Killing Time

This morning Benjamin and I woke up at 5 am and headed off to Oberlin to go duck hunting.  It is a curious phenomenon and a spectacle to see.  I'm talking about seeing a young man who is hard to get out of bed at 6 am to go to school was up in a skinny minute at 5 am to go hunting!  It is teal season and wood duck season right now.  We went to the store and bought our hunting license and duck stamp.  A good friend of mine had set up the duck blind on a levee in the bottom cut of a rice field that was holding some water.  He was unable to join us as he had to work, so it was just Benjamin and I on this trip. 

It has been really dry for the past month so there's not a lot of water.  Coupled with the clear "blue-bird" days we have had with no rain and no clouds, I prepared Benjamin that we might come up empty handed as we drove the 30 minute drive to the farm.  I told him that even if we didn't kill anything but time, we'd make some good memories, watch a beautiful sunrise, and see some sights.  And we'd try again... and again...

We arrived at the blind before daylight.  There were ducks in the pond that we scared up unfortunately, but you can't shoot before sunrise.  It was 38 degrees as we settled into the blind.  Note to self: bring a bucket to sit on next time.


Camouflaged Benjamin with a beautiful dawning day

Here's a peek out of the blind in front of us.  You can see a mallard drake decoy floating somewhat, trying unsuccessfully to lure a duck to land within range.  If you look in the foreground, you can see full heads of ripened rice on some of the unharvested stalks.


Quack Quack

This is a shot out of the back of the duck blind.  You can't see it because the camera focused on the pine needles instead of the blurry object I was trying to focus on right in the center of the photo.  That object is a coyote that was checking Benjamin and I out.  I told Benjamin that next time I'm bringing my rifle.  I mentioned in an earlier posting my dislike for coyotes.


Wile E. Coyote

Patient Benjamin.


Where's the ducks, Pop?

As Benjamin and I had our eyes peeled for wood ducks or teal, a chicken hawk flew over, then a red tailed hawk, followed by some cattle egrets, some snipe and even a lone snow goose, but no ducks.  We did, however, as I told Benjamin earlier, see a breath-taking sunrise:


Peeking over a treeline of pines



Psalm 113:3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD's name is to be praised.

 

Oh glorious day

So we talked and waited and talked and waited and finally decided that all we would kill would be time and both agreed that it was a good thing that mom has some leftover homemade soup for us to eat instead of relying on meat from our hunt for lunch today.  Here is Benjamin exiting the blind.  It is made with some pine limbs that are stuck in the mud near the edge of the pond.


Here's a picture of the blind from the backside.  We'll add some more camouflage to it.  As the winter progresses and the weather gets nastier and pushes more ducks down South, we'll need to hide from the ducks.  Today?  Not many ducks to hide from.

And here's a look walking into the blind.  Hopefully, we'll get some rain to fill our pond up better so the decoys will float better.


A couple of salient points, here:

1. A bad day hunting is far better than a good day at work.
2. Making memories getting up early and going hunting with your son and seeing beautiful sights of nature outweigh any amount of wild game that you can put in your freezer.

We're persistent, though.  We'll keep at it until we're successful.  That's why they call it "hunting."  You don't always find them!