COLD HANDS
THE DECOYS WERE QUICKLY AND EASILY DEPLOYED AS THE PUDDLE WAS A MERE 12 INCHES AT ITS DEEPEST
While driving home from a morning shoot, I always check various locations on the way to see if I can find a huntable number of ducks. When I’m doing this, I rely on areas that I know normally hold good numbers of Mallards. I also factor in the time of the season so I can concentrate on food sources that I’m expecting ducks to be eating.
After doing this for a number of years I’ve built up a store of knowledge that helps, like remembering the ducks that were feeding on the whole crop on John Smith’s place two seasons ago or the good grass hunt out the back of old mate Pete’s and the pond hunt at my uncle’s old neighbour’s mates down the road.
As it was later in the season, my focus was on Mallards in paddocks. With winter grassing in full effect, lots of the birds were feeding on muddy breaks and crop paddocks, then returning to grass paddocks where they could safely spend their days sleeping and preening in the sun. The only real disturbance was the odd farmer checking out the paddocks for
