Micro-Spreads

It had been a frustrating morning. Several flocks of mallards swung past my spread of three dozen decoys, gained altitude, and then piled into another pond 200 yards away. While I managed to take a few teal that buzzed over my blind, the big ducks wanted nothing to do with me. By the time I took the hint, the flood of mallards had dwindled to a trickle.

Hoping it wasn’t too late, I grabbed the four closest decoys and hustled over to the pond, where I hurriedly tossed them out and tucked myself into a tall, grassy bank. It took just 10 minutes for the fir