Went this morning with my brother Mike and nephew Tyler to an undisclosed location somewhere in Va. It's a big water sp[ot, and the fog was so bad at the landing we decided not to chance our usual spot. While standing there trying to decide where to try, all around us were the sounds of ducks and geese. Widgeons whistling, mallards quacking, gadwalls burping, and the constant sound of canada's filled the air.

"Why don't we just hunt right here!", from my scared of the water and the fog brother. With no other options, I puttered out about 50 yds from the landing and we set up.

All around us in the predawn darkness there were ducks. Everywhere. In front of us, to our left, between us and the bank. I kept thinking, "Wow....this is going to be easy." It might have been, too, if it wasn't for the pea soup fog. At best our vision extended to about 10 yds.

Daylight brought the constant sound of wings overhead but no let up in the fog. All morning we had birds diving through the spread only to disappear again as soon as we shouldered our guns. Finally after some serious frustration and frayed nerves, the fog cleared to give us about 25 yds of visibility. Not ideal, but it seemed like a mile compared to what we had been sitting in. Out of nowhere 2 ducks materialized through the fog, wings cupped as they slid into the spread. The one on the right was a big bull drake widgeon and I threw the front of the blind down and dropped him about 15 ft from the boat. Tyler was right behind me shooting at the hen with his Red Ryder. I've been waiting for a long time to kill a widgeon with all his feathers in full breeding plummage and I could tell this one was destined for the wall. After picking him up Tyler assured me that this was the one he had shot at, not the retreating hen so we decided that he must have killed it and I just "finished" it for him. Great morning, albeit a little tough with the fog.




Tyler and I with "our" duck

Nice job Steve. Congrats on the drake widgeon. Blue bird skys here yesterday and NO BIRDS. Just no birds around to speak of at all. Have done the fog thing. Can be boon or bust depending on the thickness. Always read that sound travels much faster in fog....

Haved hunted some big watre areas fro years that can be quite rewarding in dense fog. I found that light but constant calling in htat situaion can bring birds right in to you. It surprises me that they fly around much in the fog but strangely they are , and can be very gullible ,as they seem the most social in that situation and readily come to the call. Had some of my mpost meorbale hunts in those condtions. Assuming I can find my way to where i want to hunt. efwiw

Beautiful baldplate Steve! Been seeing a few Widgeon up my way too. Gettin ready to head to Hatteras next Monday for 8 days. Got 5 diferent groups coming down to hunt. Mainly on south end of Ocracoke and a little bit of Hatteras. Got 7 different blinds we hunt on the reef down there as well as 2 layout boats and a new sinkbox this year. Reports have been good of late. Lots of redheads, blackheads, brant, a few sprigs coming in now too.

Buddy of mine lives down that way...says they're covered up in redheads. That's next on my list...

Awesome hunt man! Ok, maybe it wasn't raining ducks, but you put a new duck on the wall . . . and not many guys have mounts that were killed with a Red Ryder!

I've always loved hunting in the fog . . . turkey, deer, waterfowl, whatever. It just feels moody & magical, like anything could happen . . .

Congrats to you & Tyler!