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A few ducks in the bag at last.


aister
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Last night I noticed that my favourite bit of floodwater had filled up and there was around 40 mallard on it, so as soon as I got home I phoned work and got today off.

When I arrived there this morning the place seemed alive with duck of course everything left on my arrival but I was hopeful they would return and be lured in to my decoys.

The first to arrive was a drake teal which dropped to the shot but unfortunately the bird dived just as the dog got to it and it seemed to vanish, after a good look around we had to give up. The next to pass over was 20-25 greylags plenty low enough to have a shot at, the first bird folded but my second shot went astray.

After about an hour of seeing nothing and being a bit despondent about loosing the teal I was tempted to pack up but my patience paid off and in came a pair of mallard which dropped to a nice right and left. Shortly after that I fluffed a couple of shots at another pair of mallard.

Again it seemed to go dead with no birds to be seen so I thought I would have another look for the teal. With the lea side of the water being a mass of rocks and boulders that the sea had thrown up I didn't hold much hope but we hadn't gone far when the dog raced ahead and picked up the teal from the waters edge.

After getting back to my hidey hole and having a cup of coffee another pair of mallard came in, the drake fell to the first shot and the hen to the third. Really chuffed with my bag so far and ready to head home I got a surprise visitor. I could see a duck heading my way, as it got closer I was thinking mallard, nope. Wigeon,nope. Gadwall, yup, so I swung up ahead and she fell to the shot, a nice bonus to the bag as we don't see many gadwall up here.

Looked at the watch and it was 11.30, time to pack up. It was good to walk back to the car with a few ducks as this season has not been great for duck, the usual places I would pick up a duck or two has been dead and the few duck I have seen I have mostly missed, but that's wildfowling I suppose.

 

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Sounds like a great shoot, and well done going back for the teal, I think that when they dive they sometimes hold onto a bit of weed in their bill and can hold their breath for an extraordinary length of time. I have witnessed them disappear on a number of occasions. Often I will now shoot a wounded teal again to stop it from diving.

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