An Outdoorsman's Journal

Back Country Duck Hunt
Hello friends,
Last Spring I was backpacking in northern Landglade County when I came through an area that had a lot of wetlands and in those wetlands were lots of waterfowl. I recently made the decision to hunt that area with my golden retriever Red for the northern Wisconsin duck hunting opener and had quite the adventure.

Friday, September 25th
High 67, low 40

My memory was bit fuzzy on my destination, which was about 2 miles from my truck, and I had to make two trips using a deer cart loaded with camping and hunting gear to get there. As usual I was fighting the sun clock and I have to tell you pushing my load as fast as I had to was a challenge. Some bad luck came my way when I found that the pothole ponds that I hoped to hunt were very low on water, but I kept exploring and found one that had enough water to hold ducks.
It was about dark by the time I had my camp built and I was very excited for the day to come. On the Red update, her pup has been gone for 7 days, and she seems to be just fine. I was hoping to keep a pup but since she only had one, that was not an option.

My campsite is loaded with both deer and bear sign, which I found to be very cool.

Saturday, September 26th
High 69, low 44

We are in the full moon part of the month and in all my life, I cannot remember seeing such a bright full moon. There never was a time when I could not see everything in my tent and when I did the trek to the pothole I wanted to hunt a hundred yards through the woods pulling a sled loaded with decoys, I did not have to turn on my headlamp.
My dad taught me to be setup for the morning hunt long before daylight and I was ready two hours before the sun hit the eastern horizon. When night became day, I only had one shot and that was at a bluewing teal that I dropped with one shot and Red did a very nice retrieve on. On my hike back to camp, I saw a ton of bear sign and when I made it to camp I ate a sandwich and watched a nearby wetland that was pretty much dry. A long way away I saw a mallard land and decided Red, and I should do a sneak.
We flushed a mallard, I dropped it and once again Red did another really nice retrieve. I
decided I needed to explore and found about a 2-acre pothole that had plenty of water
and while hunting it dropped another teal.
The view from my now honey hole was perfect, total Northwoods wilderness, no people and some ducks, although I did not get another shot on this day. After dark I cooked a salmon fillet that I caught out of my canoe on Lake Michigan last May, had a beer and watched a very bright moon.
Sunday, September 27th
High 66, low 31
When I crawled out of my tent after another excellent night of sleeping on the ground it was long before daylight and there I would witness as my first frost of the season. To me the first frost always means that in the blink of an eye, I will be winter camping and ice fishing. This morning’s hunt was really fun, I dropped two teal and a mallard and Red was very much into every part of the experience.
The journey back to the truck was not near as hard, my mood was excellent and I have a strong feeling that I will return to this part of Wisconsin next fall and hope thatthere is more water in the potholes.

Live large,
Sunset