Bonus Hunt

Time flies!  I'm not sure what happened to the Wisconsin waterfowl season.  It seems like a few weeks ago I was on a self-imposed "No fun stuff" stint.  Prior to waterfowl season I swore off doing anything that could be too much fun, so I could get house projects and adult responsibilities out of the way before the fall harvest season.  A few duck hunts, a trip to NoDak, tossing out some steel, and suddenly the waterfowl season is in the rear view mirror.

About three weeks ago winter arrived in northern Wisconsin.  I had hopes of getting in one last duck hunt with a 10-year old.  We checked every spring pond and stretch of flowing water in hopes of finding a few late migrating ducks.  No luck.  Everything was locked tight.  So, I begrudgingly put my gear away to get to the snow blower and began thinking about next season.  To say I was disheartened to put my stuff away with over three weeks to go in a 60 day season would be an understatement.

Then, I got invited by my friend, Eric, to go duck hunting on Green Bay.  He had been having some success on divers and was kind enough to recognize an addict suffering from withdrawal.  We left for Marinette about sunrise, which included about a 1.5 hour drive.  It was about 3-below zero when we left, so we had some concerns about the Bay being froze tight.  We arrived and realized our concerns were real.  There was a slight wind blowing out and we could see the ice was breaking up.  There was enough open water near shore for us to give it a try.  As we got ready we discussed how foolish duck hunting is.  Who goes and sits in the wind, gets their hands wet, stands in water, and lays in the snow when the air temperature is below zero?  Duck hunters, that's who.  We both agreed that we take pride in hunting when everybody else is sitting at home.  Needless to say, we had our choice of spots.

We didn't get a limit in almost a full day of hunting, but we got to see thousands of duck flying around the Bay.  We scared some ducks and killed a few.  Zeke, the 11-month old Chesapeake Bay Retriever, made some fine retrieves.  I have never said a bad word about Zeke and won't after I watched him fetch one of my ducks that had drifted out to over 100 yards.  Zeke earned his keep and my admiration after that.  It was cold enough that we each had to take a few walks and do some calisthenics to warm up.

We hunted a second day, but called it quits after we each reached the point where we required a "warm-up walk."  After we loaded up, I felt a bit more satisfied about the season.  It was short and not as successful as I had dreamed in August, but getting to hunt in a new locale when I hadn't expected to hunt anymore made the season a lot better.  

Only 10 months until waterfowl season!