Using good Spika camouflage 
clothing and hiding under the flax 
and scrub along the steep banks of 
the dam works great and I simply 
used a tomahawk to clear space 
and make a seat in the bank.
I cleared all the extra gear away 
and got the “flappy duck,” with its 
moving wings and strapped on a 
pole ready to put up in the morning 
and left it hidden in the bank.
SATURDAY MORNING
As I walked into the dam just after 
6am, the sky was super clear without 
any clouds, and the landscape was 
very bright as the full moon shone 
brightly making it hard to sneak in.
I could hear the quacking of 
mallards and higher calls of grey 
teal as they no doubt saw my dark 
shape looming near the dam.  They 
soon all got up at the far end of 
the water, well over 60m away 
and out of range.  Hopefully, they 
would return later in the morning.
After pushing the flappy duck on 
the pole into the soft sand in shallow 
water, I settled into my possie, 
loaded the Winchester SX4 semi-
auto and got my duck caller ready.
Just after 6:30am and there 
was a barrage of shots all around 
me on neighbouring farms and I 
hoped the ducks would look to 
return to the safety of my large 
dam.  I watched the sky lighten 
as the sun crept up and could see 
dozens of ducks flying high.
No amount of duck calling could 
bring these startled birds down and 
I just had to sit and wait for stray 
birds to arrive.  Just after 7am and 
with the easterly breeze getting 
up, two grey ducks appeared and 
come in close on my left.  I hit one 
but missed the other, a bit rusty but 
it was good to be on the board.
Nailing two fat mallard drakes from 
three birds that dropped in above 
the water was a good start.
 /FISHINGINGODZONE  67

View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.