I had the opportunity to share the Wisconsin duck opener with dean Marshall from Evert’s resort. Dean and I met up at Evert’s about 7 AM and after a little chit chat we jumped into my flattie and were on our way to a back water spot that had a lot of flooded vegetation. With the water on the rise recently I knew the puddle ducks would be deep in the newly flooded grass feeding.
As we walked the boat into the area we intended to hunt we were greeted by dozens of teal. We knew it would be a good day.
We settled into a little point with the wind quartering into our backs and proceeded to erect the blind. Soon it was time to throw out the deeks. we threw out 2 dozen mallards and one dozen woodies in a semi jay pattern with a few geese on the outer down wind side.
shortly after the Nine AM opener the wind picked up and it started to rain…hard. With the extra wind we had a little trouble with the ducks landing short so we decided to change up the spread a little. we shortened the jay and kept the deeks closer to the vegetation. This did the trick. It didn’t take long to get our first ducks of the year into the boat. Here is Dean with a pair of nice greenbeans.
We ended the day with a two man limit of teal and mallards. It was a great day to be on the water, rain or not.
As we were leaving this slough Dean and I spot three very large ducks swimming the shoreline in front of us. We sped up a little to get a better look. It turned out they were these farm ducks that couldn’t even fly. It was kind of neat.
Nice Job Lenny & Dean!
Love that first pic!
Looks like you guys were having fun. Good pics.
Lenny, what do you use for a portable blind?
Sully
I use a pop up blind that I made for the boat and cover it in grass mats. This hunt, however, we had to cover the blind frame with burlap material. I hadn’t found the time to put up the new mats before opener.
The new grass is ready to go now. The ducks don’t seem to notice the difference between grass mats and other materials but I think grass is the way to go. I hunt in reeds alot and the grass blends in perfectly.
Sounds like you have a good system going.
Do you use Fast-Grass or a different brand?
Sully
Lenny how do the boundaries on the Mississippi River work for the license you have? Does it work the same way as fishing the river or does a MN hunter have to stay on the MN side and a WI hunter have to stay on the WI side?
I have looked over most of the brands of grass. There is a huge variance in price from one brand to the next. In my opinion they are all pretty much the same so I see no point in buying the more expensive grass. I have used the cheap stuff you can get at Fleet Farm. These mats come in 4×5 foot rolls. I use 8 mats on the boat. These mats last 3-2 years….less if you have a hyper pup.
It is NOT like fishing regs. You can only hunt the side of the river you are licensed from. The river is separated by the navigational channel.
I carry licenses from both MN and WI since I have areas I like to hunt on both sides so it is a mute point for me. My only concern is remembering which regulations are from which state.