The rolling waters of Mississippi Sound offer some of the best public duck hunting in the South.
Southeast winds on the Mississippi Sound were building, and a thunderstorm was fast approaching, bringing ominous, dark, rain-filled clouds.
Conditions were deteriorating rapidly, but for Kevin Toncrey and me, this was the ultimate setting for our duck-hunting adventure.
Ducks were becoming more and more noticeable on the horizon with undulating lines of redheads and small flocks of wee buffleheads scooting close over the Mississippi Sound’s now disturbed waters.
Seemingly out of nowhere, four bluebills caught us by surprise hovering over the 80-block decoy spread. Throwing up our trusty Remingtons into shooting position, we fired off a couple of rounds at the ducks, and two drake bluebills fell hard into the now choppy seas.
Toncrey was quick to bail out of the boat blind to retrieve our fallen quarry. By the time he gathered up the divers and headed back to the blind, the heavy rain had found us. Now we were inundated with cold rainwater dripping down our necks, and we knew we were in for a true diving-duck hunt.
A few minutes later a large mass of ducks headed our way from the west, and from the flight pattern and size of their heavy bodies, we knew the prized ducks of the Sound were coming directly toward us.
Our eyes were now big, hands clinched tightly around our guns, and hearts raced rapidly as the flock neared. Although both of us are well-seasoned hunters having experience this sort of scenario thousands of times, a sight such as this never seems to diminish the excitement that comes with such a magnificent image.
At first, the flock of 40 or more birds circled wide, but that allowed us to spot the large crimson-headed drakes in the mass of birds. As they circled back into the wind, we whispered to each other the age-old lines like “keep down,” “don’t move,” “wait … wait” and the final cue, “take them now!”
Click here to read more on Divers Down!
Be the first to comment