Good Time in the Duck Blind

Every year at this time, my buddy Gary and I get together for some duck hunting at the farm in Oberlin.  Last weekend teal season opened.  Teal are a small migratory duck that fly a LONG way.  Several years ago I killed one that had been tagged in Canada.  I read somewhere that they winter in South America.  They certainly put in a lot of miles on their wings.

Gary and I meet at 6 am, right before sunrise and park on the side of the road.  We're both in camo and have our shotguns and plenty of shells.  The previous weekend, Gary had put the decoys out to attract the ducks.  We walk down the muddy road whispering to each other and then walk down a grassy levee and take a seat on turned over 5 gallon buckets.  We are hidden from the pond by tall grass.  Gary takes out a can of OFF and passes it to me.  It's a good thing he remembered because the mosquitoes are atrocious.  It is hot and humid.  We are concerned about all the rainfall we've had.  Despite getting a free flood on our pond, there is plenty of water everywhere for the ducks to land.

As the sun rises above the fog, the view across the pond takes shape.

The pond is actually the bottom cut of a rice field.  There is a gully immediately behind us, and we can hear the rush of water flowing out of the field through the drop pipe as the rainwater makes its way over the weir.  

We hear shooting in duck ponds around us and see lots of ducks flying.  Teal fly faster than most ducks.  Wood ducks fly in front of us in spitting distance, mocking us, seemingly knowing it is not wood duck season.  Pretty soon a teal flies by and we take it down.  Then two more fly in and we harvest those.  Only three on Saturday morning, though.  We always do a lot of visiting in the duck blind and miss a shot here and there when 'swarms' of teal fly past us.  Here is Gary with two of the teal that flew into a hail of steel shot.

Gary and his daughter went Sunday morning to see if they could add to the pot.  I texted him after 8 am and he told me they got four.  We'll try again Saturday morning.  It will be the last weekend of teal season.  

So you can tell why they call them blue-winged teal, can't you?

I always find it interesting when cleaning birds, to cut open the gizzard to see what they've been eating.  In this teal's gizzard, there was a little sand and a lot of rice with an assortment of small seeds.

This teal had lots of pin feathers and was time consuming to clean.  After gutting the teal, I froze them.

It's the beginning of a gumbo.  I hope to add to the pot next weekend!  Gary and I already have plans to meet.  Looking forward to it!