Smashing the Cache River Ducks at Beedeville!

Well, Friday, December 6 of 2013 was an amazing day at Beedeville.

Ours was the third team to make it to the blind in the late morning before lunch. We were shuffling out hunting teams in an out all day.

How many times does a club shoot 168 (28 legal LIMITS!) ducks out of one hole in a single day?!

Makes me feel a little bit smug about the placement of this year's newest blind, the North Chuckwagon. All 168 birds were shot from that blind!

So, other than keeping track of our limits, one of the very real challenges of the day was getting 28 different hunters cycled through the blind and keeping everyone in shells!

One guest said it reminded him of Pearl Harbor. By the time our group arrived, 13 limits and hunters were on their way out! The birds were practically breaking their wings just to get in our decoys! It was the most obvious migration I've seen in quite a while, as average group size of the birds was well over 100... It seemed we saw every species known to man except maybe widgeons.

We were pushing kids and guns to the shooting lanes of the blind and handing them shells as fast as our cold hands could move.

Keeping the guns loaded and working was another challenge... we had more guns broken then guns working, because of the constant sleet and ice buildup, the guns were freezing fast.

The temperatures remained in the 20 to 25° range, which was perfect temperature for sleet.
While you were looking up at the ducks, the sleet would hit hard, whacking you right in the eyeballs and face, while also finding its way down the inside of your waders.

I'm really proud of the way Three Rivers worked hard as a team in these tough conditions to turn a really great hunt for a few guys into a whale of a hunt for a whole lot of fortunate hunters.