Paradise of Duck's

Plans were made, the truck was loaded, and next stop was to pick up James from Christchurch Airport. We then headed to the farm, and started scouting the crop fields for duck sign, and that, along with talking to the farmer, helped piece together where the ducks had been feeding. We set up in a likely spot in a barley field that afternoon. 

With the sweltering Canterbury sun making the barley shimmer with anticipation of catching on fire, we were closed up in our blinds, sweat pouring into our eyes, clothes sticking to our body's, waiting for the distinctive native Paradise Shelduck, to tell us the hunt was on. There was nowhere else we wanted to be.

The heat of the sun was soon replaced by the heat from our barrels, as Carl and I called the "parries" into our decoy spread, trying to take photos, call and shoot at the same time! It was great to be out there with my friends, soaking it up, heat and all.
We didn't limit out, and it wasn't our goal to do so. We missed some we shouldn't have, and dropped some, that we fluked. All in all, it was just what you would expect from any duck hunt!

The season, had started.

Carl, Paul, James and I, with a good bag of Native NZ Paradise Shelducks