# The "I'm never duck hunting again" morning.



## Town2Small (Dec 17, 2014)

We've all had a morning or two where nothing went our way. Share your stories about the morning everything that could go wrong did.


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## trophyslayer (Dec 17, 2014)

I love my shotgun, I really do, but the down side to going cheap is you gotta give something up. I shoot a weatherby SA-08. It's a great gun. It has never jammed or failed to eject a round but the down side to it is having to change out a piston that sits under the foregrip depending on whether you are shooting high or low brass. Well last year I forgot to change that piston out prior to hunting with some low brass #6s. I grabbed my gun case to get the other piston and change it out (only takes about 10 seconds) but in my haste and with frozen fingers I dropped the part in the water. I went shoulder deep trying to find it in the grassy bottom with no luck. My sleeve froze stiff and i had to jack every shell out after shooting seeing as i didnt have the right piston in. I know I know.. shouldnt have skimped but the gun is lightweight, fits me well, and was only $500


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## diamondback (Dec 17, 2014)

Went to a wma this past weekend and planned to paddle our kayaks to a good spot that looked to be accessible by small paddle craft. Well after dragging,wading,and paddling our way to the mud for 1 1/2 hours with the gear and start putting out decoys some folks decided to drive past the no access signs 400 yards down to the water and unload 10 minutes before shooting light. Then to make it worse ,we were about 20 yards outta range of the x and the other bunch 150 yards away were shooting birds we decoyed . I'm a newb so I have to just add it to lessons learned.


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## smellem (Dec 17, 2014)

This weekend was my biggest "never hunt again" morning. I have to travel just to sniff a woodduck so all my trips are hour plus drives. I got to my spot on the lake. Right at shooting light the guy at the next cove over starts blowing his hail call like it's going out of style. Wood ducks flying our way he flares them with mallard call. Of course nothing comes to our end of the lake because this guy is non stop on his average calling. He's blowing it at the cormorants too. 

Late morning nothing is flying anymore so I walk the shoreline just to look around. I see his shadow grass boat blind on a clay and hardwood shoreline. 

So about not hunting again, I got plans again for Saturday morning...


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## Larry Young Jr (Dec 17, 2014)

To many to list!!!!!!!!!!


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## Gaducker (Dec 17, 2014)

Every time I go huntin i say Im never gona do it again.

If everything always went as planed it would be very boring.

When I think back on the early 90s when I felt a lot younger it wasnt much of an adventure back then as it is now. Drive to swamp, shoot woodies, drive to eat breakfast, come home.  And thats basicly what we did for many years. Same ole same ole year after year.  

Now we have fun but its tough,  No sleep is the main reason I say Im never doing this again.  I really say that alot after driving all night and trying to hunt the next day.
But that bed sure sleeps good the first night.  I feel like a crybaby that first day.


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## ghadarits (Dec 17, 2014)

Gaducker said:


> Every time I go huntin i say Im never gona do it again.
> 
> If everything always went as planed it would be very boring.
> 
> ...



GAducker do we know each other because this sounds very familiar..........

My reason not to go back....
Oh just every time I've ever fell, tripped, slipped or stepped in a beaver rut or stump hole and gotten wet.... which is more often than I would like to admit to.

It never seems to happen unless its really cold and I've walked at least a half mile to get where I've gotten wet.

I have a dog now but that hasn't seemed to help as much as I had hoped it would.


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## Mumpy (Dec 17, 2014)

Gaducker said:


> Every time I go huntin i say Im never gona do it again.
> 
> Drive to swamp, shoot woodies, drive to eat breakfast, come home.  And thats basicly what we did for many years. Same ole same ole year after year.



Man, where do I start! First of all I want to comment on GaDuckers comment above. Preach it! What’s sad about my duck hunting trips is I have been hunting ducks since the early 90’s and I have done the exact thing you’ve listed every single time I go duck hunting. Another sad part about all of this, I have never ever been with someone who knew how to duck hunt. What I mean by that is, I started duck hunting on my own and every person I’ve ever been with has either started hunting ducks because of me or learned on their own as well. So the short of this is, I have NO IDEA if what I’m doing is right…

Now for the story… I spent a good 3 weeks on the area I planned to hunt for opening morning. I found a nice spot on a creek bend that held a good number of woodies each morning. I built a blind and checked it periodically and jumped woodies each time I went in there. I left it alone for about a week or more before opening morning. I brought my son-in-law with me for his very first wood duck hunt. Not one bird came within 100yds of us. All of the $$ I spent prior to the season, the work I put into it and the anticipation, and Nothing!

But, I keep on keeping on, but dang’d if opening morning didn’t have me wondering, just “Why do I put myself through this?”

Oh, I had to do a quick edit and add to my reply…

Do you all remember what Day 2 was like here in Georgia? Holy HE double Hockey Sticks! The rain was terrible and I showed up to a marsh that I hadn’t been to in a good 5 years and you needed to walk about 3-400 yards through the woods and brush to get to it. All the while I’m carrying my Decoy Bag, my Gun and trying to control my overly anxious 8 month old Drahthaar Puppy. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face because of the rain. I barely found the dang spot that I used to sit at and guess what! I forgot my phone (Which was going to let me know the time) so the first set of ducks that flew over me I let fly by. I continued to sit tight until I heard someone shoot and then not another bird flew over me that morning.

