Duck Hunting with my new Mossberg 935 today
A co-worker lives in a community a bit further "out" from the suburbs of Chicago where I live. I got to go duck hunting with his once last year (my first ever duck hunting). It was a blast and I'm hooked. I used my grandfather's 1955 Browning double automatic last year but i didn't want to use it again this year.
I bought a new Mossberg 935 at Cabela's a few weeks ago. I took it trap shooting (Federal 2 3/4" #8's from Wal-Mart which the owner's manual says you shouldn't or can't shoot in the 935, but they work fine. I was very happy to have hit 21 out of 25 with the 935 the first time out. I would have missed the 4 I did with my Browning too. They were tough shots out to the left or right extremes.
Yesterday I got the call that I was invited to go duck hunting today. I jumped at the chance. There is group of guys who work on the floating blind (I joined them a few Fridays ago and spent 4 1/2 hours helping out covering the blind in new cover.
Bob is the guy with the boat, the decoys, the blind, and the duck calls around his neck. He knows how to use them too!
Here's Bob and his son getting some of the deeks we put out re-arranged exactly the way he wanted them in front of the floating blind:
Me in my position in the anchored blind with my new Mossberg 935:
Taking aim:
Ready to go:
My co-worker friend who got me into the blind:
The sun starting to come up:
The ducks started coming around just as the sun rose. We saw geese and mallards but they were really far off and we couldn't call them in. We did get a couple saupes and I shot two buffalo heads.
Bob cooked up eggs, pancakes, sausage, and bacon inside the blind's fold down storage table that has a propane stove inside. This floating duck blind is just amazing.
Here's a couple views of the blind from the boat as we were picking up the decoys at the end of the day:
Towing the boat out of the water:
Me with my two birds:
I marinated the cubed duck breasts in Island Teriyaki sauce and A1 Steak Sauce and then wrapped them in bacon on kabobs.
Then they went on the grill:
Our town had Trick or Treating tonight instead of on Wednesday the 31st so I shared the duck kabobs with our neighbors. I told them the ducks were shot this morning so it doesn't get any more fresh than that! I was careful not to overcook them. Everyone loved 'em! They were tasty little treats!
It was a great day hunting, even though we didn't get all that many shots. Perhaps I'll get invited another day and it'll be a "limit" day!
I was very happy with my Mossberg 935 though and the other guys in the blind (three of them plus me) were impressed with the Mossberg....