By Steve Felgenhauer

For many duck hunters, the morning ritual—setting decoys, early breakfast at an all-night diner and the camaraderie—are as much part of duck hunting as the hunt itself. No one loves a morning in the blind or a sunrise any more than I, but drastic times call for drastic measures.

Early season wasn't working for my hunting partner, Mike and I. Morning after morning the parking lot at our public ground "honey hole" looked like Christmas at the mall. Needless to say we didn't hunt. We had to find another way. Quite by accident Mike took an afternoon off and headed to the blind. "The ducks were rolling in!" Mike yelled excitedly into his cell phone.

The plan formulated. "Tomorrow we will sleep in and get into the blind after everyone has gone," Mike announced. 

Our anticipation could hardly be contained.

The plan worked for a few days, but soon, it seemed others had caught on to our plan. We again were sharing our spot with 25 of our closest friends, whom we had never met.