Fowl Season 5 Wrap Up

Unless a late goose season opportunity presents itself, season 5 for Hutch has come to an end. I’ve got to say it was a pretty good one. A good variety of species were encountered this year and definitely gained some knowledge along the way.

The only opener I was able to hunt was the southern zone. While it was kind of disappointing on the duck end we made up for it with the geese over water. I hadn’t worked with Hutch at all over the summer but he picked up right where he left off. One of the highlights of the season for me (and probably for him too) was watching him retrieve 2 geese at the same time on that hunt. We also won’t forget all the ticks I picked off him that weekend as it was warm and they were out in full force.

We never experienced a lull in October this year and I think it was probably my best month. Things were really clicking towards the end of the month. We had some really good hunts targeting a mix of redheads and mallards. The redheads were a real treat because it’s not often I get the chance to specifically target them in my area. Hutch also got to do quite a bit of retrieving over open deep water during this time period. I definitely spent less time in marshy areas and more time in open water scenarios this year. I did find some really cool marshy stuff for next year and I’ll be excited to try that earlier in the season. Other than 1 awesome field hunt the rest of those never really worked out even with good scouting reports.

We got some good hunts out in Lake Michigan. I came up with some new methods for setting decoys/boats (I don’t have a layout) which seemed to work better than drifting. I’ve also got to give a huge shout out to some of my buds for putting us in the layout boat one day this year. It was definitely a hunt none of us will ever forget.

Scouting definitely contributed to our success. I scouted more than ever this year and it paid off. Cutting down my deer hunting time to focus on Hutch’s prime hunting years definitely paid off in more ducks and also more deer somehow.

I obviously have regrets about specific hunts/setups and all of that but otherwise I am pretty happy with how it all worked out. Spending more time in new areas I’ve found and hunting some other places in Michigan are my priorities next year. I’m really hoping to do some sort of “duck camp” next year with a bunch of buddies and in a different part of Michigan. I’m already looking forward to season 6 and making some more memories with my pup.