Metvuw made it look quite appealing, if you're into crappy weather.
Me, dad, Tom, Paul and Paul's mate Bryan were there, dad picking us up from the landing at about 8.30. We got our gear in and then set out decoys, my job wasn't that big as dad had put dekes in at Park. The wind was howling and spits of raim came blasting out of the darkness. Back to the hut for a few drinks and a bit of chit chat before settling in to listen to the rugby. Buggered if I could sleep, the bottle of V that I drank on the way down stayed with me. In between dad's snoring, the rats squealing at each other (a fairly playful pair) and whatnot, I only managed a couple of hours sleep. Up and at em at 5, I felt pretty seedy but we got out in time to turn the electric dekes on. At 6.25 a couple of ducks apperaed on set wings then hit the afterburners. 5 minutes later, they or another pair blasted out of the dark and set wings into the pond behind the Park maimai. I fumbled around for my headlamp - it was darker than the inside of a whale's intestine. I slid out of the maimai, hit the headlamp and scanned for the ducks... no burst of wings until I found them right at the back of the pond. They jumped, I fired where thought they were jumping and got a scotch double, then had to finish the hen which was not well hit. 2 ducks in the bag, a promising start! Dad cleaned up the next couple and my shooting just deteriorated. Paul Tom & Bryan had a couple of chances, but despite the promise of the weather (still the wind blasted and the rain fell) the ducks simply failed to materialise in any numbers. We stuck at it until midday, dad and I bagging 5, the others getting a single.
After lunch the boys set off for a walk with dad to see if they could drive any birds from the Western Front; tom and I elected to stay back for a nana nap. I couldn't sleep at all. So after a while I got ready and headed out to catch up with dad and see if anything was up. Not much doing, just hundreds of Grey Teal milling about. At 4pm I headed over to the night spot, and logged its position into the GPS... with no moon and incessant wind the usual navigation signs were absent. Ducks started moving at 5.15. Nothing would come to the call at all, so it was a matter of staying vigilant. At 5.55 out of the dark a pair pitched in just above the willow line. I hit the first and the second dived in and landed, putting a small willow between us. I stood and walked into the darkness and up it got, but no way could I see it until it got over tree height, and 3 shots followed it out. Headlamp on I picked up the dead bird and stashed it in a tree. 3 minutes later a pair raced over on set wings - I knew they would circle back and as they did I pulled on the lead bird - miss, miss, pulled on following bird, killed it and the killed the lead bird with the 4th shot.
I lamped around and found the birds and then resumed but at 6.15 knew the hunt was over - a couple of frantic minutes, pure gold. On the way back I tried self navigating but the GPS revealed that I was circling.. doh. Got back to the hut absolutely stuffed. The Kobuk neoprene jacket was great in the conditions but the walk back soaked me. At least I was warm. Fish pie for dinner -yummmm. Sleep came easily.
Sunday was quieter than Saturday. The weather was clearing but little (apart from teal) was flying. The boys down at Puru cleaned up a nice mallard drake but that was the finall tally for the morning.
Another sweet couple of days at the ponds... someone should have told the ducks they were supposed to be flying though.
No photos, a bit too wet to take out the camera.
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