Bushing of the blinds

This weekend is somewhat of a tradition among my friends. One that is done every year around this time. It is the weekend that gets all those ducky dreams kick started in our brain of the season to come... the bushing of the duck blinds. Alot of people do not realize how much effort it takes to be a successful duck hunter. Its not just grab a gun and sit and wait kinda game. It requires loads of prep work to be successful...

• Building a sturdy structure in the mddle of the water with only hand and battery tools.....
• Carrying bags of 15 to 30 decoys sometimes on foot for a mile to get to that exact spot the birds want to be.......
• Wading out into icy water up to your waist to place 25 to 100 or more decoys in just the right pattern
• Breaking ice to make pockets of water for ducks to land later in the season....
• It is finding adequate brushing, cutting it all, loading it into boats, and attaching it to said framework.
• It is having to rebuild blinds after hurricanes carry them away time and time again.

The building of the blinds is THE ONE that secures seats in the boat later in the season and builds stronger friendships.  It is no small task but the payoff is big and the views from some of the blinds around are second to none on a cold morning sunrise with a hot cup of coffee with ducks and waterfowl trading in the wind from roost to feeding grounds.

This weekend my buddy Chris took the time to drive here from Norfolk after a long day of work to  get up at the crack of dawn to scout for geese and bush the blinds. I had spent a couple hours on Saturday cutting cat tails and reeds of variety. They were then zip tyed into bundles so that they could be easily attached to the blind and weather out a winter on the bay. We were greeted by a beautiful sunrise and fairly calm seas making for a great morning on the water.

 

 

We arrived to the remote site me and a friend previously had built a duck blind frame work last week only to find a group of 5 tents on the beach shoreline  about 75 yards from our blind.  You will notice them in the background of the panaramic shot. We unloaded a couple dozen pines, all the grass bundles, and some wax myrtle from the day before and started zip tying.  It took roughly an hour and a half but we managed to get it finished before our camping guest ever even stirred and were on our way. While working on it we spotted 4 flocks of geese so it looks like the years of recon could have paid off and we might be in a great spot. Time will tell.

 

 

BEFORE

 

AFTER

 

 

 

 

Off to blind number two!

 

Drove back to the ramp, cut a bunch more pine and grabbed abunch of bundles of grass, drove to Gloucester and launched the boat again repeating the process. Here is the finished shots of blind two.