TN Whitetail Freak
Well-Known Member
Well I went on my first duck hunt yesterday. On thanksgiving I gained permission to a farm that had saw some ducks in the past. So on thanksgiving day after get togethers I went to work learning the place. I discovered it has two flashboards riser systems to hold water on the 170 acre fields that are split N and S. I ran to lumber yard and had flashboards cut. The place had an old blind on it. I replaced the front floor to it. The place appeared to not have been hunted/maintained in years. Well I tried to catch water on the fields with the recent rain and the south field caught 30 acres worth of water about 16-20" deep. The north flashboards system needs repair because the bottom of culvert rusted out and no water was caught. Well I hunted the 30 acres of flooded cotton after setting 16 decoys around the pit blind onsite. I was excited..... i saw a group of 4 to my left and a did a 5 note sequence. The birds caught me off guard when they instantly banked to me and circled downwind of my 'comma' shaped spread. The birds were about to land then they took off. I then realized from the time I threw the decoys to that time my hole had froze up! I learned several things on yesterday's hunt. I also gained confidence in my call because I just started calling this week. That was a instance I won't forget the way those birds reacted on a dime to my simple call. I watched up until 10 am as the 30 acres slowly froze up. What was once water all around the pit turned into ice that ran away from me until the only open water was 200 yds to my north.
Also I learned just because the sun is rising don't mean the water is going to warm up. It was almost opposite.
Also I learned just because the sun is rising don't mean the water is going to warm up. It was almost opposite.