September 24-29
Charlie and I flew back to Minnesota for the opening weekend of duck hunting. I had wanted to make this happen so we could have a three generational hunting trip and Charlie has just gotten old enough to come on these adventures. We flew in late Thursday night, giving Charlie a chance to hang out with Grandma, and me a chance to set up the duck blinds for Saturday morning. It was homecoming weekend so Charlie was able to go to the Otter Fest Parade in town. He met up with Joe's class and fit right in with the group.
In the mean time, I was sweating through my clothes hauling hay bales and pallets down to the slough, building the blinds, and setting decoys. The weather was unseasonably warm. I set up three straw bales so Charlie could see over the top of cattails. We went to the homecoming game that night, which the Otters won, staying until half time. The next morning we were up before daylight and in the blinds just before shooting light. Grandma had bought Charlie all his camoflauge and I bought a duck call, and I could tell he was very excited. You never know what the action will be like at that place, expecting some early flights of teal, but hoping for more. It seemed we had birds in the air, buzzing our decoys the entire morning. Mallards, wood ducks, teal, even a goose. We could not have wished for anything more. There was enough action that Charlie was attentive and would often spot ducks in the air before Grandpa and I. Charlie even "called" in some ducks on his duck call. Grandpa and I had a flock of wood ducks fly right in the middle of the decoys and peel off to my side. Both Grandpa and I knocked one down and Grandpa asked if we had seen his hit the water between us, which we did not. We were concerned that it made it to the cattails and we would lose it. After standing for a few more minutes Charlie says, "there's a duck!" Grandpa and I start looking to the horizon for something flying, but we did not see a thing. I turn and ask Charlie where he saw it at and he points down to the water three feet in front of me! Grandpa's wood duck had nearly landed on top of us! Charlie was watching the ducks fly by as I was shooting and we never noticed that duck fall and splash right in front of us! At one point Grandpa was running low on shells so I sent Charlie on an errand to bring him more. As Charlie was running on the trail through the cattails I could hear him yelling, "I'm coming Grandpa, I've got more shells for you!" I could not have scripted a better first hunt for Charlie, and I hope he and the rest of the kids can have many more just like that one.
Charlie even had some face paint for the hunts, along with ear protection.
Opening morning we ended up with four wood ducks, two mallards, a blue-winged teal, and a goose . . . and one proud little boy.
A good looking group of hunters.
and a thumbs up from a little boy.
The second morning was a bit slower, and after the first hour Chalie's intrest began to wane, but that was what I expected and there was plenty of room for him to run around for a bit. The nice part about hunting and Grandma and Grandpa's is the convinence and proximity. We hunted for an hour to hour and a half and head back to the house for breakfast.
Of course, we had the rest of the day to play and Charlie was able to get some good Grandma time in.
The straw bale blind. When he stood up, he was taller than I was and could see everything right over my shoulder.
Grandma and Chalie working on a new lego kit.
We also were able to take a few Ranger rides and Charlie was able to steer.
A blue-winged teal I jumped from the slough one afternoon.
A pair of mallards the last morning we were there. After the first day the hunting was really slow for us, but fun none the less. We had this flock of mallards fly-in right at shooting light, but once they dropped below the weed line we couldn't see them anymore. I knew two had landed to my right so I kept looking until I could finally see their sillouetes on the water. One shot got them both. We all had a great time, and I will always remember the first hunting trip with my dad and my son.
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