Some hunts you seem to just be paying your dues and then there are mornings like last Sunday. The flights of ducks to our pond beginning at first light were incredible. For over an hour there was never a moment we didn’t have birds working. We’d look each other and say, “Can you believe this?” We passed up many makeable shots waiting for those classic wings-cupped, feet-down, right-over-the-decoys chances. Except for two mallard drakes and a pair of green-winged teal, the rest of our bag were gadwalls. Our Labs were in their glory. After we limited, field dressed our ducks, and had lunch there was plenty of time to scout the pasture creek where we flushed at least two dozen mallards sitting right in front of our blind and more up and down the water there. Mental notes were made for later in the season when the pond is frozen.

A footnote: A friend had scouted the pond the evening before and reported a few hundred ducks on the water. When we arrived in the pre-dawn to set out the decoys, there were no ducks. My guess is that at dusk, the birds moved to one or more of the large reservoirs to roost and were coming back at dawn to feed.