Iowa Duck Hunting - Thanksgiving Week 2016

The mighty Mississippi River near the Quad Cities in Iowa and thereabouts is in the path of the Mississippi Flyway for ducks and geese migration.  Specifically for my son, John and I, our quarry during our visit for the Thanksgiving Holidays.  

In the prior months John had purchased a boat and motor.  He converted it for the upcoming duck season and both of us were excited about shooting some ducks.  Upon my arrival, we went to a nearby sporting goods store for my hunting license and duck stamps.  John had already showed me his boat, the attached blind and the engine.  A 25-horse mercury outboard 2-stroke provided plenty of power.  

The next morning we both had our alarms set for 3:00 A.M. but woke up 30 minutes before due to the excitement.  John said later, I knew you were up when I heard your spoon clinking against your coffee cup, how could I sleep:-)  

Some 35 miles to the ramp by his no muffler pick-up(ha ha) A short ride by boat, we had placed the decoys and set up, it was still an hour before shooting time.  I must admit in my youth, I never paid much attention to the rule, so it was very hard to restrain myself from blasting some mallards passing within range before shooting time.

I mocked a lineup with a flock in range, and my son exclaimed, "no Dad!".  I told him, I was just practicing without pulling the trigger.  The ducks continued to pour by before shooting time.  This reminded me of my football days when game time on the scoreboard ticked away to zero for the flipping of the 50 cent piece.  John said any minute now we will hear someone fire signifying  the time has come.

We were not by ourselves.  As I came to learn, there were a half dozen boats or so with 4 shooters in some hunting nearby, some sounded as though they were blasting with 10-gauges.  It sounded like a battle as the sounds rang out.  We sat eagerly with plenty of ducks flying over us just out of range.  

It was 17 degrees when we left the house and 22 on the water.  Even though I had layers and insulation from head to toe, it was still freezing.  Fortunately the wind was calm and that helped immensely.  

John, having been cold on previous trips bought a new propane heater that had two 10-inch dish shaped burners.  30,000 BTU attached to a full-size propane tank.  We were not going to run out of gas.  The night before John tested the heater lite by a fireplace lighter and this awful sound like a conch shell bellowed.  Hurriedly, he twisted the shut off valve.  I said let's go outside and after it is lit, run.  Good idea Dad, no need to blow up the shop.

Back in the blind, when he lit those two heaters, one pointed towards him and one angled at me, it wasn't long we felt the warmth.  Later on it was getting hot on my knee and I tried angling the source dish away from me.  But not before smelling and melting part of my outerwear.  We got a good laugh about that.  

We discussed our tactics and we were not visible to the ducks as the blind was totally covered as we sat in the comfortable cushioned seats that swiveled.  We brought dry snacks.  Oatmeal cakes and crackers.  Coffee and Coke Zeros.  They would get us by until a hot meal later.

Some of the hunters leave at midnight for position and have all the comforts of an RV, well almost. For us, I was very comfortable and excited as both John and I pulled the trigger the first time.  I can't recall the sequence, but we both laughed as I missed as I unloaded my gun.  A little rusty.  We both missed a few more as they were, maybe out of range, even though we both were using full-chokes.

I'm sure I was shooting behind the birds.  But, John dropped the first duck, and it landed just outside the decoys.  He was still upright and swimming off.  A few more blast and still upright.  Dang steel shot I said, that would not happen with lead.  

Finally, a pair of mallards flew overhead and John downed the drake.  Dead on arrival on the water. Platt was the sound when he hit.  About 8:00 A.M.  Another duck was downed by John.  Both of those were ringnecks.  We saw teal and others, like I said many were out of range.  There was a lot of shooting going on behind us less than a mile, some closer.

You always learn a little more about where to set up each trip.  We had a spread of about 50 decoys and 2 mo-joes that are battery operated to mimic a flying duck with both wings spinning on stakes above the decoys.  John had magnum, regular, teal and other types of decoys, some feeding ones, too.  

So on day two, my daughter, Courtney, joined us and she has been hunting with me maybe 15 years ago, so she chimed in she wanted to come.  Both in their mid 20’s and me 60 years old, it’s like you are a kid again.  It was about 10 degrees warmer but the wind was cutting it about 15 mph, so that makes you feel colder.  Plus it was overcast.  Great weather for the ducks.

We got blanked out, just one flock came into range.  John unloaded his gun while Courtney did not shoot.  I asked what happened and her safety was still on.  We all have done that.  But within a few minutes, she got to shoot at some and scared them away, they were now flying faster.  I thought, that was good being able to fire off a few rounds.  Both were shooting 870 pumps with #4 shot.  Something, I use to do is shoot at spent shells etc.  We let Courtney shoot at a floating vienna sausage can, sinking it 90% on the first shot.  One more round and it was gone:-)  

Again it was about time to head in and John let me drive.  Oh my, lol.  And oh, even though arriving to the hunting area before 5:00 A.M, all the good spots were taken.  On the way in on our first day John pointed out dozens of duck boats lined along the shoreline of the old river channel.  This was truly the Mississippi Flyway.  The second day there were far less ducks boats moored.   

Quality time spent the kids last week was golden.