Alright. I’ve made an executive decision on how to get everyone caught up on the end of duck season (now that it’s basically April – what?!). Rather than do our last 4 hunts in individual posts, I am going to do a quick recap of 3 right here, and the 4th immediately after. Thaaaaat way…

We can finally get to the video!

Between work and life – well, mostly just work – I’ve been completely swamped since the first week of January, and bright side outdoors has definitely taken the brunt of my neglect. But, from here on out, I should be able to maintain a pretty steady supply of adventures and posts. After all, I am still outdoors essentially every weekend. Naturally. 

Ok – let’s get all caught up on duck season!

Picking up where we left off, we were in the last few weeks of the season – around mid-January. Dad and I hunted on a stunning Wednesday morning, and my gun was still giving me a bit of trouble. I shot pretty poorly (when the gun would fire) and, after going back and reviewing film from the hunt, it turns out that I was stopping my swing, rather than following through the shot. While maddening at the time (trying to figure out why I kept missing), it was super helpful to have the GoPro footage as evidence. 

Still, it wasn’t a shutout. We ended the hunt with 4 ring necks and 2 mallards. Not too shabby for a late-season hunt!

By that weekend, a warm front had moved in and we were experiencing highs in the mid-70s, and lows only in the low 60s. Not much says “South Carolina duck hunting” like neoprene waders with a ThermaCell hooked to your belt. Saturday’s hunt brought warm rain and lots of fog, but John and I weren’t going to let a little August-esque weather stop us from getting in the field.

With just t-shirts under our lightest-weight rain gear, ThermaCells and pups in tow, we hunkered down in the pouring rain to see what we could knock down.

The dogs were somewhat less than impressed with the weather.

It was definitely a slow hunt – getting buzzed once or twice by a teal or two, just trying to keep still (instead of flailing our arms batting mosquitoes out of our faces). Suddenly, a paid of mottled ducks swung by us, and I was able to knock one of them down.

Thank goodness for Parker’s pup Esther. Y’all – I would NEVER have found this duck if I hadn’t brought her with me. The pond / field we hunted is chock-full of grass and weeds and phragmites. If you don’t kill a duck stone dead and go straight to it, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll never find it, especially if you don’t have a dog. But, trusty Esther pulled through and found my duck after a good search.

While I was out looking for my duck, another pair of teal zoomed by us and John made an excellent shot on one of them. Thankfully, it went down back behind him – right where I happened to be searching for my duck. Prine came out to retrieve it, but Esther beat him there. It was great to see him work with / off of her with their noses to the ground searching for the bird.

It was close to 10 am by this point, so we called the hunt and headed back to dry out.

We didn’t hunt the next morning, but rode around on the 4wheelers checking trail cameras. And you know what we saw? Finally?

FINALLY?!

If you look closely, behind those coots swimming up front, you’ll see them.

 At long last, the big bands of widgeon and gadwall had moved into the area. They were on a different pond than where we hunted the morning before, but they were in town nonetheless. With one weekend left in the season, this was most definitely a pleasant and exciting surprise.

I still had one more hunt with Otis before the season ended (and he and mom headed off to Costa Rica for a week). The cooler weather had moved back in by the next Wednesday (typical of SC), and it was a chilly, still morning with very little wind.

The first hour or so was dead slow – not one duck came within range, and very few were actually in the air around us. Finally, a pair of ducks came just within range and I stood up to shoot as soon as I saw the silhouette of a big bill pass by the sun.

Can you guess what it was?

Second drake spoonie of the season! I shot more shovelers in this duck season than all prior seasons combined. I actually brought this guy home and put him in the freezer without cleaning him. People mock these goofy looking ducks, but a fully-plumed drake is actually a stunning bird!

We took turns as ducks came by us, and added a handful of ring necks to our stringers. Since we were sitting in a big wooden blind this time, Dad only wore his waist waders, so I got to play ‘retriever’ during the hunt as well.

Once again, my trusty Benelli was giving me trouble. Despite the quick and effective field cleaning by Tyler a couple weeks prior, the ol’ girl was still hanging up on me every other shot. At one point, I had 2 ring necks decoy 15 feet from the blind on my side (i.e. my shot), and I couldn’t get the trigger to pull at all. A tiny piece inside the trigger mechanism had actually cracked and there was nothing I could do about it until it was replaced, but it still got into my head. I have the best dad there ever was, though, and he kindly handed over his weapon so we could share for the rest of the hunt.

We came out with 5 ring necks and the lone spoonie.

Dutch-oven ring neck, anyone?

And then, just like that, it was closing weekend. One. Last. Hunt.