Wood Duck hunting SW Louisiana style.

Having lived here in Louisiana less than six months now I thought it was time to try out my hunting lease for "Wood Ducks". After moving here I found a good lease to get on of about 4400 acres of mixed pines and hardwood bottoms. I was thinking acorns and deer and hog hunting. I never thought the "Wood Duck" hunting would be as good as some folks told me this lease was. I have never hunted the elusive wood duck before and was told to get a call because they don't sound like regular ducks, they squawk. I went to the local sporting goods store and coughed up the 16.99 for the call, turned out to be a great buy after all. I got to our camp before dark and rode my Grizzly 700 all over the place looking for spots that looked like "Woodie" country. I had several spots picked out and soon it started to get dark so I returned to camp and started making preparations for the mornings hunt. It was getting cold outside a brisk 34. It reminded me off the night before my first deer hunt or a kid the night before Christmas.I could hardly sleep and soon the alarm clock was buzzing and I was filling up my coffee cup. UIt was a cold ride up the swampy muddy roads to my spots. Unfortunately the first three spots turned out to be duds, it wasnt until my last stop I found them. I decided to try one last spot on the way back to camp. I rode down the road until I couldnt ride any farther because the road was flooded. The hardwoods were flooded all around me. I parked the Grizzly and eased up into the edge of the hardwoods just inside the woods. It was only a few minutes until I heard the same squawk I had heard numerous times on youtube the day before. I used youtube to practice calling these elusive birds. It was "Woodies" and it seemed like there were quite a few of them in this section of flooded timber. I sat in awe listening and calling back and forth to them when out of the corner of my left eye I saw 3 males and four females swimming in my direction. It appeared as if they were looking for me. They were out of my range so I let them pass thinking I may be able to get them closer. Shortly after I started hearing some wild Hogs smashing into the water on the other side of the timber and rooting around, oinkin and oinking and scared the birds off. I was not about to give up now. I decided to hike a ways up the edge of the timber farther and see if I could relocate some more birds. It was my lucky morning. Soon after getting to my new spot, I began squawking softly and immediately got return calls. I was amazed, here I was the first ever day hunting "Wood Ducks" and I am busting them outta control. I heard the Drake calls all around me and soon a lone drake swam a little too close. I will never forget this morning of "Woodie" hunting in the hardwood bottoms of SW Louisiana, especially since every morning when I cross my living room on the way to my coffee pot I will stop to look at "Woodie" up on my wall and reminisce about this mornings hunt.