total of 42 ducks. I helped them load up & we all headed back to the Turnaround.
Looking back on that morning, I think about how grateful I am to our Heavenly Father to allow me to experience such a wonderful hunt on such a wonderful piece of property. To say that I have been blessed would be an understatement. As it is written is Psalms 23, "My cup runneth over." I thank God each & every day that he made me a waterfowler.
Later that day, when word got out that the Reservoir was hot again, I was asked several times how I did in 21. I would simply reply "They fell in there!"
Just like they have for 66 years.
SWM
November 2012
At YC, every night at 7 p.m. the members interested in hunting the next day gather for "the draw" for order of choices of the Club's duck blinds. At the draw, numbered wooden balls are placed in a round roller (similar to a Bingo machine) & each member walks by & gets his ball, & will sign for his choice of blinds in that order. This is done the night before every day of duck season, with the exception of the first night, when positions are drawn for, i.e. what number ball you get is what blind you got. Normally, my hunting strategy would have been to attend the draw, hope for a good blind, & if not, go with Dad to Po-Boy (an adjoining club where he is a member). However, this weekend Dad had gone to Winchester (another duck club near the Mississippi River) to hunt the season opener over there. So, in short, I was on my own.
The 2012 summer& early fall had been fairly dry, although not as dry as the preceding year. We had been pumping out of both Little River & Yellow Creek since October 1 to flood the duck reservoirs & had a fair amount of water, although far below what we would have in a year with normal rainfall. Out of 26 total blinds, 17 were huntable. Under the dry conditions, we considered ourselves pretty lucky to have that many.
Opening night, I arrived at the draw with high hopes. In the weeks leading up to November 17th, quite a few ducks had been seen in "the bottoms" & the general mood of the hunting crowd was very positive. After visiting with a few other members, 7:00 rolled around & we numbered off. 34 members present drawing for 17 available blinds. So in other words, I had a 50% chance of getting a blind. We walked through the line & I drew #7. In a normal year, #7 would have been flooded & huntable, but this year the available water we pumped went to other areas, & #7 was as dry as a bone. I immediately began thinking of what "Plan B" was.
My friends that I hunt with regularly, the McQueen family, were all going to Cypress Bayou (yet another duck club in the same bottomlands. There are 6 total clubs in that area covering 15,000 acres). But Chris McQueen had drawn #35 & there was a large crew developing to hunt there. One of these guys was Holt Parsons from Texarkana. Holt was in the car business with Keith Orr & I had gotten to know Holt fairly well over the last 4-5 years. Well, Holt had drawn #21 & didn't plan to use it since he was going with the 35 group. Holt saw my predicament & offered me 21. #21 was one of the oldest YC blinds in what is called "The Reservoir" & had quite a reputation in the earlier days of being one of the best blinds on the property. In more recent years, however, The Reservoir had taken a backseat to the Bee Bayou hunting area further to the southwest. Bee Bayou had more open water & had been more of a producer in the last 15 years or so. But the next morning would prove different.
I accepted Holt's offer & went back to the cabin. I had misplaced a fuel tank for one of my outboard motors I had on a Sears square stern canoe & that night I decided to replace the outboard with a trolling motor. I got the trolling motor in place & returned to the cabin. My wife, Sarah, & I went to bed around 10:30 & I fell asleep fairly quickly. At 3:30 I woke up to get a drink of water & my mind began racing. How long will it take me to get to 21 in that canoe? What if something doesn't work right? I laid back down in the bed, but I knew sleep was over with. At 4:30 I decided to get up & moving. I got dressed, loaded up my hunting gear, & was off to the Reservoir parking lot, better known as "23 Turnaround". I arrived at the Turnaround at 5 a.m. & began loading up the canoe. The forecast had called for 37 degrees & sunny, but the truck thermometer read 27 when I got out. I looked up & could see every star in the sky. Everything was looking perfect.
The trolling motor setup worked much better than expected. I arrived in 21 after about a 15 minute canoe ride & began setting out decoys. I had a new motion decoy that I wanted to use as well, but decided to put that out closer to shooting time. Once the decoys were out, I went & hid the canoe & got up in the blind. Since I had about 45 minutes until shooting time, I figured a Coke & Honey Bun were in order.
Shooting time was at 6:20. At 6:01 a mallard drake fell right into the hole & lit near the blind. I thought, "this is a good sign!" In the next 19 minutes two more groups of mallards did the same thing. At 6:20 I had gun in hand & was ready to go.
It was a beautiful fall morning - right out of a storybook. And the ducks were working beautifully as well. About 6:30, a mallard drake & hen came in & I got both of those. In another 10 minutes, a single greenhead came in with a shoveler & I got them both. Then, at 6:50, a group of 7-8 mallards came down into the hole & I got my last greenhead.
Being only one duck shy of the full limit, & it being so early, I decided to see if a wood duck or gadwall would come my way. I saw lots of mallards all morning but very few other ducks. I just sat back in the blind & enjoyed watching the ducks flying. Finally, at 8:20, another shoveler came in with a small group of mallards & I decided to finish up. My new motion decoy never got put out!
On the way back in the canoe, I ran into two more friends of mine, Trey Garrett & David Broach. They had been hunting #11 that morning & lacked one duck to finish out their full 6 man limit for their group. They invited me out to the hole until they were done. I pulled the canoe to the edge of the boat trail & walked with them out to 11. They got their last greenhead in less than 5 minutes. By now it was 9:00 & we all had full limits for a total of 42 ducks. I helped them load up & we all headed back to the Turnaround.
Looking back on that morning, I think about how grateful I am to our Heavenly Father to allow me to experience such a wonderful hunt on such a wonderful piece of property. To say that I have been blessed would be an understatement. As it is written is Psalms 23, "My cup runneth over." I thank God each & every day that he made me a waterfowler.
Later that day, when word got out that the Reservoir was hot again, I was asked several times how I did in 21. I would simply reply "They fell in there!"
Just like they have for 66 years.
SWM
November 2012