Recon pays off!

With the ducks down here not hanging around at their usual haunts I've done a bit more driving around, watching ducks through binoculars and following them in the ute this year in order to get a fix on what they were up to.

Having watched a few larger mobs which were sitting on paddocks eating whole crop I'd noticed they were starting to split up as some stayed on what remained of feed while others followed the fresh stuff.

One thing they all did the same however was to fly to water. They were doing this through the day not just early morning or evening and in small groups. I was lucky enough to find a small gravel extraction pond which happened to be central to a few dairy farms and was getting visited. The ducks needed this to collect water and grit which they weren't getting from the lush grass paddocks. They'd arrive, stay for 15 minutes or so and then get up and head back to the paddocks again.

The fact that they weren't in any hurry to get there early meant Stu and I could have a bit of a sleep in. We were set up 45 minutes or so after legal shooting time and then enjoyed small but regular visits from mallards. Net result was two more limit bags by mid morning.

Hero shot with the small pond in the background:

http://i898.photobucket.com/albums/a...psfbfb2c00.jpg


So far one of my goals which was to do more driving around watching ducks (rather than hunting the usual places I already know) which has meant more limit bags than this time last year. Bring on next weekend!

Nice 1

I have spent this year shooting creeks, streams and farmland, quite a bit different than the usual Southland pond that I was bought up on.
Thanks for the info I will store it away with all the other things I learnt this season. Thanks Mike!

Look like good fat healthy ducks too !

Well done MikeH. Good skills

Yep good skills

Nice one MikeH, always love it when 'recon' pays off.....lesson for all of us whatever we hunt, well done mate.....