Any time during the sixties that the Mississippi backwaters were out you could count on seeing Ed Latta and me there. Usually we would have Ed`s brother in law Christy or more often Dr. Titsworth with us.
On this particular hunt Dr. T was with us. It was the last weekend of the duck season and we had had a really bad year for duck hunting.
We got word that the ducks had really moved in and we were ready. At that time I had a sixteen foot aluminum bass boat with stick steering that I painted camo, in a woodland pattern, using a special epoxy boat paint, that was dull and hard. It came in three flat colors and I mixed them to get a couple more colors. It had a 4 to 5 inch thick wall on the sides filled with foam for floatation as there were no box seats.
I fixed a frame that sat on a ledge about 2 in wide all the way down both sides of the boat. I used fish netting and wove 1 ½” strips of different color tow sack burlap. There was a camo painted canvas that covered two thirds of the top.
McClouds bluff, where we usually put in, was too muddy and had to back too far to put in so we put in at Hickman harbor and ran up Obion creek well before daylight.
The water was not as high as we would have liked but we were determined. I wanted to blind up in a field right on the river that I was familiar with located near Chambers bar. It was tricky getting in as we had to find the deeper part of the three ridges that we had to cross.
We got blinded up and put out our decoys to hopefully swing any responding ducks across our front right to left into the seven to ten mph wind.
The first set of ducks was working our decoys and Ed was calling. Doc was on the left end and I was on the right end and we signaled each other to pull on Ed`s coattail as we rose and to pull him down throwing him off so we could shoot. It worked and Ed was not too pleased.
We got out later to pick up downed ducks and when we returned Doc T was in the center seat. Yep, we did. Ed and I both pulled on Docs coat tail as we rose and threw him off balance. I shot one duck and Ed shot one duck. We quit for they were a little far out. Old Doc did not rattle he recovered and came up shooting and killed TWO ducks. They must have been somewhere over Moscow when he hit them they were so far out. That old dude was one of the best shots I ever saw with any firearm. I fished with him and duck hunted with him and he and Ed were both a real treasure to spend time in the outdoors with.
After a while one old goose flew over our goose decoys and only being one we let Ed shoot it. It came down a cripple so we had to deblind and run it down with the boat. I was on the tiller and Ed got up front and like the Keystone Cops we were off on the chase. I would pull the boat up alongside the goose and just as Ed reached for it I would slightly tiller the boat away from it just enough for him to miss the goose as it dived and him not notice what I did to him. He only got a very cold arm for it. I did this about three times before I let him retrieve his goose.
Ed instead of killing the goose held it in his arms and rubbed its neck and talked and cooed to it like it was a baby. We finally convinced him to stop its clock and get back to the hunt.
We all limited that day on ducks and we were only one goose short a goose limit.
Evening came and we had to haul out for Hickman and the sky was still black with ducks. Most of them were Pintails with their wings just a whistling. None of us noticed but the water had been falling slowly. We were nearly trapped. I found the deepest water I could across the three ridges and would run as far on it as I could and then we would jump out and push. Had we stayed another hour I doubt we would get out before daylight next morning.
When we got to the ramp there were several boats coming in and none had had a good day. Seems setting up right beside the river paid off for us. The others said they could see the ducks flying but could not get over the ridges to get to them.
I sure miss two close friends and hunting buddies. We had a lot of fun and a lot of duck less days together but this was not one of the duck less ones and it sure was fun.
On the duck less days you had better like hard work and beautiful sunrises and sunsets over the water. Believe me there is not a prettier sight.
No comments:
Post a Comment