From: CBARNES@tamvm1.tamu.edu (Chris Barnes)
Newsgroups: rec.hunting
Subject: Teal Hunting report
Date: 15 Sep 92 15:13:26 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University
Originator: hunting@osnome.che.wisc.edu

Well, Friday night we pawned our three kids off on some friends
(the same ones that took us dove hunting in west Texas the week
before).  Saturday, we woke up at about 2:00 am, and headed off to
the nearest lake (Lake Sommerville, if you live in the area).  Our
plan was to launch my 14' (dbl wide) jon boat at a state park, and
head to a place called "Flag Pond".  To get to this area, you go
to the upper end of the lake, and enter one of the feeder creeks.
You go up the creek for about 1/2 mile, then you find a 1/2 mile
man-made channel that ends in a 20-30 acrea pond whose average depth
is 1 foot.
 
We had a little trouble finding the mouth of the creek from the lake
even though I had been up this creek many times before (just not at
night).  The water level on this end of the lake was very shallow,
and me and my wife had to get out of the boat and pull it behind us
for a while until we found the creek channel.  Once there it was pretty
easy cruising (except for the tree that had fallen almost all the way
across the creek).  Lucky that my boat is small, we just pulled it over
the shallow branches, and kept going.  We found the man-made channel
pretty easy (almost a full moon with very few clouds).  Once we got to
the end of the channel, I got out and looked at the area.  I had been
here 3 weeks earlier, and in that amount of time, the water level had
dropped at least 5 feet (they were letting water out of the dam).  We
couldn't get to where I wanted to go, so we just put the decoys in
the channel, and put the boat close to the levey near a tree and set
up the blind.  By now it was about 4 am (we wanted to get here early
because I expected alot of people to be out here as hunting is only
allowed on a small portion of the lake).
 
About 15 minutes later, we saw some headlights driving along the other
side of Flag Pond (there are no public roads to Flag Pond).  The
hunters got out, and walked along the shoreline away from us.  I
couldn't tell exactly where they went, but they were at least 1000
yards away, so I wasn't worried.
 
We had brought along a small ice chest and a small propane stove, and
my wife soon comensed to cooking some sausage and eggs, and put a
pot of coffee on to brew.  This was great!  I had never eaten break-
fast in a duck blind before.  I might make this a common event!
 
At about 5:00, another boat arrived with 2 men and about a 8 yo boy.
They walked over and talked to us, then said that they had been out
the day before and scouted a spot about 250 yards away near a cedar
tree on the water line.  They pulled their jon boat into the weeds,
and carried all their stuff to their blind.  There was almost no wind,
so even that far away, we could hear every word they said.  I never
realized how funny people are when they are setting out decoys.
 
At about 6:00, a large bass boat arrived (I still can't figure out how
they got past the tree in the creek channel) with 4 "frat-daddies"
(A&M students that belong to a fraternity).  I went down to where they
tied their boat to a tree (about 100 yards from us) to make sure they
didn't set up too close to us.  They hadn't been out to Flag Pond
before, and didn't know where to go.  I told them where the other
groups of hunters were, and they decided to walk about 300 yards
across the pond in the other direction to the far shoreline.  They had
a large drab green tarp to cover their boat with, so I told them that
it wouldn't bother me if they left it were it was.
 
A few minutes before shooting hours the birds began dive-bombing
us.  That could just drive a person crazy!  Foranetly, the birds were
still flying when shooting time arrived.  The frat-daddies were the
first to score.  We heard their shots, and a second later we heard
"go get it Bo" (they had a yellow lab).  After some encouragement to
hunt, I guess Bo found the bird.  I was standing up in the boat
looking in Bos' direction when my wife said one was comming in.  That
was an understatement!  A single was flying right at me at an altitude
of about 3 feet and was only about 15 yards away when I saw it.  I
dropped it with one shot.  I gave Dixie a back, and she hopped out of
the boat and went right to it (which kinda suprised me, I didn't think
she could see out of the blind).
 
