The nothern Illinois opener on the Mississippi was outstanding.

After scouting on Friday the 19th, I decided to set up a temporary blind on a sand bar and
use my Predator layout. using a piece of driftwood, cut willows and twine, a frame was
setup to "hold" my layout and a dog hide.

Here is the journal entry.

Oct 20th Illinois opener.....finished at 8:15 am....pintail, mallard, "spoony" 3 greenwing teal
.......note: Daisy was "super" with lots of fast duck flying that mostly were spooked and
just looking = good thing (many birds).....shooting from a layout blind is challenging for
the less flexible & half the field of vision is eliminated

Oct 21st - Illinois 2nd day.....doubled on a "woody" pair to mount (slow - 2 ducks fun day)
.......note: I will never forget the way they zoomed in low from the north (from behind me),
"jetted" over the decoys, made a huge U-turn and came back right at us about 15 yards
off the deck. As I set up to shoot, they flared out over the decoys with the drake in the
lead. I dropped the trailing hen and swung through the drake dropping him directly to my
right. I sent Gunny for the hen first. When he was about half-way there, the drake perked
up and started swimming toward Iowa. When Gunny spotted the hen and picked up speed,
I finished off the drake.

Wow! no matter what happened the rest of the day, it will be difficult to top this short
interlude. Both ducks looked mature (which was verified back at camp later). They were
tripled freezer bagged and will look really cool next to my dead mount Cans pair. After
that, the sky returned to "no ducks flying".

About an hour later, a hunter on the far point of another island dropped a bird and he
was having a difficult time getting his dog to retrieve. I began to watch.....dumb. A
squadron of seven pintails buzzed right over the decoys and headed north. All I had
time to do in that split second was think a brief, silent expletive.

Packed it up and headed home. What a great weekend!

"The Hauler"


early light - east of sand bar


west of sand bar


Predator blind & dog hide with boat moored farther north


Daisy posing in her hide


Gunny doing the obligatory barge photo


opening day mixed bag – three greenwings, pintail, "spoon" & drake mallard

Nice pics and story. Where you from in Illinois? Around Quincy?

Cool pictures. I love sandbar hunting on the river.