I hope you guys won't mind that it's not local, but we had a great hunt over the weekend that I'd like to share...
I packed Logan into his kennel early Thursday afternoon started the 4 hour drive from Kingston to Phil’s in Stratford. The plan was to meet Kevin at 2am, reload the truck and make the trek to Rondeau Provincial Park in hopes of getting into a few divers and with any luck bag my first redhead.
We arrived at the park office and despite our late pull in the lottery; we drew the blind we had wanted. As most hunters were chasing puddle ducks in sheltered blinds, we sought wind and exposure. The wind was blowing hard through our short paddle to the stake and increased as we set our 10 dozen decoys on long lines.
The decoys were out with plenty of time to enjoy a hot coffee before legal light was upon us. The occasional bird could be seen in the moonlight. Shooting time came and there was plenty of gunfire around us from the early movement of mallards. We knew that our time for diving ducks would come, just sit tight and be patient.
It wasn’t long before the bufflehead began to trade back and forth though outside the spread. A hen buffy was the first to buzz the decoys and Phil started our morning by downing her in a single shot. No sooner had Logan returned with her the first, when the second and third buffleheads were downed. Within the first hour we had a bag of 6 hen buffleheads between us.
The wind began to pick up and shift causing our long lines to drift a stray. As Kevin reset and added some weight to the lines to keep the lines anchored the first pair of big ducks crossed the spread, a pair of canvasbacks. This was a good sign. With 6 small ducks in the bag we agreed to hold off for bigger ducks unless a drake buffy graced the spread, a drake that has eluded Phil.
The first big duck came in hard and fast. Kevin and I pulled the trigger and the first big duck fell. A hen canvasback fell in the decoys and Logan made a quick retrieve and brought her back to hand.
As we sat tucked into the bullrush the birds began to move. A flock circled in a small bay behind the blind and out of nowhere a pair of ducks crested the bullrush overhead. With a single shot I dropped a bird in the top of the decoys. As Logan returned with the bird it became obvious that I had achieved what I went to Rondeau to do, I bagged my first drake redhead!
Throughout the morning birds were moving around the bay and having accomplished my goal I regularly traded the shotgun for the camera.
Late in the morning a drake buffy came ripping through the dekes and Phil made quick work of the beautiful drake knocking one off his list too. Then a drake lesser scaup came in from the top end and he was added to our bag. For the next while the little ducks were given a free pass through the decoys as we picked away at the big ducks.
There were slow periods followed by moments of bird insanity. The morning wore on and we slowly picked away adding one bird after another. Logan stayed on the ready and never gave up on the cripples. Watching a dog work diving cripples and come up bird in mouth is an amazing sight.
By early afternoon the wind was blowing strong the length of bay and any shot bird was drifting fast. Logan made the second to last bird was shot high and moving fast. It was dead in the air and was 75 yards before it hit the water. By the time Logan made go out there it was 150 yards or more from where it hit the water. The swim back into the 50km wind and waves was a long hard one and with one bird needed to complete our three man limit we didn’t have to wait long.
Just minutes after returning from the swim Logan was called upon to make one final retrieve, another redhead. On the way out to the downed bird he got tangled in a long line but continued on the chase to the cripple. He chased and recovered the bird and carried the long line back towards shore where I met him to untangle the lines and take our final bird from his mouth.
It was a hunt I’ll never forget. It was great to hunt with Kevin for the first time and get out again with Phil. Logan was up to the challenge and earned his place in the blind. We finished the day with an incredible mixed bag of divers: 9 bufflehead, 4 redheads, 1 canvasback, 1 greater scaup, 1 lesser scaup, 1 goldeneye and a bonus gadwall.
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