Yea, That was DEFINITELY the morning I was questioning my devotion


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## Uptonongood (Dec 17, 2014)

Pitch dark, 5:30 a.m., cold, raining.  I'm wading in two feet of water to my blind like I had done a hundred times before. I step into a newly eroded hole on the side of a very deep (10ft or more) strong current filled ditch and I'm swept off my feet and out into the ditch, my head lamp, hat and glasses are knocked off.  I'm wearing chest waders and trying to hold onto a bag of decoys. I quickly lifted my feet to keep the air in them that was trapped there but my coat is filling with water and my head is being forced under the water.  I hear myself in my head say "If you panic now, you are dead." (my scuba training paying off at that point).  I know I can't hang onto the decoys any  longer, I'm going under in about five seconds.  I let go of them, keep my feet elevated and sweep my arms backstroke, I hit something and grab it...briars. Pulled myself to the bank, rolled over onto my stomach as the boots filled.  Wiggled my way up the bank when I hear my buddy screaming my name.  He can't see me but knows I went in.  I'm calm, I holler that I'm okay.  I ease up on the bank, stand up and force my way through the briars to his voice.  I thought he was going to collapse.  The first thing he said was "All I could think about was having to tell your wife that you were dead."  

Went back to the truck, dried off, drove home.  Luckily my buddy was carrying my shotgun so I didn't lose it, did lose $400 in equipment but not my life.

Didn't try to hunt any more that day but was back out two days later.


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## jmtaylor189 (Dec 17, 2014)

Cold morning in Iowa on the lake. My brother and I went out hunting had to bust a little sheet ice to get into the spot, not a big deal until the water in the lower unit froze and cracked it. So now we are on the far side of the lake with no out board but still had the trolling motor. 

Zero ducks flew in for us but had a flock of about 20 mallards land 300-400 yards away. After picking up the decoys we were going to try to sneak up on those birds. Before we reached them the battery died on the trolling motor. Left us with padding back to the ramp with the wind in our face. He dropped the only paddle we had and to the bottom it went. 

Now the wind is pushing us away from the dock no motor and no paddle. We ended up using goose decoys to get us to where we could walk and pulled the boat the rest of the way to the dock. That was the end of our season that year.


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## g0nef1sshn (Dec 17, 2014)

I've repeatedly said I would never drink again. Still do of course. But I don't think I've really ever had a morning duck hunting that was so bad I would think to give that up. If I did I musta drank and then forgot about it, then hunted hungover the next day and said; Im never drinkin again.


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## steelshotslayer (Dec 17, 2014)

I haven't had a morning that made me say I wouldn't do it again, but I have had mornings that make me question my sanity.  One was one of the very first times I went duck hunting.  We were hunting a beaver swamp and walked in shot a limit and started walking out one the way out I managed to find a stump hole that I didnt find on the way in.  Up to the Ol' Hat so here I find myself a mile and a half from the house, walked in, soaking wet, and its in the upper 20s low 30s.  The next time was a couple years ago it rained for hours and we had a hour boat ride down river when it was in the high 30s.


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## Gaducker (Dec 17, 2014)

g0nef1sshn said:


> I've repeatedly said I would never drink again. Still do of course. But I don't think I've really ever had a morning duck hunting that was so bad I would think to give that up. If I did I musta drank and then forgot about it, then hunted hungover the next day and said; Im never drinkin again.



I have only said I would never drink again once.


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## MudDucker (Dec 18, 2014)

Went a couple of weeks ago.  Had a hard time finding all of my needed gear.  Went to an electric only pond (at owner's request).  My long line decided it was time to kink and not unroll.  We were a little late and the birds started coming while throwing out decoys.  Then my buddy driving my boat decided to use the electric motor as a chainsaw threw brush and the prop nut came off and the shear pin dropped out.  This forced paddling to pick up decoys with a brisk wind and then a long paddle back to the ramp.  I was fed up by the time we put the boat on the trailer.  Of course, the addiction won and I've been several times since then.


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## rgillham (Dec 31, 2014)

A couple years ago I wanted to do a good bit of hunting. I took off time from work so I could acomplish some time on the water and shoot some birds. First day out I had a good hunt. As I loaded the boat back up and started to head back to the ramp, the motor decided it would not start. After paddling back to the ramp I finally made it back home. Worked on the motor and went to bed. Next day had a decent hunt, again the motor broke down. This time I was about 5 miles from the ramp. As I was trolling back I seen 2 mallards fly into a cove. With the battery for the trolling motor about dead, I did what any other duck hunter in a brokedown boat with the battery going dead would do. I followed the birds into the cove. 2 beautiful mallards later inside the boat, I start heading back to the ramp. Now it's getting dark and very windy. For every 10 yards forward, I would drift 20 yards backwards. Needless to say I finally made it home that night. Happy as heck cause I had birds to show for it. Worked on the motor again and went to bed. Next morning I figured what the heck. Let's go again. You guessed it. The motor died again. Only this time I wasnt that far from the ramp and had to walk the boat back along the shore. The wind was so bad the trolling motor was no use. To this day, the wife and kids as well as the rest of the family truly believe I am crazy. Those days were the closet I ever came to giving up on my love affair with the ducks.


