"Magellan Hits the Mississippi Delta "

DATE: 12/15/2010 (morning hunt)
TEMP: 37-40 degrees
LOCATION: private oxbow around Morgan City, MS
WEATHER: Cloudy, SE winds at 5 mph
KILLS: 6 mallards, 1 gadwall, 1 GW teal
FRIENDS: Jody Acosta, Kit Stovall, Robbie Bass, Chad Rainey
RETRIEVERS: Buck and Buddy

Great hunt this morning.  Boated into the oxbow, and through the mud we went.  Thank goodness Kit grabbed 2x6 boards to stand on or we would still be in that mud!  At shooting time, Kit "duck commanded" a gadwall about 5 ft from him to start the morning off.  We had singles and pairs slowly work in until we decided to leave about 10:45.  The last duck shot ended up being the duck that worked in like they should, feet in the decoys, mid-spread, and killed with 2 shots.  Should have been only one shot but we put on an awful display of shooting this morning - such is life.  After this mornings hunt, we decided to shoot the fish ponds this afternoon.

DATE: 12/15/2010 (afternoon hunt)
TEMP: 60-62 degrees 
LOCATION: Black Democrat Duck Club
WEATHER: windy! South winds at 20 mph
KILLS: 3 canvasbacks, 2 scaup, 3 shovelers
FRIENDS: Jody Acosta, Chad Rainey, Kit Stovall, Robbie Bass
RETRIEVERS: Buck and Buddy

After a quick stint of "work", I returned to Morgan City around 3 pm.  Kit and the rest of the crew arrived shortly thereafter.  Upon my arrival, I glassed the back pond with my binoculars, and saw 26 bull canvasbacks amid shovelers, scaup, ringnecks, buffleheads, ruddy ducks and even a mallard or two.We formulated our plan to set our spread, then get situated and let Kit jump the ducks off the back pond.  They would likely sit there all evening otherwise.  As most grand plans go, it failed miserably with a couple hundred birds flanking us about 75 yards away.  After Kit got back, the birds slowly started working back and we picked up a few shovelers.  Later, a lone duck came in and Robbie slowed him down for me to hit him, not once but twice, ensuring he wouldn't escape.  It wasn't until Buck started on the retrieve that I really noticed the colors of a "pretty" bull canvasback.  This ended a 7 year quest of mine to get one on the wall.  I have killed hens and juvenile drakes but finally got one that was "wall worthy".  After taking the moment in, we shot a few more ducks.  As the end of shooting time was quickly approaching a pair of canvasbacks came in and Robbie and Chad both fired, folding them.  A great way to end a great day hunting over Magellan.

THANKS Jody, for a great write-up!

Be sure to check back soon, as Jody shares 2 more hunts with Magellan!