After not hunting ducks for many years, we joined Daryl and Brad Hennen for a hunt in North Dakota over the weekend with Eric Froehling at Wishek. . . It was a good weekend with lots of ducks flying and the four puppies, one Golden Lab and three Springer/Brittany crosses, having a ball. Abbie and Blue tolerated their playfulness up to a point. Besides getting the puppies used to sitting in the duck blinds which they had matted down in short order, Brad got a water retrieve out of his wife, Kristy’s, Golden Retriever which is only about five months old. Needless to say he was more than pleased with that maneuver Sunday afternoon. He said Molly swam out to the duck, and with a little encouragement, came back dragging it with her. Abbie did yoeman’s duty retrieving the rest of the ducks and Froehling’s Ice (a yellow Lab) brought back a 14 lb. Canada goose that Brad harvested while shooting over field decoys . . . Daryl set up his robo-duck both mornings in one of the many small lakes which dot that part of the Peace Garden State; and believe me that mechanical decoy was lethal. The wings are driven by a small electric motor and spin constantly, attracting most of the ducks that were flying in the area. He said he had ducks landing on the mud apron between the slough and the water Sunday morning before shooting hours when they spied the rotating wings. The movement is noticeable over a half mile away to the human eye and probably a lot further for the ducks. . . We ended up with a mixed bag of Mallards, Widgeons, Teal and Pintails. . . The three of us walked on a CRP field Saturday afternoon and came out with four pheasants. We should have had six, but we blew two relatively easy points when Blue did his thing. . . We didn’t take him into the duck blind in the mornings because we didn’t have a camo suit for him and felt his white coat would be a dead give-away. Sunday afternoon he was with us when we were jump-shooting a bunch of ducks in a pond. He impressed us when we knocked a duck down and he went after it in the wind-swept water. The duck managed to upright itself and was swimming away with Blue about 30 yards behind it. . . the down side of this attempted retrieve was the duck had enough stamina left to go airborne out of shotgun range and Blue was left high and dry or was it high and wet. We were pleased with his efforts never-the-less and rewarded him with a few treats when he swam back to us. It taught us not to hesitate about shooting over the water if the opportunity presents itself during the pheasant hunting season. Daryl picked up another rooster the same afternoon when Abbie flushed one out of the cattails while he was making a sweep to scare up some ducks. . . we took along two boxes of shells and came back without any, plus bumming a few off of the two Hennens. Getting that kind of shooting is a success story in itself . . . If the states and federal agencies don’t outlaw the robo duck, we may just put duck hunting back into the fall hunting rotation. . . Froehling also demonstrated his method of breasting ducks which made quick work out of what is normally kind of a messy chore. We saw several buck deer, one of which had a great looking rack. . . Eric’s wife, Paula, had a steaming pot of chili waiting for us Friday evening which really hit the spot when we came in late from an hour or so of hunting. She complemented the meal with chocolate and caramel bars which melted in your mouth and were a real treat for yours truly who probably has the largest sweet tooth in Wright County. . .
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We took in the McIntosh County Ducks Unlimited banquet Saturday night in Ashley where they served pork chops and scalloped potatoes. Groups of hunters from Virginia and Wisconsin kept the bidding lively and helped pad the DU coffers with their generosity along with that of the local supporters . . . Nearly $30,000,000 has been expended by DU to support over 1,300 wetlands projects in North Dakota since the dust bowl swept through the heartland in the 1930s, helping them to maintain their original mission — “fulfilling the annual life cycle needs of North American waterfowl.” . . . One friend of Eric’s hunted pheasants near the South Dakota border and said the traffic on Saturday’s opener rivaled a Wal-Mart parking lot . . . and yes, they got birds . . .