Colusa Refuge Opener
This hunt took place at Colusa National Wildlife Refuge on the opening day of the 1995 duck season. I was one of the lucky few who got drawn to hunt at a refuge on the opener. My buddy Mark and I knew we were in for a spectacular hunt, especially since this was the first year that the limit was back up to six.
The night before the hunt, we walked down the main road of the refuge to see where the duck were. The problem was that ducks were everywhere, if that can be a problem. We picked a pond that was pretty far from the check station hoping that we would have it to ourselves.
As dawn broke, our bet paid off. There was only one other group near us, and they gave us plenty of room. We had the pond to ourselves. We had flipped a coin to see who had first shot. I won. I told Mark not to be jealous when that first bird of the morning was banded jokingly. Sure enough, as shooting light was upon us, a lone greenhead b-lined straight for the decoys and I got him on my first shot. When Marley brought the bird back, the shiny metal band was hanging out of the side of her mouth. We both just started laughing. Great start to a great hunt.
We alternated the easy shots as the mallards could not keep away from us. We ended up shooting ten mallards, all drakes, and two bull sprig. One of the drakes Mark shot looked like a lone hen when it was coming in, but he shot anyway. Just as I was laying in to him about shooting hens and that we wouldn't have any problem getting all drakes, I noticed the yellow bill. It was just a eclipse. The hunt was over too soon. We were back in Sacramento by ten a.m. Regardless, opening day on a refuge can't be beat. What did surprise me was that we were the first ones back in the check station with a limit. We were being selective. If we were shooting hens, teal, and wigeon, we could have been finished in an hour. This was a great hunt and an even better way to start the season.
Christmas Hunt 1992
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Email: christygarcia1@juno.com
