The first time a couple of my hunting partners saw me stop my truck at the curb and load up an old fake Christmas tree and about 40 feet of used garland that had been discarded after Christmas, I got laughed at pretty hard.
When they saw it on my duck blind a few days later, the laughter was magnified.
But when the first late-season ducks started acting a little less skittish and cupped up over the decoys on the rye grass-covered levee, the laughs stopped.
The truth is that there are lots of areas where late-season ducks are aware of almost anything irregular. And the better you can hide yourself and your blind, the better for your hunting.
So where does old Christmas garland come in?
While most of the terrain is leafless, dead grass or grain-colored, there are evergreen bushes and rye grass-covered levees that are bright green. If your blind is in a rye grass levee and your camo is all brown, you stand out among the green.
The solution: Use the old branches off a plastic Christmas tree or wrap the shooting screen of your blind with Christmas garland.
Ho Ho Ho.
Don’t laugh. It works.
Now, the same hunters who used to laugh are doing the same thing on their blind.
But here’s a hint: If it is too shiny, hit it with a light, light mist of dull-green spray paint.
And get ready to cut ’em.
If you can stop laughing.
