September 29th had been marked on my calendar for a while now. It would mark the opening of the Montana Duck Season. Duck hunting has always been something dear to my heart, not only because of the hunting itself, but it usually brings together family, good friends, and good dogs.
I have been trying to convince my Dad to let me have my black lab, Ben, out here in Montana with me for a while. My Mom and him finally gave in, and my Dad would plan to bring Ben out for the Montana duck opener with me. We would hunt with a few of my fishing buddies, Garret, Cody, and Paden, who are now getting into duck hunting. We were at our public marsh way too early, in fact, Cody and I were at the access pulloff at 11:30 pm the day before. We walked to our spot around 3 am, and listened to a insane coyote soundoff. Before long the rest of the group arrived and we were set up and ready for legal shooting time. The action for most of the morning was pretty good. There were quite a few blue winged teal around, skirting our spread at crazy speeds and drawing our fire, dropping some of the little buggers. We also had some big ducks like mallards and pintails react to the spread, and with a little quiet calling, were coaxed to set their wings and drop in.
This was Cody and Garret’s first time duck hunting, and at first it was difficult for them to pick up on spotting ducks in the distance and making the shots, but Cody and Garret are naturally good outdoorsman, and before long were doing well.
One of Cody’s first ducks
The Ol’ Man and Ben
The Boys
It was a very fun hunt and I was happy the new guys like hunting ducks now. It’s gonna be a fun season especially now that a have my dog out here. I was also able to sneak out before class the other day for some trico and other mayfly fishing. There were quite a few rising fish on the slick water. I really love dry fly fishing and fishing with tiny dries is the epitome of that in my opinion.
Ben
Threw a couple streamers as well
A lot of the duck photo credit goes to Garret and my Dad, to check out my Dad’s story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, go to http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdoors/171951471.html. Thanks for the bringing Ben out Dad!
