The FLG Down Patrol crew enjoys having guests join them in their quest for waterfowl here in Oklahoma and this season was no different. This year we had the pleasure of hosting a couple friends from Ohio, Johnny and Cory, Blake and Chris from Fowled Reality and Casey from The Management Advantage . All these guys are experienced hunters and, because of our social media connection, it was like we had been hunting together forever.
When they arrived on Wednesday afternoon, I was unsure whether it was going to be a successful week or not. The crew and I had been having trouble patterning the birds thus far. Weather had been up and down like a roller coaster and bird movement was changing on a daily basis. That afternoon, we all took a ride in the boat and setup in an area we could see any birds flying in the immediate area. The next morning we setup on a “safe bet” where I knew we could shoot a few birds and get everyone acclimated to our style of hunting. After a decent morning, we all knew scouting was on the menu for the afternoon. We had to find some birds no matter what and that’s exactly what we did. We split up and that was the ticket. Even though Johnny, Cory and I found a good spot, the other guys found the honey hole in a cut soybean field with a ditch running though it which made a perfect hide. We confirmed it was a field we had permission to hunt and the stage was set for an unbelievable week.
That next morning started early. Field hunting takes a lot of prep work, decoy setup, spinners, motion, cameras, hiding the dog and most importantly, hiding the hunters. Without much wind, the ducks could light into the decoys from any direction so concealment was key. After a very successful first morning in that field, we knew by the body language of the birds that we were going to try it again the next morning. The only thing we did different was added a bunch of water keel decoys and segregated the goose decoys so we could give them a different look. We dug the keels into the dirt with the claw of a hammer and it worked fantastic. We ended up hunting that field 3 days in a row and shooting 87 birds. That is the first time I have ever experienced that many days in a row with that kind of success in the same field.
I want to thank Hoss and Earnie for helping make this a successful hunt. I also want to thank my wife, Erika, and Hoss’ wife, Lisa, for opening your homes and cooking the meals for our guests. I could not have pulled it off without you. Thanks y’all!
Kill ‘em!
Rooney