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## Hunteradams (Dec 31, 2014)

The work, getting wet and tired never bother me. It's the idiots you have to deal with and not killing birds that frustrates me.


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## rhbama3 (Dec 31, 2014)

Many years ago..... swamp frozen over, busted ice with paddle thinking middle of swamp would still be water. Nope, frozen over all the way out. Watched ducks circle a mile high and then fly off toward river. Gave up and started heading back. Got stuck on a cypress knee so stepped out of the boat, took two steps and went over my head into a beaver run. Climbed out of it but waders were full of ice cold water. 
Closest i ever felt to dying from hypothermia.


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## Scrapy (Dec 31, 2014)

Exactly 42 years ago New Years Eve. We boys had a plenty too much to drink. We decided we probably couldn't get up if we slept at the camp so we would all go ahead  and get in the blinds.  I awoke to gunshots and the sun was peeking up. My face was burning up. My buddy looked like he had an Afro. My eyebrows were poking out so bad I could see them.  The sand knats had chewed on us all morning long. And hungover And cotton mouth and nothing but backwater water. We all got a limit of ringnecks in a half hour.


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## dbean43 (Dec 31, 2014)

Went this morning missed every wood duck that come in. My choke was unscrewed a few turns dont know if that had anything to do with it. Feel free to comment on that but either way . 10 to 15 woodies fluttered by and in. Missed everyone. Sat in an ant pile. Pretty bummy morning.... ill be about 5 yrds away from that ant pile with a tightened choke in the morning no doubt.


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## WOODIE13 (Dec 31, 2014)

Just let it roll off my back.  I blame it on Duck Dynasty.

Today, planned a hunt, was going to get mine and my wife's license over the internet here for WV and low and behold, they are migrating the system and you cannot choose 2015, just the current year.

May be an afternoon hunt, but still have a couple back up plans.


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## WOODIE13 (Dec 31, 2014)

Getting stuck in the mud for 45 minutes, literally.  Got a big chunk of ice block the boat ramp while hunting with my wife on the Potomac, just get back to the truck in a driving snow storm, the slush turns to ice too (I can see the truck and it is 400 yds away), she still went again

In all cases, I went back the next morning.

I will stop when I am dead


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## DuckHuntin101 (Jan 1, 2015)

g0nef1sshn said:


> I've repeatedly said I would never drink again. Still do of course. But I don't think I've really ever had a morning duck hunting that was so bad I would think to give that up. If I did I musta drank and then forgot about it, then hunted hungover the next day and said; Im never drinkin again.



Hunting hungover is terrible that's why I'm typing right now instead of shooting.


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## g0nef1sshn (Jan 1, 2015)

Luckily I had to be at work 0530 today, So no bad water for me last night. I was asleep by 9.


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## mcagle (Jan 1, 2015)

Yesterday it happened.  Drive for 2hrs. Got set up in a prime spot(that we had scouted) only to have two other guys set up about 250 yards between us and the main body of water. I was ok with this until they started shooting at birds that were not committed to either spread yet and were clearly out of range.  Actually watched them shoot at two ducks that were at least 100yards away and coming toward us.  Guess what...the birds turned.  It blew my mind how greedy some can be.  Does it make me wanna quit..NO but it makes me wish they would.  Public land is a gamble and I will continue to roll the dice.  Without experiences like this what would we have to gripe about.  Bad experiences make a good story too!


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## giddens123 (Jan 1, 2015)

Went this morning to start it off watched ducks past over way to high to shoot at good light got  one hoody had a flock of geese come over spread that I've been after a few weeks come over perfect me and buddy missed every shot to top it all off my buddy just got into duck hunting and I've been after my first mallard and lord behold ole greenhead come in right in to my Buddys barrel and yep big miss..


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## Weldbiltkiller (Jan 3, 2015)

Everyday this year. Boat breakage, no ducks, motor eating belts, driving 4.5hrs to kill nothing and gun problems. Can it get any better?


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## Flaustin1 (Jan 3, 2015)

Mine was fri. morning.  Get up at 3, drive a hour and a half, spend 2 hours setting out decoys, striper boats going by, repeatedly, then going by some more, then seeing one group of 8 ducks then the same two striper boats then one single duck.  Didn't fire a shot.  Sweated our tales off. . . on and on and on.

Ive enjoyed it but it has been the worst season ever.


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## MudDucker (Jan 5, 2015)

Had another such morning Saturday.  Surface drive ran out fine and then either the clutch or the belt came off.  On top of that, weather sites show 0% chance of rain, so for once, I took no rain gear.  Had a strong 20 minute down pour soak us good.  Then when I got back to the landing, someone had scraped the side of my truck.

Yep, got to be crazy to do this stuff!


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## quacksmacker09 (Jan 5, 2015)

Snagged my waders this morning, scouting a beaver pond.... Nice finger sized hole straight thru.


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