What A Morning...

With most lakes and ponds still frozen solid, it was an easy decision to where we were going to hunt.  Martin, Carrington and I left Crozet in hopes of getting to the river early enough not to be rushed.  As we were topping Afton Mountain, Carrington advised me to slow up....it looked like a little snow on the roads.  Out of nowhere, we ran into a heck of a snow squall.  The top of the mountain probably had an inch of snow so, of course, we were late getting to the river.  Once we hiked in a mile to the blind, it was well past legal shooting light.  As soon as we started throwing decoys out, the birds started dumping in.  First, we had a pair of mallard drakes.  Martin and Ck knocked both down.  A minute later, we had more birds working in.  Everything was happening so fast, I don't remember if we even shot at that toll.  Another pair came in, and again, Martin and Carrington knocked both down with three shots.  The last bird of the morning was a single that locked up and dumped into Carrington's lap.  The ducks were almost a little too close, but it was pretty cool.  After that, we only saw a few other birds.  In the midst of all the excitement, I fell elbow deep into the river....as soon as I changed my gloves,  I look down river to see Carrington neck deep in water.  It was not a good morning.  Once the sun was up, we realized it was nothing but a huge rock channel....no sand or nothing!  Probably the most un-ducky place I've ever hunted, but that's where they wanted to be.

  
Stuart hunted a big farm on Rt. 29 South in Nelson County.  They had over a hundred geese and a handful of ducks roosted on the pond when they arrived.  When Stu called us around 9:30, they had killed five geese.  By lunch, they added two to the bag.  They hit it again in the afternoon and killed ten.  They finished with 17 birds, one which was banded!