The duck season closed in Nebraska on January 11th. I had one of my long-time groups from Park City, UT, here for three days. We hunted the river that day. It was an epic mallard hunt.
We woke that morning to light snow and blustery NW winds. There was a certain amount of anxiety on my part on what the day might hold for us. In the six years I have hunted the river in Nebraska I have never had a bad hunt in the snow. Today was no exception. The designated retriever for the day was Dani, the Platte River specialist. There is not a dog anywhere that can hunt the river better than Dani.
From first light the sky was filled with mallards. The ducks were very responsive to the calls. My Dad, Michael, was with us in the blind. We make a formidable duo on our Carlson duck calls. We have been responsible for the demise of many mallards over the years. As legal shooting time passed we had several flocks of 20-30 birds inside ten yards over the decoys but because of the poor light conditions we didn't shoot because we could not tell the drakes from the hens. We practice "Green Only" at WyoBraska Waterfowl.
We did experience an occasional lull but it would not last over twenty minutes and the ducks were back on us in full force. My hunters had their limit of 15 drakes by 8:30. We also bagged six Canada geese that morning. For the next couple of hours we called in hundreds of mallards. It is a joy just to watch them.
It was a great finish to a great season.
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