Colorado duck season closer

[Alamosa]

I posted up some picks of my opening weekend so I though I share a few from our closer here in Colorado.

This recent coldfront played havoc with our plans and turned our big water honey hole into a nightmare of whitecaps, tumbleweeds, drifting ice, and no ducks. At the last minute I remembered a place we used to hunt back before we understood the prevailing wind and flight patterns.

An hour before shooting time we changed plans and drove all the way around the lake. We weren't even sure we could get to that old spot any more. We got there and it was great.


These snows raft up in the middle during midday. This is John Martin Reservoir by the way.

It may look kind of barren but we've had a bountiful year. I can remember some brutal January hunts where I had to race the predators to recover a downed duck. More than once I found nothing left but feathers when I got to the spot. I've seen 4 coyotes at once scavenging out on the ice. I've had 5 hawks circle a duck I had down on the ice and I've had bald eagles steal my kill right off the water.



When we first started hunting out here we didn't know anything about hunting big water. We had marsh camo, #4 shot, puddler dekes w/ short strings, the wrong type calls. Over time we began to figure it out.



You probably hate these tailgate shots as much as I do but I couldn't resist this one.



This was the highlight of the weekend for me. A banded greenhead. Most of the time, if we get a banded duck in Eastern Colorado it was usually banded in Alberta.

It's tough enough to just find water in Southern Colorado, waterfowl can be even more scarce so shooting a banded duck is a big deal here.


It has probably been 8 or 10 years since I shot a banded bird. Ironically, the last one I shot was at this exact same location.


I am thankfull to have been blessed with another hunting season.