A Layout Weekend...

**David Rearick** · #1 12-10-2007, 02:50 PM

DATE: December 8th, 2007

LOCATION: Western PA

SUNRISE: 7:00 AM

WEATHER: Overcast with Occasional Snow/Rain

TEMPERATURE: 20’s-30’s

WIND: Moderate to Non-Existent

EQUIPMENT USED: Avery® Finisher Blind Bag, Avery® Fleece Calling Gloves, Avery® Neoprene Handwarmer, Avery® Sportaman’s Camera Bag, Avery® Long Line Clips, GHG® OS Bluebills, Redheads, Canvasbacks, Bufflehead, and Goldeneye decoys.

HUNTERS: Brian Dillemuth, Bryn Witmier, Daniel Bump, Matt Loomis, David Neal, and Avery® Pro-Staffer David Rearick

Journal Notes:
Cold weather, wind, and ice are all things I look forward to this time of year. While most of the population thinks that is better time to stay at home and keep warm, many of which question my smarts each and every year, I find it the best time to get out and get on the water. With December being a prime month to get on divers across the western part of the state, the only thing left to do is get a group of guys together to partake in the action.

Diver hunting from the layout is one of my favorite ways to spend the brutal parts of the year and with ice forming and weather forecasts that sometimes appear more like wishful thinking, I am always eager to get out on the water, as you never know when it will freeze up solid and end what looks like a banner year. With friends coming in from across the state, I was set for a two day weekend of diver hunting and the only thing that would get in our way is ice thick enough that a sledge hammers wouldn’t let us get out from the launch.

With slush and skim ice on the water, things looked good as the trailer crushed everything and we got the boat unhooked and then quickly motored the tender, layout, and 10 dozen decoys out to one of my usual spots for the day’s wind. After setting the decoys and getting our first hunter in the box, LST was upon us and the birds began to move. I pulled away in the tender, leaving Matt in the box, a newbie of sorts to the layout experience. The layout boat, bobbed in the small waves produced by the 15 mph wind and we were optimistic that today would be a good day. It started off quickly, as Matt got a quick handle on how to shoot from the layout and after 5 shots, he had four birds on the water. After a hunter change, we decided to take full advantage of the hunting we had and since there were 6 hunters for the day, we scouted out a good blind and set out some puddle and diver duck decoys along an ice edge. Just as we were about to set-up, another hunter came down the shoreline and instead of hunting against each other, we joined together and we made the shoreline spread even bigger.

Between the layout boat and helping the boys from shore gather up their downed birds, the tender constantly ran the space between them and it wasn’t long until the day really began shaping up into something special. Today we had guys that had never shot bluebills, never hunted from a layout, or had never really got a true taste of diver hunting. At the end of the day things were much different and each person was either had a full limit or was just a few ducks short after a great day on the water. With one day left in the weekend, we packed in at dusk and made our way to our hotel to get some much needed rest for the next day.

Day Two:

With good wind predicted by the weatherman, I thought today would be even better. As things have been of late, the weatherman was wrong once again and we had a much smaller wind keeping the birds content on other parts of the lake. Even with fewer birds flying for the day, each of the 5 hunters was able to take their bluebill limits and missed a few others. With a long drive head of two of the hunters, we packed it in early and headed for home, so they could get on there way and so Bryn could possibly make his wife’s B-Day before it was over…

Day One ICE:

Part of Day One's Bag:

Day Two Bills: