The last boat hunt for ducks this season

[Donnerhund GWP]

This morning a friend and I enjoyed our last opportunity to hunt from the duck boat this season, unless the waether warms back up. With temps in the teens and a stiff wind out of the north we headed out onto the big pond at Ogden Bay - Unit 1. We were breaking ice off and on going out and soon discovered nearly only a small area of open water near the outlet channel. We put out the decoys, about half became part of the frozen surface. Ben shot a coot right off the bat and Sam dove right in. I was afraid she might become hypothermic so I wrapped her up and made her stay in the boat the rest of the time. Ice covered the decoys and made them roll on their sides, but the ducks didn't seem to mind. We ended up with 1 coot, 4 Common Golden eye, and 1 Merganser. All the ducks we shot at came in dedicated. It was a fun but freakin' cold time.

Pullin the decoys out of the ice.

A decoy with a shell of ice.

Yeah, there is a decoy in there!

[Addict]

Now is when the hunting gets really good! If you can find any open water you will have plenty of shooting. All that you need is a sled to pull your deks across the ice.

Give me a buzz when everything is solid, I have a spot that stays open even when its well below zero.

Addict

[Kurzhaar]

Man those photos look like you took them of me this morning. In the 2 hours I was at the slough this morning the ice advanced 15 to 20 feet and the dekes all had to be broken out of ice. Will have to break out the layout blinds and head to the corn fields now.

Jim