Friday night we were just sitting around when Chris found a deal online. One of the outfitters hes really been wanting to go out with had a last minute opening for a hunt Saturday morning. We had planned to go out west and go coyote hunting. We even had the truck loaded. They called the guide and got pricing and then Taylor, Chris and I discussed it. I told them it was whatever they wanted to do. It was hard to think about paying someone to take you out duck hunting when its something you do anyways. Their prices are really reasonable considering they are a guide service, but its still paying someone to take you out. He was back and forth for a little bit because it was going to cost a little bit for us BOTH to go and finally in the end he said what the hell lets go!
We cleaned our guns, got our coyote stuff out of the truck and started packing up our duck gear. Taylor and Chris were like kids on the night before Christmas. Neither one of them could sleep and were so excited. Chris couldn't stop smiling.
We had to meet them at the boat ramp at 8am. It was 1 degree outside. Taylor and Chris were like giddy school girls in the truck waiting for the guy to meet us. They were talking about how bad they had butterflies and how excited they were. I was dying laughing at them. Our guides showed up and we loaded everything. The main guy Rob, we had met prior when Chris bought some hunting coffins from him. He also brought his 16yo son Kelton. We bundled on all our gear, signed the waivers and got ready to head out. It was about a 30 minute air boat ride to where we are going. Chris has been wanting an air boat so bad for the last few years and I think this sealed the deal for him. The guy even let him sit up next to him instead of down in the boat with us. There is no way to get to where we are going besides an air boat. The mud was frozen and snow covered for about half way there, then we were going across the snow covered ice and finally we hit some water. The ride was awesome!
We got to the spot they wanted to set up and as we were coming in we kicked up AT LEAST 5,000 ducks. Chris couldn't stop smiling. We saw SO MANY it was crazy. They parked the boat and started setting up decoys. Even though it was a 'guided hunt' we helped them set up everything because we wanted to start hunting!
We shot out of layout blinds which was a first for me. I had never hunted like that before and it took a little getting used to but it was fun! Their dog was named Rue also!
Even though the temps were so cold the sun was shinning and there was no wind which helped so much.
Getting ready to move the boat away from the blind
Obligatory freezing selfie.
I tried the old trick of wearing pantyhose under your wool socks. All the old timers swear by it and it actually worked! My toes stayed so much warmer with knee highs on and then my regular wool socks over it. Im going to do it every time now! Finally there is a good use for pantyhose!
Plus I had on wool long johns, my under armor bottoms and fleece pants. A thermal shirt, a long sleeved shirt, my duck jacket and this heavy jacket over it (and on the boat ride I wore my 2 piece heavy duck hunting coat) and then my hat and fleece hood.
My blind
and my view for the day.
Taylor was having some firing pin issues with his gun so he broke it down and reassembled it.
Most guys buy girls flowers or jewelry, mine takes me on guided hunting trips. Im ok with that :)
The guides hunted with us too. Each person is allowed a 7 bird limit so with the 5 of us that is 35 birds
We piled the birds in groups of 7 to help keep count. It didn't take long and we had birds circling everywhere. They were staying about 40 yards out from us and were flying fast. Some were coming in to land but most of them were just swooping past. They were really leery after being hunted all year and really didn't want to decoy in.
We shot a lot of teal, spoonies and golden eyes. I shot my first buffle head. They normally are a fresh water bird so to shoot one on part of the Great Salt Lake really is a treat!
25 out of our 35 ducks. They were out in the water picking up the rest of the 10. Their poor dog was done. She was cold and had hunted hard the day before so she really wasn't wanting to get in the water. It was just fine with us! They stopped midway and did an air boat run and picked up the ducks we had in the water.
When we got down to the last duck Chris and Taylor and said nope its yours. Nothing like any pressure of them unloading their guns and sitting back and watching and trying to video. I had a hell of a time hitting one and dropping it. I went through a half a box of shells. Finally I told Chris Im done, you shoot the last one. He went through about 8 rounds before he got one. It made me feel a little better ha!
We cleaned up everything and our guides loaded the ducks on the boat for a picture.
Not bad for 3 hours worth of shooting! All 3 of us shot 2 boxes of shells each. We saw more ducks and shot more ducks than we have the entire season.
I cant decide which picture I like the best out of all of these so Im posting them all!
Fried Feathers was AMAZING. I would totally do it again. Chris and Taylor are already talking about scheduling a hunt with their dads next year. Rob was awesome. Super nice and personable. I was worried that going out with a professional guide they would be snotty and have high expectations. This was just like going out with a bunch of buddies. They joked around with us and we had a lot of fun. Kel was an awesome duck caller for just being 16! We were super impressed.
Thanks for a great day!
Check them out!
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