Pretty soon the sound of gunfire was erupting from every direction.
The 2 men and a boy dropped a few birds with in short order.  The
frat-daddies dropped a couple more.  Almost all of the birds that were
coming in my range were just passing shots - nothing seemed very
intrested in landing in my dekes; and I was shooting pretty poorly,
missing at least 4 easy shots.  My wife suggested that I check my
choke (I have a variable choke on my shotgun) and sure enough, I had
left it on Xtra-full (from last weeks shooting a jack-rabbit).  I
turned it down to modified (I was shooting 2 3/4 " steel 6's).  I hit
on the next bird to come in - a crossing shot at about 40 yards.  It
landed on the other side of the levey, and Dixie never had a chance to
see it.  I could tell by the way it went down, that it might swim away,
so I got out of the boat, and gave Dixie a line for a blind.  She got
on the other side of the levey, and the bird flapped - that was all
she needed.  She chased the bird for about 20 yards before catching
up to it.
 
A few minutes later, another bird was on almost the exact same path
as the 2nd - a crossing shot at about 40 yards.  I shot one time, and
the bird kept flying - for about 100 yards.  Then suddenly, it dropped
like a stone.  I got out of the boat, and walked over to the levey
to see if I could send Dixie after the bird.  I could see the bird
floating in the water, not going anywhere.  It was much closer to the
2 men and a boy, and birds were still flying, so I decided to leave it
and pick it up later.  Just then, 2 birds flew between me and the
2 men and a boy.  2 shots rang out, and one of the birds dropped.
About 3 seconds later, the other bird dropped (I don't think they
saw the other bird fall).  Both of these birds were pretty close to
me, but they weren't moving, so I figured they could get them later
too.
 
I went back to the boat, and a single came in straight and easy.  It
was by far the easiest shot I had all day, and I didn't miss.  It was
now 7:30 and I had limited out with 4 teal.  I just sat in the boat
awhile, so as to not mess things up for the other hunters that hadn't
limited out.  The frat-daddies had dropped a couple more, but this time
Bo didn't have a clue as to what he was doing.  He was out romping
around the water, and we could hear the other frat-daddies yelling
at him to come in (birds were still flying around flaring from all the
movement).  It was hard to keep from laughing so loud that they could
hear us.  They finally got Bo in, and never sent him out after another
bird (I did see them wading out after birds though!  :-o  ).
 
A few minutes later, the 2 men and a boy dropped another bird, and I
saw them walking out into their decoys.  I assumed that they were done,
so I got out and headed over to where they dropped one of thier birds
(they had picked up the other one already).  Dixie found it in short
order, and we walked over and I gave it to them.  After some pleasent
conversation, I asked them if they knew where my bird had floated off
to (a breeze had picked up).  They pointed straight out down wind.  I
could see the bird about 250 yards off.  I had never thought my dog
would ever had to do a field-trail distance blind before, but now she
would.  I lined her up, and gave her a hard back.  She went out about
90 yards and started hunting.  I blew on my whistle and gave her
another back.  After about 2 more backs, she was down wind of the
bird, and that was all she needed.  I was genuinely proud of her (and
she is 6 weeks pregnant with her 2nd litter too!).  So were the
2 men and a boy (I may have sold one of her pups by doing that!).
 
I went back to the boat, and my wife had the blind almost all taken
down.  I picked up the decoys while she finished, and we headed back
to the boat ramp.  Of course, when we arrived, the game warden was
standing there, ready to check everybody as they came in.  The only
thing he didn't like was that the numbers on the side of my boat
were too small (they were 2" - he wanted 3").  I said I would get
some bigger ones, and that seemed to make him happy.
 
All in all, my wife and I had very nice morning.  Too bad I have to
goto work on Monday - I'ld love to go again!
 
      --------------------------------------------------
Chris Barnes            |
cbarnes@tamvm1.tamu.edu |  Bow season starts in 17 days!
(409) 846-3273 (home)   |           (in Texas)
(409) 845-4437 (work)   |
Newsgroups: rec.hunting