This time flying by for anyone else? I can’t believe it’s already almost mid February! Today we are throwing it back to the very last weekend of duck season – from Wednesday to Sunday I hunted three times, for approximately 14 or so hours in the duck blind. We had some slow moments with zero ducks in sight, and we had some crazy ones with dozens upon dozens of ducks diving in right on top of us. Needless to say, it was a great weekend to end the season.

The first of those last hunts was spent with my dad. . It was a pleasant day in terms of weather, just chilly enough to need a warm layer, and just enough cloud cover to keep the ducks a little lower. We had some success with mallards,  but nothing else really came in to the pond. Still, we made our shots count, and now I have another bag of ducks in the freezer waiting to be made into something delicious.

Not a bad way to kick off the end of the season!

… And then, suddenly, the final weekend had arrived. Georgetown ducks, we were ready for you.

Friday evening we walked down to the ponds to watch the ducks come in. Not only did we see an amazing sunset, but one of the biggest flights of gadwall I have ever seen in my life flying over us heading out towards Winyah Bay.

Seriously, the picture doesn’t even do the number justice. All we heard was the light whir of a thousand beating wings and the delicate whistle that they make. Things were looking good for Saturday morning. I woke up wide awake at 3:45 for some reason. I guess the anticipation was getting to me? No way.

Groups of hunters spread out through the various ponds and got ready. I was hunting with my father-in-law and his Admiral from the Navy (above), setting up in a particular pond with one other group. As the sun rose, ducks were everywhere, but just out of reach for the three of us. “Just out of reach” for us just so happened to mean “exactly in the decoy spread” set up by our pond-mates and they were making some great shots – folding ducks left and right. With their early-morning success, they were nice enough to swap places with us after they had a dozen or so in the bag – approximately 11 more than we had. With a new set up, it was time to get things going.

We were lucky that the ducks were still coming in pretty steady – likely parts of that enormous group of gadwall from the previous evening – and it only took about 30 minutes to get two limits in the bag.

The one thing I was really after this week it was a nice bull drake widgeon. I hadn’t seen many throughout the season, but a few groups began up over the previous weeks. With five gadwall in my bag, time was running out. Suddenly, I heard Parker shout “duck! Duck!” I scrambled to see where he was looking. Just as this duck was making a turn, heading away for me – allllmost too far away – I lined him up and pulled the trigger. My sixth duck was on the water, and Miss Esther headed out to retrieve it. When she got about 20 yards away from us, there was one thought in our minds – that sure looks like a wigeon from here.

Sure enough, my last duck of the limit was this bad boy.

Needless to say, I was stoked. I danced around and held that thing like a baby kitten so I wouldn’t mess him up – you better believe he’s going on the wall!

That’s not the only nice drake widgeon harvest that morning, and definitely not the duck. Across the board (and ponds), we had great success with both gadwall and widgeon!

With the first morning over, it was time for breakfast, maybe a Bloody Mary / Mimosa, a quick rest, then playtime. Some went after the quail, some sat back in the duck ponds, and some sat by the fire. I spent a little time doing some early shed hunting (again – no way, right?). No sheds, though – just lots of buck sign.

We decided to give it one last hoorah on Sunday, the official last day of the season. There are few things better than seeing [another] epic sunrise from the duck blind.

John and I hunted the same pond I was in the previous morning, hunting with a good group of buddies. We didn’t have nearly as much success as the day before, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying the day!

Our pal Davis did knock down a duck early in the morning, but it set it’s wings and coasted to the back of the pond (across a mine field of feet-deep pluff mud), so we waited until the hunt was over to go look for it. I played Retriever / Sacajawea and took the canoe to where he’d seen it go down, strapping my shotgun on my back in case this thing tried to make a run for it. Sure enough, it was right where he directed me, waiting to be retrieved – a nice drake gadwall, and his first!

It really was the perfect weekend to end an already stellar duck season here in South Carolina. It’s hard to believe the season has come and gone, but at least we have the memories captured in photos! Ok, ok – also captured in more than 250 GoPro video clips, and a pretty widgeon mount that I CAN’T. WAIT. to get back.

Stay tuned for the video… Happy hunting friends!