Rain-n-Ducks and Geese

**Erik Nilsson** · #1 11-19-2008, 05:00 PM

Date: November 15th, 2008

Location: Western PA

Sunrise: 7:07 AM

Weather: Cloudy, Light to moderate rain

Temperature: 44 Degrees

Wind: Light, NNE 2-6 M.P.H

Equipment Used: Avery® Finisher Blinds, Avery® Finisher Blind Bag, Avery® Sportsman’s Camera Bag, Avery® Fleece Skull Cap, Avery® DIY Lanyard, GHG® FFD Lesser Canada Goose Decoys and GHG® Full Body Mallard and Black Duck Decoys

Hunters: Mat Nilsson, Don Gawn and Avery® Pro-Staffers David Rearick and Erik Nilsson

Dogs: Don’s Lab “Drake” and My Lab “Gauge”

Journal Notes: Opening day for our regular 2008 season.

Late fall is one of my favorite times to hunt; Changing weather and the start of the migration along with the hopes of new birds in the area gets the adrenaline pumping. A major cold front was approaching from the Northwest, so the excitement was even greater that we would have new arrivals riding the front down. Scouting runs by Dave and I proved successful and the day before the opener, we talked early on the cell phones, as he watched several geese pile into an area and everything looked promising for us. I told him that I would check into another area and let him know what I saw. Minutes after hanging up, I spotted my first flock of geese go into a cut cornfield, followed by several more small flocks. As I watched them dump in, a large flock of mallards came into the field from the north. I immediately called Dave, to let him know of my findings and there was no hesitation on where we would be for the opener. Plans were made and we agreed to arrive in the field early. Weather forecasts called for rains from ½” to ¾” for our hunt, so we knew it would be a wet one, but for what we had going on, it would be worth it.

Once we arrived to the field, we unloaded the trucks of the gear and went to business setting up the decoys in our favorite pattern that has proven successful for us. Grassing the blinds with cover from the field we were all set at LST. It wasn’t long and our first of many mallards came to greet the spread. Hunting mallards in fields can be challenging on calling the shot for some times they like to circle on the outside edges and trying to get them to center for everyone to get a good shot is all about timing and patience. We had singles in and out and finally the flock did it right and we had 5 on the ground from the first volley. The rest of the early morning, we worked pairs focusing on drakes, using our Zink XR-2’s and Open water Power Hens to finish them in the hole.

We had a little of a break to recap on a great start to the morning and then the geese came and so did the rain. We worked several small flocks well within gunning range, giving my son, Mat, some good shooting opportunities for hanging out with us like the real trooper he is. I was certainly proud of him and rightfully told him so. The dogs made the day easy on us cleaning up the birds from the spread and earned a well deserved morning breakfast and a nap for their efforts. We finished up our day with 17 Geese and 9 Mallards.

The Hero