The Late Split Shuffle

After a frigid end to the regular season. We finally hit a warming trend, which we desperately needed for success this year. In true late split fashion, there were a ton of variables. Ice, access, frozen boat launches, and just a general uncertainty of what to expect and how to adapt. This would be amplified by hunting a new spot for us but if all went well then, all the work Trevor put in would pay off for a good hunt.

Little did we know that we were in for a big surprise. As is sometimes the case in waterfowling we weren’t the only ones with this particular plan. Sometimes there are other easy options to bail to and while we did have some back up plans. We were expected to have this area to ourselves and not already have a crew in there. Trevor had a conversation with them and Luke, AC, and I thought about our other options. It was a relief to hear that not only was the other crew willing to team up but that they seemed like solid dudes to hunt with. You never know what you might get in the waterfowl world but that was good news. It’s always interesting to end up hunting with complete strangers, there are just so many variables. There are a lot of rules to follow in waterfowl, gun safety, shot selection, and just general respect for the game. But so far, the several times I have teamed up it has always been a great time and this would be no exception. It spread the work out and bulked up our decoy spread. Our crew of 4 turned into an 8 man crew.

At least we were used to dealing with ice by this time of the year because we had to deal with that again. Luckily the big sheets of floating stuff avoided us during the hunt. We were all in on divers on this adventure. We weren’t well hidden and didn’t have high hopes at decoying mallards (and that proved to be the case). But you can get away with that on divers if you sit still and have a good spread. Just like every year we had the wind working against us, basically right in our face. However, it wasn’t at gale force like last year. Can we please just get the wind perfect one year? Like a lot of diver hunts this one started out slow and then just kept picking up. Wave after wave of birds were in the air although they were spread across a giant area. We picked away at them and then things got really good. It was a pleasure to watch groups of bills decoying after we got our limit of them. It was a treat overall just to get a chance to hunt divers like that. We usually are limited to buffies, mergs, long tails, and goldeneyes. So anytime bill or redheads are around it is special.

It was just a good solid hunt all around. A mixed bag of goldeneye, buffleheads, and bluebills. I am a little disappointed we were unable to add that single ruddy duck that would repeatedly get really close, then we would shoot into another group and push him out again. While the shooting was good the most memorable thing for me was the decoying birds we couldn’t shoot because we already had our 2 bluebills each. The crawl back up the access point was memorable and worth it too. We did get some cool pics and video of the birds decoying but unfortunately there is too much background for the internet. This is one of the most looked forward to hunts of the year and it didn’t disappoint! Glad to have hunted with some classy duck hunters and grateful they were willing to team up.

Day 2 brought a change of plans to mallards. It involved mud, ice, and multiple spots. It was a show of a morning and complicated by the thawing conditions. Birds were exploring new options and that hurt ice. We did still however have a good hunt with some great decoying action and scratched out a few mallards to end the season on. Big thanks to Trevor for all of his effort this season. It was one to remember, not just because of the successful hunts but the constant challenging conditions. It was usually a lot of work and I know I’ve got decoys to patch, re rig, and find all the empty shells in the decoy bags (we always pick them up).

Hopefully we don’t get stuck in a season of in between next. I’m ready to ice fish, take some buddies out deer hunting, and enjoy what winter has to offer. See you guys in 2026!