Rifle River Hunt

Let me start off by saying this weekend, was awesome. Good times with great company. The weather could have been a little better, seeing as it would rain after shoot time, while we all wanted to be by the campfire, and be blue skies while we’re actually out ducking around.

Rifle River

It really doesn’t get much more beautiful than up here in the Fall. If you have time to climb up the Lookout tower, there is no question that this is Pure Michigan. Leaves changing colors for as far as you can see. Nothing but land, no big buildings, no roar of semi-trucks driving by. Country.

From years passed, we knew of an Island on Grebe Lake where we could set up for an evening hunt to get a feel for the lay of the land, with a potential to bag a few birds.  So, we made our way down-wind from the boat launch to “The Island.”

It took us about 20 minutes to row there, as most if not all of the lake’s and ponds here at Rifle River do not allow gas or electric motors.  It’s a good thing we are young bucks I tell ya.

Once we arrived, it was everything we hoped it would be.  The whole island was about a half acre in size, wooded, and plenty of cover/vegetation along the edge of the water.  Great concealment and a nice spot for setting out our spread.  Perfect for an Ebola outbreak.

We got settled, and enjoyed the evening hunt, only seeing a handful of birds, but knowing where we would set up in the morning.

Sunday Morning

Alarms went off at the Butt-Crack of Dawn, just the way we like it.  Headed out, the water was steaming, creating a THICK fog that we passed through moving to our spot.  Once we arrived, we were confident our effort would pay off.  We set out a dozen mallard decoys, and waited for the sun.

Not as many birds as we had hoped for, but I have a feeling with the way the weather has been since the opener, we are ahead of the birds.  There hasn’t been a big push from mother nature.   A few passing groups, a few in our spread, and an upset phone call later, we were headed back to camp with one lonely duck.  All in all we were happy though, as we’ve been coming up here for years, with no success. This was the first year we had a boat to make accessing these parts possible.

If you ever have the chance, or are looking for something awesome to do, I highly suggest making the trip up, I’ve never in my life been disappointed that we did.