Bamawaterfowler
08-19-2011, 04:44 AM
(I was asked to post this on the public forum)...
1. You notice every bird in the air - and try to identify it. Does not matter if it's a songbird, shorebird, or what. And then when you see a duck, you feel like you have won the lottery.
2. You imagine how you would hunt every body of water you see. Pond on the side of the road, low area holding water in a field, drainage ditch coming off the highway. You see water and start planning on how to hunt it. Find the grass, park my boat there, put the layouts there. And then bonus duck hunting points if you visualize where you would put your decoys.
3. You hear the sound of a bang and it reminds you of the sweet hum of your shotgun. And this sound can come from a variety of sources: backfire of a car, something crashing, or a sonic boom.
Yall might not know it, but I am currently deployed back to Korea. Been here 60 days - and return home (California) in 2 more weeks. On our morning PT run today, we were touring the outer perimeter. Sure enough - I saw a flock of 15-20 Mandrins were out in the distance. I started walking immediately so i could figure out what they were. Now we were in a formation run - with about 50 of my Airmen. And when the commander stops, all stop. The ducks came right at us - then cupped and landed in a pond just outside the fence line. I immediately thought how I would hunt that pond. Not 10 second later, a Korean hooptie drove past and backfired twice. The flock rose back off the pond. When they did, our ground radar picked them up as moving toward the flight line which caused our bird abatement canons (there are about 50) to start firing off. They sound like 12ga shotguns when firing. I thought I was back home for the opener. When the cannons when off, another 1500 - 2000 ducks lifted off the rice field adjacent to the pond. Teal, mottles, some crazy looking pintail thing, and ducks that looked like widgeon. I was in heaven and stood there for 5 mins or so watching the air show -- the above 3 points going through my mind. Finally my guys asked me when we were going to continue. I guess they could not appreciate what we just saw - and were obviously NOT duck hunters. It's just something in our blood that is hard to explain. And makes us act peculiar from time to time. It was awesome sight but I think was lost of my troops - they still did not understand why we had to stop there for 5 mins and watch ducks. Just made me think a little this morning how much I love our sport. And our country...
Yall be safe and greetings from Korea!!
B
1. You notice every bird in the air - and try to identify it. Does not matter if it's a songbird, shorebird, or what. And then when you see a duck, you feel like you have won the lottery.
2. You imagine how you would hunt every body of water you see. Pond on the side of the road, low area holding water in a field, drainage ditch coming off the highway. You see water and start planning on how to hunt it. Find the grass, park my boat there, put the layouts there. And then bonus duck hunting points if you visualize where you would put your decoys.
3. You hear the sound of a bang and it reminds you of the sweet hum of your shotgun. And this sound can come from a variety of sources: backfire of a car, something crashing, or a sonic boom.
Yall might not know it, but I am currently deployed back to Korea. Been here 60 days - and return home (California) in 2 more weeks. On our morning PT run today, we were touring the outer perimeter. Sure enough - I saw a flock of 15-20 Mandrins were out in the distance. I started walking immediately so i could figure out what they were. Now we were in a formation run - with about 50 of my Airmen. And when the commander stops, all stop. The ducks came right at us - then cupped and landed in a pond just outside the fence line. I immediately thought how I would hunt that pond. Not 10 second later, a Korean hooptie drove past and backfired twice. The flock rose back off the pond. When they did, our ground radar picked them up as moving toward the flight line which caused our bird abatement canons (there are about 50) to start firing off. They sound like 12ga shotguns when firing. I thought I was back home for the opener. When the cannons when off, another 1500 - 2000 ducks lifted off the rice field adjacent to the pond. Teal, mottles, some crazy looking pintail thing, and ducks that looked like widgeon. I was in heaven and stood there for 5 mins or so watching the air show -- the above 3 points going through my mind. Finally my guys asked me when we were going to continue. I guess they could not appreciate what we just saw - and were obviously NOT duck hunters. It's just something in our blood that is hard to explain. And makes us act peculiar from time to time. It was awesome sight but I think was lost of my troops - they still did not understand why we had to stop there for 5 mins and watch ducks. Just made me think a little this morning how much I love our sport. And our country...
Yall be safe and greetings from Korea!!
B