Flying ducks and hunting a new spot: The Bottoms Unit at Spring Lake

MANITO, Ill. — Ducks whirled off in flutters of white patches fading into the dark as we sloshed back toward the blind.

It was good to see the ducks, even in brief flashes, with their promise of the hunt to come in early November.

And good that Jeff Lampe warned me to bring chest waders. We waded the last 100 yards or so.

It was my first visit to the walk-in blinds at the Bottoms Unit adjacent to Spring Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area.

It will not be my last, if I can draw a permit.

The Bottoms Unit is 411 acres with four moist-soil wetland impoundments, managed well for ducks and other migratory birds.

There are four blinds. To get a blind, enter the annual lottery drawing for waterfowl permits in August.

There is no guarantee of drawing a permit for the Bottoms Unit. Lampe only occasionally draws a permit. I was glad he drew one this year.

The unit is hunted opening day, then every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday of the duck season in the central zone. Lampe warned that the impoundments are shallow and freeze quickly, so late-season dates can be dicey.

Those drawing a permit may bring three partners. Lampe, the publisher of Heartland Outdoors, invited me, Toulon farmer Gary Forlines and Brad Crisco, a teacher and assistant football coach at Elmwood High School.

Lampe, Forlines and I go back something like 15 years in duck hunting or pheasant hunting.

Technically, there could be standby draws for the walk-ins, but I would not drive three hours from Chicago on the chance of that.

Lampe was drawn first with his permit. He picked Blind 21. Blinds 23 and 24 went next.

It’s a walk-in, so it meant lugging bags of decoys, guns and gear and pulling a cart with more stuff through the water.

It was more than worth it.

Mist and fog hung over our hunt all morning, thick enough that the first shots didn’t come until well into shooting time.

Lampe made our first shot count on a mallard, which was retrieved nicely by his black Lab, Bridget.

Bridget did her retrieving with vigor and enthusiasm.

Then Forlines dropped a spoonbill (northern shoveler). It was that kind of day, with varied ducks arriving every few minutes.

Our shooting skills varied, too. But our eating skills were top-notch.

Lampe started by shaking open a bag of local beef sticks. Crisco broke out home-smoked cheese to go with homemade goose sausage, lightly spicy-hot. I opened a bag of the good Halloween candy I had squirreled away.

Good Lord, it was the kind of eating where it was tough to put the sausage and cheese down to pick up the shotgun when the ducks flew.

The piece de resistance for food, as on most of our hunts, came when Forlines brought out the incredible crumb-topped muffins his wife, Ginny, makes. It is a long tradition.

Finally, even with the fog, the ducks stopped flying. Lampe made the call to stop at 11:30 a.m.

It was time.

Between stuffing our mouths and talking about the Elmwood-Wilmington playoff football game, we bagged two shovelers, two green-winged teal, a blue-winged teal, a pintail and the mallard. We should have had a few more.

More important, I have a new public-hunting spot to apply for.

Follow me on Twitter @BowmanOutside.