Good times were had by all on December 18th at the Gridley tank
The weather man was right on today when he said it would be "cold". Oh yeah... it was cold. I was fine with the neck gaitor and 3/4 zip heavy shirt but could see on my fellow hunters face... as their lips turned blue... that they were COLD. The cold didn't change throughout the day, but the pile of birds did. It kept growing and growing as more and more ducks and geese slowly made their way to our water! Yep....I said it... water. It must have been the only water around because everything else was frozen. Birds had roosted on our rice the night before and had kept the ice from forming, and made for an active day at the Gridley tank. The four of us scored quite well with a total take of 22 ducks 9 geese and lots of laughs.
December 17, 2008 Dec 10th... Oh yeah!
December 10th, 2008
Dan Jernigan II and Dave Jernigan
Geeze... what a hunt. The geese were using the flooded rice East of our field, and we worked hard calling the birds off of the grind. Clearly, by the photo, the calling was effective. We set the birds up and while trying to take photos, more birds continued to poor into the decoys. We had to get back to work, so this is all we could produce.
December 17, 2008 December 13th
December 13th... Alone... what?
My buddy couldn't make it out to his own blind... his loss. He told me he would meet me out there, then when I got there he called and told me he wouldn't be making it. I knew he would have made it if he could... He really missed out! I pulled a double a few minutes after shoot time... a snow and a speck! Interesting double... usually the snows don't finish like this one did. Then came a pair of Aleutians. They landed in the hole and I called them up to the blind before I jumped them and took them both. I continued calling specks into the decoys at 30 yards or less and I kept whiffing... over, and over again! I could not figure out what was wrong. Thank god Chris, John, and Rod came out and saved me. We had an afternoon hunt that most hunters could only dream of! We all shot well that afternoon, and finished the day with 16 specks, 2 Aleutians, a snow goose, and a bull sprig! Smiles all around! I am still waiting for a photo of all of the guys to replace the photo below.
December 17, 2008 December 14th
December 14th... The morning was slow, but the afternoon was amazing...
From opening bell until 10:30 in the morning we got to watch the show. Specks were grinding a mere 300 yards away from us in the chopped, flooded rice. It was one heck of a grind, too.
The four of us sat and watched and fired the occassional "long ball" at passing snows. As 11:00 am passed Anthony had to go. We had a few geese by then and maybe one duck. In the next hour and a half we shot some more geese and about five ducks. Bob was the next one to have to go, and he took near limits with him; birds he shot. Bill and I were left at the tank and had the shoot of the year! By 3:30 we had perfect limits! That's 4 snows, 4 specks, and 7 ducks per hunter! Here's the shot!
December 17, 2008 December 17th...
Freezing cold, and ice on the water
It's always interesting when you have to break ice on rice ponds in California. My brother and I found ourselves breaking a sweat this morning while busting ice around the decoys. It worked! It worked very well. As soon as we broke the ice up the birds just couldn't stay out of our ponds. It was a great hunt, and a great lesson in patience as we worked the specks around and around until they were within 20 yards, multiple times! Thanks Dave!
December 8, 2008 December 6th...
December 6th.... Way too much fog...
We had fog from start to finish on Saturday. I didn't quite know what to make of it. It was one of those mornings that start off great with large flocks of mallard buzzing through the decoys, then, before you know it, NADA. An occassional bird coming through the fog and that's it. The three of us hunted together in the morning until about 10:30 then I stuck it out until the end. TJ, Jerrod and I shot well in the morning with 5 geese and 1 duck. I stayed and shot an additional 6 ducks and 1 ross goose. I kept hoping the fog would burn off, but it never did... Maybe next time...
Here's the afternoon action...
December 4, 2008 I missed one day of hunting...
Dave, Anthony and Chris Bradford at the Gridley property
The boys got out and chased the birds November 29th without me. I was just recharging my batteries for Sunday. Here's the aftermath...
December 4, 2008 November 30th was a great day...
Dan (Sr.), Me (Dan II) and Labin Wilson at the Gridley property
The day was slow but fun. The fog rolled in after shoot time and shut the lid on having a big limit day on the specks. That's ok... I was able to spend time with a great friend Mr. Labin Wilson. He outshot everyone out that morning, and walked back to the truck with his head held high. Ace, his black lab, had a great time retrieving all of the birds we shot. I wish he would have made it in the photo but it was hard enough to get the photos we did get.
After Labin took off to see his wonderful wife, my Dad and I managed a couple more birds for the afternoon.
