Otto and I headed to the Imperial Valley after scouting Henshaw Thursday morning (still nothin')...Started at a friends duck club that afternoon and had a good shoot...Boy, if we could only shoot an 1/2 after sundown...Gadwalls and mallards were boat loading in...We then scouted the shrinking Salton Sea and found a likely spot...Headed to duck camp at Wister.....
Got up at 4:00 am and headed over to spot...Long drag with a loaded sled, but the the old guy made it, no problem......Damn muddy, but not the worst either...We figured it would be a spoonyfest and it was...Well, except for the beautiful bluewinger Otto got...At 11:30, we figured we had enough stink (12)...So, we picked up and headed to lunch in Westmoreland...The IV has changed a lot in the last several years...There's a Subway and everything......Headed for Wister and Hazard to do some scouting...You would've thought after being closed for a week, the place would've been crawling with ducks...Not the case...In fact, I felt like there were less birds...It's certainly not because there's a lack of food...Just plain lack of ducks...
All the regular guys were there and we got to hear some great old stories around the campfire (Close your ears Otto......We went and signed in for the sweat and crossed our fingers (lots of folks)...The next morning with got lucky with my lucky #21...Number 4...A lot a ressies were there, but by the time we picked, one of our preferred spots was still there...Not a terrible walk, but the road/dike was really soft and my cart doesn't do well in soft stuff...Thank God for Otto (Strong back, weak mind)......Got to the spot and decided to hunt an island...Did I mention Wister mud DOES suck......But again, I made it...Really pretty slow, but we managaed 5 and picked up at 11:30 pm.
These 3 days reminded of years pass with some of the other boys I took hunting...Always a great time and hopefully they learned a little something...A few pics.........
Got up at 4:00 am and headed over to spot...Long drag with a loaded sled, but the the old guy made it, no problem...
...Damn muddy, but not the worst either...We figured it would be a spoonyfest and it was...Well, except for the beautiful bluewinger Otto got...At 11:30, we figured we had enough stink (12)...So, we picked up and headed to lunch in Westmoreland...The IV has changed a lot in the last several years...There's a Subway and everything......Headed for Wister and Hazard to do some scouting...You would've thought after being closed for a week, the place would've been crawling with ducks...Not the case...In fact, I felt like there were less birds...It's certainly not because there's a lack of food...Just plain lack of ducks...All the regular guys were there and we got to hear some great old stories around the campfire (Close your ears Otto...
...We went and signed in for the sweat and crossed our fingers (lots of folks)...The next morning with got lucky with my lucky #21...Number 4...A lot a ressies were there, but by the time we picked, one of our preferred spots was still there...Not a terrible walk, but the road/dike was really soft and my cart doesn't do well in soft stuff...Thank God for Otto (Strong back, weak mind)......Got to the spot and decided to hunt an island...Did I mention Wister mud DOES suck......But again, I made it...Really pretty slow, but we managaed 5 and picked up at 11:30 pm.These 3 days reminded of years pass with some of the other boys I took hunting...Always a great time and hopefully they learned a little something...A few pics.........
