So my dad got the hook up on this private place to hunt. My buddy Dustin was goign to meet us at a gas station at 6am. 6am comes around and I call..no answer...I give him 10 more minutes call again..no answer. I was thinking this is crazy...last weekend my buddy Ray had two guys not show up. If I get an invite I'm normally about 10 minutes early. My rule is that if someone is late and have not called then I'm not going to wait too long. So I left.

It wasnt really a big deal...I ended up not doing as many decoys since it was just me and my dad and since he's kind of old I don't make him do all that much. Anyway we set up and about 10 minutes before legal we see about 100 ducks come in and land...pretty sweet. They were out of range but still. My dad was set up about 20 yards to the left of me...legal shoot comes and a widgeon catches me off guard and I take one shot at it and missed...then all those ducks that were on the water jump up.

I hit the call and a group actually came right at us...Canvasbacks! Me and my dad both popped a drake. Dustin then calls and says he's on his way, lol...I was like are you serious. I'm glad he came because we didnt have a dog and we needed it later on.

After my dad shot that one duck he pretty much just started walking around...he's strange like that he doesnt like to just sit in one place...so that was the only duck he got...but he was happy. Right before Dustin got there I had a drake can land right in front of me...like 15 yards tops. Then another one.

Dustin got there and shot his canvasback within 5 minutes. But they kept on coming. I was pretty gun shy after that...everything looked like a canvasback to me lol. But we did ended up with some wigeon, a gadwall, and a ringneck (dustin said it was a hen scaup). I should of taken a close up of it because you can't see it in the pic really.

Anyway Dustin's dog did awesome had some really long retrieves...me and my dad were both impressed. Plus she was a 13 year old and Dustin says this is her last year. Her best was a super long retrieve and the duck was diving on her...she kept at it and got it though...pretty cool.

The cans just kept coming in so I said if I can't shoot them with my shotgun I'm going to take some pics...so I ran and got my camera. These pictures really don't do any justice in showing just how close they were. The docoys were in really tight to the shore because the water drops off really fast. Had a couple land even closer than these.




Here's a pic of Dustin and his dog in our little make shift blind.



The reason Dustin was late is because he hooked up with some chick the night before...as you can see he still had on his "going out" cloths from the night before...he was wearing it under his waders and jacket. Oh...to be single, lol. I figure if someone is late to a hunt that is an acceptable excuse.



Me and pops



Dustin's dog completely out after the hunt.

Someone should tell Dustin his shirt's pink.

Dang I would kill to shoot some cans like that. I have only shot one and it was a very immature drake. I want one to go on the wall.

stan the man

I have never met Dustin, but he sounds like a cool dude to hang with

Great story and pics looks like some fun

If you have another no show, call me up, I'll be there on time.

I pretty much try to invite those who have invited me to hunt with them in the past. At this point I owe a lot of people hunts.

Very nice.

And as far as I can see in the pic the 4th bird from the left is indeed a ringneck hen.

I think ringnecks are normally good looking ducks...but that one was ugly.

That Can coming in with the other on the water is an awesome pic...I'm gonna save it for when august comes around and I can get my d-hunting fix.

Thanks. I really thought it was going to turn out a lot better...it looks so much farther away in the pic than it did that day. If I knew how to take pictures worth a darn I would've had some much better ones. I'm normally so busy just trying to shoot them that I don't take too many "action" shots like this.

Looks like a nice place to hunt there Marc!

That's pretty funny. Nice hunt. Glad he didn't catch those reeds on fire.

Guy- Yeah it's an excellent place. It's private and it's a really easy hunt. The only catch is the water gets deep really quick...you can take two steps and be up to your belly in no time...it can be downright dangerous...so it's important to have a good dog there. Wish I could hunt there more often.

Txduckman...Yeah Dustin smokes like a champ but the reeds were really damp so there wasnt much fire danger.

That wouldn't be the Dustin that use to work at Waco gun club ??

I'm not sure but most likely. I think he did work at a gun club and he lives outside of waco. So yeah most likely.

One of the better hunts I have heard of in the area. Congrats man. Mount them, but don't plan on cooking them. A Can can really screw up a pot of gumbo along with all the other diving crap in the area right now. Save the pot for the puddlers by all means.

Send me some divers, I'll take them.

Nice looking bull cans!

Dustin is going to mount his....I would mount mine but I mounted a can last year. Beginning last year I made a deal with myself that I would mount one bird a year. Last year was a can this year is a pintail I got that has a sprig that's 22 feet long...well not really but it's long.

As for eating cans they are really not that bad to eat. Better than blue bills, ring necks or spoonies. Or maybe its just I think cans are so cool that when I eat them I fool myself into thinking they taste good.

Looks like a great hunt. I'm pretty impressed with all the cans this year too, we killed 6 the week after Christmas and have seen a lot more.

By the way, that Dustin guy couldn't have came up with a better excuse of why he was late!