There are just some days that you look back and realize that had you stayed in bed, things would have been alright...Today was one of those days.
I had been watching a huge group of birds for the last few days...1000-2000 geese and several hundred ducks..and had them patterned. We scouted them yesterday and made a game plan; a dozen full bodies on the ice and a few floaters in the open water for the ducks, then after we burned them up we would move a quarter mile south and hammer on some geese. We loaded up this morning with layout blinds and decoys and headed out. About halfway to our spot we had a semi pass us in the opposite direction which lifted the bag of full bodies up and out of the bed of the truck. We watched horrified as the decoys fell slow motion into oncoming traffic and were promptly center punched by a Dodge Ram (The irony is just beginning). They put the truck in the ditch almost rolling it. A layout blind blew out too, but it blew onto the shoulder. We stopped and the drivers exchanged insurance. I went to pick up the bag of decoys which was a shredded mess. Miraculously 7 of the 13 or 14 decoys in the bag made it through the ordeal either untouched or barely damaged. The rest were confetti. Instead of heading home, we decided to make it a better day and trek on. We got out to our spot and set up and had a terrible morning. The warmth and the rain had opened up a lot of water, so birds weren't interested in our little pocket of water. We shot a single bird out of the few groups that buzzed our spread, but nothing came down close. As we were laying in the blinds, with birds starting to fly after lunch, we saw a warden truck cruise past and stop at the corner of the section. A minute later a second warden truck stopped by our spot and the first came back down the road. We thought it was a simple license check, so we cleared our guns and walked up to them when they called for us. After talking to them for a minute, we were informed that we were hunting in a No Firearms Area. I have fished and hunted the area a bunch, but have never been very interested in this particular section until I had seen all of the birds on it, so I had never paid much attention to the signage beyond knowing it was State ground. The wardens confiscated our gaddy, and fortunately only wrote us tickets for shooting in a no firearms area. We explained that we were watching birds when we drove in and missed the sign, but it didnt do us any good, however they were very professional and courteous about the whole deal. After we went on our way, we started looking and sure enough there was an 8x10 sign posted at the corner and at the half mile mark of the section. It could have stood to be marked a little more often, but we were in the wrong. Just one of those days I should have stayed home and had a whackathon. Would have been much more productive.
I had been watching a huge group of birds for the last few days...1000-2000 geese and several hundred ducks..and had them patterned. We scouted them yesterday and made a game plan; a dozen full bodies on the ice and a few floaters in the open water for the ducks, then after we burned them up we would move a quarter mile south and hammer on some geese. We loaded up this morning with layout blinds and decoys and headed out. About halfway to our spot we had a semi pass us in the opposite direction which lifted the bag of full bodies up and out of the bed of the truck. We watched horrified as the decoys fell slow motion into oncoming traffic and were promptly center punched by a Dodge Ram (The irony is just beginning). They put the truck in the ditch almost rolling it. A layout blind blew out too, but it blew onto the shoulder. We stopped and the drivers exchanged insurance. I went to pick up the bag of decoys which was a shredded mess. Miraculously 7 of the 13 or 14 decoys in the bag made it through the ordeal either untouched or barely damaged. The rest were confetti. Instead of heading home, we decided to make it a better day and trek on. We got out to our spot and set up and had a terrible morning. The warmth and the rain had opened up a lot of water, so birds weren't interested in our little pocket of water. We shot a single bird out of the few groups that buzzed our spread, but nothing came down close. As we were laying in the blinds, with birds starting to fly after lunch, we saw a warden truck cruise past and stop at the corner of the section. A minute later a second warden truck stopped by our spot and the first came back down the road. We thought it was a simple license check, so we cleared our guns and walked up to them when they called for us. After talking to them for a minute, we were informed that we were hunting in a No Firearms Area. I have fished and hunted the area a bunch, but have never been very interested in this particular section until I had seen all of the birds on it, so I had never paid much attention to the signage beyond knowing it was State ground. The wardens confiscated our gaddy, and fortunately only wrote us tickets for shooting in a no firearms area. We explained that we were watching birds when we drove in and missed the sign, but it didnt do us any good, however they were very professional and courteous about the whole deal. After we went on our way, we started looking and sure enough there was an 8x10 sign posted at the corner and at the half mile mark of the section. It could have stood to be marked a little more often, but we were in the wrong. Just one of those days I should have stayed home and had a whackathon. Would have been much more productive.