An amazing day with the bluest of cloudless skies binding you with clarity and gusty winds sending invigorating chills through the layers. Rebel, Addie and I headed out to Georgetown to revisit the wood duck ponds. We have only been back here once since the wood duck / near drowning incident, and we mostly stayed away from the wood ducks at that time thanks to Addie lumbering ahead and flushing all of the ducks early. This time was a different story. Rebel was weighing 41.6 oz. and looked like a spring ready to unload.
Addie was once again eager to get out, but by this time she seemed to have gotten the gist of my expectations for her when hunting. She is still unsure of her exact role, but she understands that there are times when she is to stay close and be still and there are other times when it is okay to run and be free and stir up whatever mischief she can. She greatly prefers the latter, nose down and tail up following whatever new scent comes her way.
We approached out first and most reliable slip where Rebel had gotten the woody only to find that the area was covered in ice instead of ducks. Oh well. I was impressed with how quickly Rebel had recognized his place and had scouted the slip and then taken a good position. This bird is a quick learner. When I saw him break off and head to a snag in the center of the lake, I knew there weren’t any ducks on the water so we kept heading around the lake. Right on the tip where the land juts out, I saw black shapes moving along the near shore. I called Addie back so as not to spook them but was a bit too late. Rebel was still scouting the other little inlet behind us so he was out of position. The ducks took off and Rebel came chasing after. He pulled up as they disappeared over the tree-tops and gave me that look.
Now you know the look, right? The one that says it’s all your fault, even though you were at work when the water heater burst. Or the look that made it clear that it was your fault that your wife made shrimp for dinner when you invited your new buddy and his wife for dinner only to find out a bit late that the wife was vegetarian... Yep, if you have a Y-chromosome, odds are good that you definitely know that look.
The next few slips saw the ducks getting up further and further away from us and Rebel was challenged to get into any acceptable position. There were two slips of note though. The first was an early jump on about twenty wood ducks sitting on the far side of the lake. They got up right across from Addie and I, heading back towards Rebel. Rebel had already left his perch and was soaring our way when they took off. He stooped beautifully right in front of me and just missed a female woody. He flared off onto a perch on the far side of the lake in a tall dead Cyprus tree. As I made my way further up, he swooped down on the water. He was trying to flush another duck off of the water that had stayed behind! This was good news and bad. He did not splash into the lake as he would have a few weeks ago. I attribute that to his ice bath. This was a bummer as he was right by the opposite bank. I think it will take him some time to take the plunge again, but since he hasn’t given up on the quarry, I am hopeful we will get back there.
With the wind blowing steadily, Rebel took advantage and took at least ten turns wheeling over the lake. I could watch that bird soar forever I think. I love how he zips downwind and turns back into the wind like a kite heading back my way. He took one more memorable stoop on a brace of wood ducks that startled everyone with their flush, but other than that there were no real chases. We circled the entire lake this time and walked out on the road with Rebel following beautifully. At the far end of the lake, Rebel got distracted by a squirrel that I did not see and therefore missed the last flush of the day, about twenty woodys who promptly made for safer waters. He saw this and left off the squirrel to give a half-hearted chase. Of course Rebel lost the squirrel in the confusion… We will chalk that one down to operator error…
We packed it in after meeting a few of the neighbors and headed home. It was a beautiful day and as I had not given Rebel his lure at the end of the hunt, I elected to serve him a quail at home. I built a small pen last week and had a few ready. I was hoping to have Rebel soar and then toss him a quail. It worked perfectly. Rebel was on the other side of the yard when I walked around to retrieve the quail. Once over there, I began to call him and he came on at a soar. Perfect! I quickly tossed the bird high in the air and it took off like a shot for cover. This time, Rebel was already aloft and his dive enabled him to gain enough speed to take the quail. It was a welcome sight. Rebel had lost his first two quail due to their speed, and the first one he had taken was missing a few primaries. This bird was full feathered and flying well. If Rebel had not been in the air at a height to be able to stoop, he would never have gotten this bird.
He plucked and ate. Fat happy bird in the mews tonight.
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