kopecky hunting club
 
A lot of anticipation has been riding on this weeks storm and with some patience things defiantly paid off. 

Tuesday the guys sat at the blind all day long only to bag three ducks.  Most everyone thought they would see new birds showing up in front of the cold front with the hurricane winds that came through the area, however not much moved.  


Wednesday had to be the day new birds moved in, blizzard warnings around the Devils Lake North Dakota area and winter weather advisories around the northern parts of South Dakota.  Wednesday had to be the day.  The guys stuck it out again all day long hoping that eventually something would happen.  The first part of the day a single came into the decoys, a barrage of shots, one single flew away, oh boy, today is going to be one of those days, or so they thought.  Not much moved for the first part of day, only Sandhill Cranes, but about 2:30pm things started to pick up.  Some new birds were starting to push through and within the last 2 hours of the day a 5 man limit of ducks was taken plus four Honkers.  Most of the ducks taken were Wigeon, Gadwall, and a few mallards.  The Whitefronts started to move later that evening, I would imagine there will be birds in the kill hole the next few days. 

I would like to say that this weekend is going to be decent, but I will just say it will be terrible so we don't jynx oursevles. 

 
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Sundays Take

 
So far the season has starting off with a bang.  There have been plenty of ducks around, usually we are getting a few shots every morning.  The wetlands around us are holding a considerable amount of birds, hopefully the colder weather in the next week will not push them out. 

 

Last weekend we spotted our first whitefronts, there were 30 or so that got off the pond when we walked down to the blind.  We also saw a larger flock fly over just before the wind switched to the north.  Last Saturday the wind kept swirling around in the morning so the ducks were having a hard time figuring out where to land, however for only two guys hunting we managed just 3 short of our limit.  Sunday was another good hunt for only two guys, however it ended quickly as the warm temps kept the ducks from moving around too much. 

 

Towards the end of next week looks like we might get a little weather pattern change so hopefully we start to see some more puddle ducks start to make their way down from the Dakotas.  We still have not harvested any geese yet this year, opening day seemed to be our best shot, however the season was not opened yet.  We did have a nice family fly over us last weekend, however I was out of the blind working with my 5 month old pup.  Oh well, it was worth missing a flock to watch what you have been teaching a puppy unfold right in front of you. 

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5 month old Avery with one of her first retreives without any help, didn't even have to throw a mud ball out in the water for her to see the duck.

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Ol' reliable also got some work in too.