Duck hunting season has opened in Michigan. The state is split into 3 zones with different dates that the season is open. The upper peninsula opens the last weekend of September, the northern lower peninsula opens the first weekend of October and the southern lower peninsula opens the second weekend of October.
I went to my family's land near Mio for the northern lower opener with 5 friends, 3 of whom were rookie duck hunters. We set up 3 blinds around our peat bog/pond in such a way that the blinds could not take direct fire from the other blinds. We put out 12 decoys the afternoon before hunting and discussed tactics and previous hunting trips.
Posed photo from the blind my lady and I shared
The dog waiting for ducks
Does the dog laugh if you miss?
Saturday morning we get to our spots early and wait. Just after shooting light arrives so do the Wood Ducks. For about 30 minutes there are ducks coming from all directions. Most are out of range or missed but we got 10. Everyone involved had at least one confirmed kill some were shared. Before the weekend was over we had bagged 14 ducks.
GameboyRMH wrote:
Does the dog laugh if you miss?
He gives you a dirty look
The next Saturday 6 of us went to my grandfather's farm for the southern opener. This time we are on a small river next to a bean field. We had very similar results, just after it was light enough hundreds of ducks started flying along with some geese. There was a lot of shooting within hearing range and our party bagged 10 Wood Ducks.
What do you do with all of the ducks? I know some birds are hunted just for the sport, others are good eating. I think ducks could go either way. Maybe depending on the breed? I have done pheasants and other game birds, which normally ended up with dinner.
I am amazed at the shot above of they guy in the water and the lab on the shore. My experience with retrievers (Labs and Chesapeake Bays) is that they are hard to keep OUT of the water.
In reply to pinchvalve:
My dad's pheasant hunting lab loves water. He'll stomp through ice, just to get into the creek.
In reply to pinchvalve:
Everything that we shoot gets cooked and eaten. So far this season we have had duck with a marsala and mushroom sauce, breast cooked rare over a hardwood fire with a sauce of hot pepper jelly and apple cider and jalapeno duck poppers. I will not allow people that kill for just the fun of killing to shoot on my family's land.
The dog is a Boykin Spaniel and he is hard to keep out of the water, he jumped in just after that photo.
Type Q
Dork
10/12/15 2:51 p.m.
After Curtis73's story, are you sure its a good idea to take a camera into the woods with a group of men with firearms? 
