Had our northern opener of duck season Sat. Got me and the boy up at 3:30 to hit the road north. About halfway there I remembered that I forgot the dang killswitch cord. We stop at every gas station that's open and finally found one. Might as well get breakfast at McDonalds - they're open. We order some food and 10 minutes later the gal says the fryer isn't working so no hash browns - want a couple sandwiches instead? Sure! I have an egg mcmuffin and the boy has 4 sausage mcmuffins. Damn.
Launched the boat at 5am in driving rain that never let up all day. Couple that with small craft advisorys and things were a little sporty. I chose a drowned rivermouth marsh to set-up in. As soon as we had decoys deployed, some yahoo motors in and cuts the engine and asks what we're doing there. Uh, hunting...you? Some dudes... If he didn't have the attitude I probably would have asked him to join us. Oh well.
Too dark to see at hours and we have birds all over us. Wind is really picking up now and the rain is sideways. We get some shooting but it is futile. It's like hitting a feather in a hurricane. I wear glasses and can't look into the wind otherwise I'm blind with raindrops. I screw the pooch on a 4some of geese trying to change out loads - the boy was waiting for me to call the ball and I'm fumbling about with an empty gun. Smooth.
We finally put one down and the boy is looking sort of white and fidgeting in his waders. What's wrong? I don't think those sausage mcmuffins are sitting to well with me. Dude, there's no tp in the boat and no dry land for a mile. On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad is it? 8. So we pick up the dekes in record time and I violate the no-wake rule.
While junior is violating the outhouse at the launch, I figured I'd get the boat on the trailer. Backing it up to the ramp I notice one of my tires wobbling like a drunk on payday. Uh oh. I put the boat on and pull her out. Yep, blew a wheel bearing. No tools, no store, in the middle of nowhere. Drop the trailer and head towards town. 4 hours and a hundo later I'm back on the road after changing the bearing in the mud and driving rain.
Sunday I slept in. The boy, who's still grounded for his driving escapades, is eating dry toast and chicken broth with an occasional Immodium.
The tally? 1 drake woody yielding 2 oz of breast meat. I figure it at roughly $2000 per pound, conservatively.
