Since moving to North Idaho back in July, I have definitely fallen in love with the country up here. However, "making a living" as a waterfowler in this part of the country can be really tough. Not that there aren't good bird numbers, but that they drop the water level through the dam so drastically after the first week or two of the season opener, that it leaves up to 100 yards of exposed mud flat on the rivers and lake around here. The nearest cover from the water's edge can be up to 100 yards away. Meaning that if you set up, you tend to stick out like a sore thumb. Once the snow comes back it should be a little easier to hide, with a white blanket and white outer layers. However until that time comes, us waterfowlers are stuck, working hard to find some pockets of decent water to hunt that isn't too far from the nearest natural cover. So yesterday, my buddy from work and I spent the morning and early afternoon driving around scouting spots to hunt that had birds and were near cover. It paid off. We found three solid spots where a guy could set up and be able to hide adequately. One spot there was a bunch of boulders on edge of a railroad where we could hide behind the boulders and birds were using the water there. Another spot was out on a sandy point, where a guy could dig a hole in the sand and put some brush around the hole to sit in. The last spot we found was in a piece of state land and there is an old cement foundation from a building where a guy could sit in and be concealed. The birds we found were right next to the foundation on the water, so we decided to set up there for 45 minutes or so, before heading back home. It paid off. After we set up, birds started moving back in. We both missed a 40 yard shot on some honkers that were flying by. Then a redhead and a bluebill decoyed to our spread. I shot the redhead (my first redhead ever, in 17 years of duck hunting), while my buddy shot the drake bluebill. A few minutes later a flight of 6 mallards came to take a look at the decoys. We each pulled a greenhead out of the flight. Some green wing teal decided to rocket by, right over the decoys and we both whiffed them. Right before we pulled the decoys to head home, a single hen wigeon came in and cupped her wings. My buddy knocked her down and Rowdy went out for the retrieve. So now that we have found some decent spots to set up, we will be back at one of those spots this weekend. I was very excited to shoot my first redhead. They are a gorgeous duck. My strap was red and green, just in time for Christmas.
by RowdyGSP » Mon Nov 27, 2017 11:55 am 
