A friend invited me along on his #2 reservation for this past Saturday at Wister. Not knowing what blind to choose, I asked around, and everybody I talked to mentioned a particular area. The group with the #1 pick chose blind 3 in the same area, and we chose blind 1. I was excited! Opening weekend had been epic at Wister, and though I didn't expect it to be that good, I was hoping to have a limit or something close to it by noon.
We took our time getting set up, and we finished with a little over an hour or so remaining before shooting time. We sat there looking at the stars, and admiring an especially bright one in the East- maybe Jupiter or Venus? Maybe some of you astronomers can fill me in!
As shooting time approached, I could hear the birds whistling by low overhead. People started shooting early, of course. We didn't get a lot of birds flying over us early, but I picked up a teal. Later, two spoonies flew in, and I was able to shoot a double (highlight of the trip). Things never really heated up, and it only got slower from there.
Many birds were flying past to the next pond to the East, often straight to the next blind, where they were promptly skybusted. Throughout the day, the birds consistently flew into that blind. They didn't call often which was good, and they were hitting a lot of birds, but if they would have let the birds work, they would have taken a lot more. The birds obviously liked something they were seeing over there, and I wish they would have let them come in. Oh well.
It seemed like anytime birds would work our spread, a shot would sound somewhere, and they would flare and leave the area. My partner left around 9:00, not having shot any birds. I stayed on, hoping that the wind would pick up, maybe bringing birds with it. I dozed, counting on the kazoo blower in the blind to my West to alert me to incoming birds. They did good job, too! However, nothing came in. A couple times, I woke to the sound of birds landing (pairs or trios of spoonies) in my pond, but they were landing well away from the decoys, to the North, at least 60 yards.
At a little before 2:00, I finally packed it up and headed for home, only having the 3 birds. Definitely not a spectacular hunt, but any day you drive out to the desert and don't get skunked is a good day- at least for me.
We took our time getting set up, and we finished with a little over an hour or so remaining before shooting time. We sat there looking at the stars, and admiring an especially bright one in the East- maybe Jupiter or Venus? Maybe some of you astronomers can fill me in!
As shooting time approached, I could hear the birds whistling by low overhead. People started shooting early, of course. We didn't get a lot of birds flying over us early, but I picked up a teal. Later, two spoonies flew in, and I was able to shoot a double (highlight of the trip). Things never really heated up, and it only got slower from there.
Many birds were flying past to the next pond to the East, often straight to the next blind, where they were promptly skybusted. Throughout the day, the birds consistently flew into that blind. They didn't call often which was good, and they were hitting a lot of birds, but if they would have let the birds work, they would have taken a lot more. The birds obviously liked something they were seeing over there, and I wish they would have let them come in. Oh well.
It seemed like anytime birds would work our spread, a shot would sound somewhere, and they would flare and leave the area. My partner left around 9:00, not having shot any birds. I stayed on, hoping that the wind would pick up, maybe bringing birds with it. I dozed, counting on the kazoo blower in the blind to my West to alert me to incoming birds. They did good job, too! However, nothing came in. A couple times, I woke to the sound of birds landing (pairs or trios of spoonies) in my pond, but they were landing well away from the decoys, to the North, at least 60 yards.
At a little before 2:00, I finally packed it up and headed for home, only having the 3 birds. Definitely not a spectacular hunt, but any day you drive out to the desert and don't get skunked is a good day- at least for me.
