At 2:30 AM, TJ, Brad, and myself piled into TJ’s white step side Ford. You know the kind with a cap with DU decals and camo floor mats. The truck smells a bit like red clay mud that was concocted with coffee instead of water. We were on our way to put the boat in on a very big, well known and heavily hunted lake in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. As most know, this isn’t the hot bed of premier waterfowling. It is on the other hand very pressured and very public.
Let me say something about the hunting relationship TJ and I had formed to this point, it was strong. Strong like only 2:30 am wake up calls, setting 150 plus decoys on long lines, blown shot calls, blown shots and banded birds can make two hunters. If I ever trusted another hunter on a totally encompassing level it is and was TJ.
Brad is TJ’s friend, they grew up with each other, the two of them have had a long relationship from childhood on. On this cold morning I think Brad had the notion he was the interloper though. This was my last Carolina Duck hunt. I was moving back to New York in two days and there was a flight of northern birds making the opposite migration.
After coffee and a snack in the truck we struck up conversation in form of our plan. TJ and I had hunted this particular section of the reservoir a few times. There were multiple islands in tight cluster. The one we planned on setting up on was big, with a bay between that one and the smaller one just up “river” of it. There was a point on the bigger island that we planned to set up on.
We knew that these birds had already been hunted as they were truly northern birds coming south. It was the first real cold snap either the north or the south had seen that year. So, TJ and I talked it out days before and we knew we had to be on point….on the point. We pulled up to the island after a chilly 35 minute boat ride and immediately jumped, sloshed is a better word, into action. We pulled out the three stools and had Brad put them in the brushy cover on the shore all facing where we were about to set the decoy spread up. We told him to brush us in well, TJ and I would worry about the decoys.
When hunting pressured areas there are a few ways to combat the competition. One very common way is to place more decoys than anyone else around. The logic being the largest flock will draw the attention and intentions of the live ducks in the air. Having long lined for a lot of the past two seasons previously TJ and I knew a lot about this deadly tactic. Yet, when it came down to it we decided to run lean and mean. We were only placing about a dozen HD Gunner decoys that morning and one Mojo Drake.
As Brad enclosed our shooting positions with vegetation, we went about setting each individual decoy by hand in the freezing water. WE DID NOT THROW THEM. Gently, with the carefulness of picking up a sleeping newborn we put each decoy in it’s pre designated area. We held the Decoy bag out of the water as we did this. The goal was to keep the decoys as dry as possible on the top so that they wouldn’t ice over and cause birds to flair. We fashioned a text book U formation in the bay. And in the pocket of the U we put out our Mojo.
TJ then pulled the boat around to the other side of the island and we covered it with camo netting, burlap and branches to conceal its position and outline from the eyes in sky. With an hour and a half left before legal shooting light we waded back to our point. As we sat down we heard it, distant at first maybe not headed for us. Of course this wasn't the case. The boat of other hunters pulled up just on the other side of the small island in front of us. We flashed the 2 million candle spotlight on the boat, heads lamps on us and we yelled to them as to let them know they were encroaching on us but they didn’t seem to mind.
As we watched them THROW out what must have been 3 dozen decoys, and camo their boat into a makeshift blind we saw the other boat full of waterfowlers go past us onto the island behind us and start the same action. We made sure we also said hello to the guy in the one man sneak boat who was planning on setting up “just over there”.
This was maybe, a bit more pressure than we expected. We were not moving. TJ had expected some pressure and picked that point specifically for that reason. Early in the week we had taken a coworker Francis out for her first duck hunt. We had included some scouting of the area in that trip. TJ had a pre determined idea after that hunt. It turned out to be a very good notion.
My Indiglo showed ten minutes to legal shooting light. We didn’t have the remote on the Mojo so Brad slipped in the water to turn it on, he made sure to go slowly as to not ice the decoys. We settled into our spots. High weeds around us and underbrush strategically placed to conceal our movements. We sat spread out a bit but we had called safe shooting zones in earlier. Just as the clock struck the magic moment we could hear them. Whistling wings and calling.
As the Mallards made the obligatory circle above us, we heard the other hunters start cutting their calls. The group across from us was a decent set of callers, but they called a lot. Behind us mine as well have been a 3rd grade band class. TJ and I have a good system, at the time he provided the boat, I provided the calling . I went into a standard calling routine. I was using some light chuckling instead of blowing a trumpet into the sky like the other groups. Just like people most of the time ducks don’t want anyone screaming in their faces.
After some large, sweeping circles the Mallards chose to come into our subtle, clean spread rather than the haphazard groups in every other direction. We waited until we were able to pick out individual birds to take. A lot of the time waterfowlers make the mistake of shooting for the entire flock and not hitting a one. With the mojo spinning and their wings cupped, landing gears down TJ yelled “Take Em!” and my Beretta barked. As a group of three we dropped six birds in that initial volley.
One of the birds had landed at the outer edge of our spread. As I went to grab it out of the chest deep water another Yankee flock was on its way in. Luckily, because of the nature of the moving reservoir water the floating bird made it past our spread around the point. I was out in the water, no gun and just a lanyard full of calls. Rather than bust that now circling flock I opted to get low to the water and start calling while they were making their sweeps. This for once was the right choice. I watched and made comeback calls when I would see tail feathers. They eventually locked in on our spread. TJ and Brad made short work of those northern birds. I heard six shots and saw birds hitting the water.
We didn't limit that day, but it was damn close. It was maybe the best public water duck hunt I have ever been on. I know it wouldn’t have come together with all that pressure surrounding us if it wasn't for the things we did differently. We took our time and as in many cases in our outdoor pursuits the details made the difference.
