10 Degrees and 10,000 Ducks!
By Mario Friendy, Drake Field Expert

I was making my fourth trip to guide duck hunts at Pacific Wings Waterfowl Adventures in Richland, Washington when the weatherman gave me finally what I was waiting for! The high's were to be only in the 20's and maybe hit 30 degrees. The low's would be in the teens, and oh yeah some snow..... allright! I packed up the dog, decoys and of course the warmest gear I own. I made sure I packed my disposable handwarmer pouches that go great with my Drake "On The Way" handwarmer and my Drake Stocking Cap......but what to do for a jacket?

It wasn't that cold when I left Oregon so I called my friend who had bought the 4 In 1 Wader Jacket and asked if I could wear the liner of the coat, since he wasn't going to need it this week. Off I go on the 4 hour drive and arrive in Eastern Washington with 28 degrees and snow. I am scheduled the next day to take two older gentlemen on a duck hunt. I spoke with them and these guys have been on enough duck hunts to know that the weather should make for a memorable hunt.

The morning comes and we are greeted by 16 degrees and it falls down to 10 degrees as we drive north to the flooded corn field. We get to the location and this must be the only open water for miles as there are literally thousands of ducks on the pond. On this morning there was no need to bust up the roost only to watch it fill up as we wait for legal shoot time. So we park the truck and run in right at shoot time to set out only a dozen of my decoys and wait for their return. In all my years I have seen a few ducks get off a pond in the morning hours but nothing like this. Between the three of us we estimated about 7,000-10,000 ducks were on the water. It was like nothing we had ever seen. No sooner than I set the last decoy and get in the pit, here comes the first wave back. A few birds land not even 15 feet from the pit and here comes more. The guys jump up and we are off and running with 3 Drake Mallards. It continues for the next 20 minutes and we are at 10 Drake Mallards in no time. I tell them let's get 4 more and get out of here.........and let it rest.

No sooner than I say that 4 Drakes and 1 Hen Mallard are dropping right in front of the pit blind. We flip the lids and both guys double on the drakes and we are done for the morning. Not bad for a total of 50 minutes, including setting up decoys and shooting. As we were taking pictures both gentlemen said to me that in all their years of duck hunting they had never seen anything like this..........I agreed and we got out of their to let the ducks eat and rest. It was a day that all three of us will never forget the rest of our lives.

Mario Friendy
Columbia River Decoys
503-209-2763