ECKSJAY
Water is dirty
- Location
- Covington, WA
Visited my good buddy Mike in El Paso, TX. He is a hunting guide as a side business and last year we started an annual tradition of late-season duck hunting. I got there Friday afternoon and left Sunday evening. As usual, the West Texas weather was beautiful. My pasty white, flabby ass came back with a white trash farmer tan. 
This year, Mike and another buddy of ours (also named Mike) bought into a lease property near Ft. Hancock, TX...which is about an hour East of El Paso along I-10. There are numerous tanks and reservoirs (lakes) around the ranch, so there are plenty of places to look for the birds. The nice part about the deeper water here is that we have possibility of nicer 'diver' ducks like Canvasback, Merganser, ruddy ducks, and buffleheads...all due to the small fish in abundance. Down on the Rio Grande (nearby) there are usually numerous Mexican ducks, Mallards, and shovelers. Since we shot those last year, we were trying to add to my 'collection' of species. My two-day bag: 1 Hooded Merganser, 1 Pintail, 1 shoveler, and 1 green-wing Teal. All drakes. Being late in the season, the birds were pretty spooked and the open water was owning us.
We started Saturday morning on a 5 acre reservoir by setting up a blind and decoys. Along with Mike and I was Rufus, a VERY solid 2yo black Lab. Rufus is the son of our friend Mike's dog, Harley. We used to borrow Harley and run the river with him for ducks, dove, and quail. More on him later.
Here are pics now that I've rambled like an excited Southerner.
Rufus, cold as hell after jumping in the water while Mike was placing decoys.
Opening a can of Ruf-ass on a drake Pintail duck.
Knucklehead acting like King Shizzle for running out and grabbing that Pintail.
Rufus out running around in the shallow water, being a water dog.
Rufus, Mike, and my fat ass posing with our first day birds (note the 3 quail in front of the cooler. Mike took all 3 with one shot...and duck loads were NOT nice to them) We have no pics of Day Two...because we each only ended up with two Teal total. Oh yeah, those Mergansers were HUGE birds. Mike thought they were snow geese when we first pulled up.
Day Two we were off a point at the end of a wash into the biggest 'lake' (reservoir) on the ranch. Muck a foot deep on the bottom of water up to our guts. Took me way out of my comfort zone and forced me to cope. About the time I got used to it almost an hour after the decoys were placed, we realized we had been skunked and made our way back to 'land'. We sat and warmed up for a while, bullshitting and seeing if any birds would fly in to our spread. We ended up packing up shortly after and heading off to the reservoir where we killed the Mergansers the day before.
Here's Harley, Rufus' father. Harley is 8 years old and has been hunting for over 7 of that. He had me near tears watching him struggle to climb up riverbanks and hills...pained by arthritis that makes his back legs and shoulders stiff. He was just as spry as Rufus when we first started hunting with him in 2000...so it was difficult to watch the old boy and hear him groan. His damned head is in the game though and you KNOW he wants to be there...
Another shot of Harley and owner Mike V.
In all it was a great trip and I can't wait to see if I can go back next season. Side note: Pics shot with the new Nikon D300 that I was borrowing from a friend. I'm sold and I can't wait to buy one.
This year, Mike and another buddy of ours (also named Mike) bought into a lease property near Ft. Hancock, TX...which is about an hour East of El Paso along I-10. There are numerous tanks and reservoirs (lakes) around the ranch, so there are plenty of places to look for the birds. The nice part about the deeper water here is that we have possibility of nicer 'diver' ducks like Canvasback, Merganser, ruddy ducks, and buffleheads...all due to the small fish in abundance. Down on the Rio Grande (nearby) there are usually numerous Mexican ducks, Mallards, and shovelers. Since we shot those last year, we were trying to add to my 'collection' of species.
My two-day bag: 1 Hooded Merganser, 1 Pintail, 1 shoveler, and 1 green-wing Teal. All drakes. Being late in the season, the birds were pretty spooked and the open water was owning us. We started Saturday morning on a 5 acre reservoir by setting up a blind and decoys. Along with Mike and I was Rufus, a VERY solid 2yo black Lab. Rufus is the son of our friend Mike's dog, Harley. We used to borrow Harley and run the river with him for ducks, dove, and quail. More on him later.
Here are pics now that I've rambled like an excited Southerner.
Rufus, cold as hell after jumping in the water while Mike was placing decoys.
Opening a can of Ruf-ass on a drake Pintail duck.
Knucklehead acting like King Shizzle for running out and grabbing that Pintail.
Rufus out running around in the shallow water, being a water dog.
Rufus, Mike, and my fat ass posing with our first day birds (note the 3 quail in front of the cooler. Mike took all 3 with one shot...and duck loads were NOT nice to them) We have no pics of Day Two...because we each only ended up with two Teal total. Oh yeah, those Mergansers were HUGE birds. Mike thought they were snow geese when we first pulled up.
Day Two we were off a point at the end of a wash into the biggest 'lake' (reservoir) on the ranch. Muck a foot deep on the bottom of water up to our guts. Took me way out of my comfort zone and forced me to cope. About the time I got used to it almost an hour after the decoys were placed, we realized we had been skunked and made our way back to 'land'. We sat and warmed up for a while, bullshitting and seeing if any birds would fly in to our spread. We ended up packing up shortly after and heading off to the reservoir where we killed the Mergansers the day before.
Here's Harley, Rufus' father. Harley is 8 years old and has been hunting for over 7 of that. He had me near tears watching him struggle to climb up riverbanks and hills...pained by arthritis that makes his back legs and shoulders stiff. He was just as spry as Rufus when we first started hunting with him in 2000...so it was difficult to watch the old boy and hear him groan. His damned head is in the game though and you KNOW he wants to be there...
Another shot of Harley and owner Mike V.
In all it was a great trip and I can't wait to see if I can go back next season.
Side note: Pics shot with the new Nikon D300 that I was borrowing from a friend. I'm sold and I can't wait to buy one.
