12/13/2018 A mallard folds in the evening swamp

Returned this morning to Upper Sardis hoping to be in better position for the promising wood duck flight I couldn’t capitalize on yesterday.  

Despite similar water conditions, the temps were up and saw a fraction of activity from yesterday. On the bright side, a large group of migrating geese set up chorus on a nearby field and I pretended their frantic honking was at least in part inspired by my own frantic vocal goose calling. 

Not wanting to hunt where the ducks weren’t, I quickly called it a morning and went home to get work done.  

I decided to return that evening and tread deeper in the swamp.  

Some areas were barely flooded and had leaf bottoms.  

Upper Sardis high ground after almost winter rain storm

Some areas were flooded then receded, leaving behind muddy bottoms.  

And lastly some areas were still underwater, creating potential duck holes, like this one.  

It was at this water filled edge of a flooded wooded area that I stopped to video and mark up my google maps app. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a big duck flying from toward me from my right. I got in position to shoot but couldn’t see through the overhead cover. I waited until the duck was almost overhead and shot him back behind my left shoulder crumping him with a thud into the mud. Dublin was on dog work duty and brought the handsome mallard drake with signature orange feet flopping proudly to me.  

I too was proud as this was my first mallard of the 2018 duck season and Dublin’s first live mallard retrieve. We continued on our swamp tour finding several other potential places to hunt.