Hey All!
I've been so busy with the new job that I haven't had much time to hunt this year, but Saturday morning I made a trip up to hunt the big water of the Columbia River here in Oregon. January is one of my favorite times to hunt the bigger rivers, as we usually have good numbers of brightly colored drakes down here by then. I took along a couple of my favorite hunting buddies this time, with the sole purpose of trying out the Reelfoot call I recieved from Fred last year.
We started off on one of the many tidal islands out by Astoria. We had some hard showers and some very gusty winds, and the thoughts that we might get blown out by the weather had everyone worried from the start. The first hour we saw a couple of nice flocks that were just rolling down the river, but nothing looked like it was much interested in out side. I finally had enough and started blowing Fred's call. Now I'm not well versed in the use of Reelfoots, but I can tell you without a doubt that the call Fred sent has enough volume to be heard on the other side of the river (even through the wind!) I started off with just a few slow hails to see if the bird responded, and low an behold we go a nice flock to turn in. Not having the experience with the Reelfoot I needed, I switched to a single reed when they got close and we closed the deal with 4 drakes feet up in the decoys.
We hunted 5 hours, and though we didn't shoot limits, it was a great day on the water with good friends. Everyone in the boat had to play with the Reelfoot just to see what it was all about. I'm convinced that it definitely has a place out here on the big water, and the hail I get from that call seems to roll out much farther than almost all of my J frame calls. There's just something about blowing that big old wood call and getting that much sound out of it that makes me wish I'd have played with it more before now. Thanks again Fred, I think your call suprised alot of folks out here!
Bob
P.S. - If my smartcard ever dries out enough I'll load some pictures to go with this. It turns out that Droids don't swim well, even if thier owers do (who'd have figured...)
