Duck didn't have a chance....

January 8th duck hunt

Today started out great and ended slow. It began with Gel Helmet arriving extremely late. He walked in with about 2 minutes to spare for legal shooting time. He wasted no time by almost immediately shooting 2 wood ducks. It was a nice double! Good shooting by the Helmet. One of the woodies was about 5 ft. off of the end of his barrel. His shot literally cut the bird in half. Nasty. A few minutes later, I shot a mallard drake. That was all of the shooting. We did see a few more mallards and wood ducks, but overall pretty slow. It was a fun hunt. They all are whether we have success or not. We are thankful to be able to do this as a hobby. Rowza and his brother in law also joined us. They were in a bad spot for shooting and did not get the chances that the Helmet and I got.

Black Ducks and Mallards

Today I shot my first black duck ever! Longeared mule and I combined shot 2 black ducks and 2 mallards. All drakes! This was one of those days where I woke up with no expectations an would have been fine with shooting nothing and eating a biscuit. I'm so glad we got up. The ducks have really migrated in recently. Duck season to date has been less than stellar. Today made up for it. Sadie made 4 nice retrieves! I will go to bed tonight dreaming about a greasy biscuit. Maybe tomorrow will turn out similar.

Christmas Snow 2010!

We got a foot of snow! With all of family Christmas events, I haven't been doing much hunting. There will be more hunting posts to come into late January.

Slow Duck day

For now it appears that many of the ducks have migrated down south. We did not see many yesterday. We did see a pair of woodies and a pair of mallards on some ponds we have access to. We did not get a shot. Either way, it was better to be out in the weather than stuck in the house!

Zorbacon vs. Merganser/Zorbacon vs. Pond

The morning started out with a hunt with Longeard mule, Sadie, and Sewer Rat. The ducks either slept late or migrated somewhere else. I counted 5 mallards sky high and 1 far off wood duck. There were no opportunities to shoot. We had fun either way. A little later on I was helping Glove Devil in the greenhouse. I stepped outside to take a break. While contemplating what to have for a snack, I climbed onto the mountain of pallets to get a better look at the pond. I saw ducks swimming on the pond. I saw 2 mergansers. Over the next several minutes I got my shotgun, hat and jacket and walked to the pond. I approached from behind the dam. I was completely invisible to the ducks. As I rose to spot the ducks and shoot, I fired on the merganser drake and got him. I let the hen fly away. 2 wood ducks that I did not see until after I shot flew off as well. They were at the other end of the pond. The dead merganser drake was lying in the middle of the pond. My waders were in the truck back at the greenhouse. It was a 5 minute walk away. I asked myself, "What would Bear Grylls do"? I took off my boots and socks. I rolled my sweatpants as high up my legs as I could. I stepped into the slimy pond. The water was so cold! I knew the pond wasn't deep. I continued to slowly walk to the center to pick up the bird. It was an odd feeling. Was I really barefooted in a pond on December 2nd? Was I doing all of this for a merganser?

No Shave November

I know what you are thinking. What does a beard have to do with being in the wild? Everything!!!! A beard works as a face warmer, and a face mask. At the beginning of November, I did not know I would be participating. I last shaved the morning of November 1st. I saw an old friend who had a nice beard in his own right. I decided I was in.





There is an unwritten rule that you must have a mustache for a short period after you shave your beard.

It's always funnier to scold your child with a stache! You come across much more stern.