Illinois Late Season Mallards

As the holiday season of Christmas approaches, Grayson & his dad always set out to do a good bit of hunting right before they get swallowed up by the festivities of Christmas & New Years. This particular hunt was a little bit different than most prior December 25th with the temperatures in the high teens and scattered flurries which is uncommon in southern Illinois prior to January these days. 

As they headed out on I-70 to an hour long commute with their bird dog Axel, we got word from some friends to scratch the original destination and keep driving a little more south than usual. We made our way to the spot and we could hear the roar of mallard hens chattering and ducks getting up. We quickly setup a spread no bigger than two dozen decoys and sat a few rows in some flooded corn in which the crops came up so well that year the stalks weren't fazed by the 20mph north wind to our faces. 

The Mallards starting off hot and didn't stop coming until we were faced with overcast around 9:45 in the morning. However, until that flight stoppage at 9:45 we picked off green heads all morning with a side of a Goldeneye that didn't think twice about our spread. A late season strategy of little calling and no spinners became the recipe for success. With help of well timed retrieves by Axel it turned out to be a great father-son moment with some friends in some southern Illinois flooded corn right before Santa came to town.