Happy Happy Happy Thanksgiving

I, along with everyone that reads this, has so much to be thankful for there's really not enough room here to list it all. That being said, here's the short list:Wife,Health,Family,House and Time-Off work to enjoy the great outdoors.
These are just some of the things I am thankful for.
Tuesday I was able to hit the water for some duck hunting, and pulled down a lone drake and then a double. Making my take three for the day.

Let me see here what did I do on Wednesday...... oh yeah I went duck hunting. I got to one of my favorite spots and low and behold there was hard water in the spot I wanted to hunt. So I had to set up in an area that was a little more conducive to putting out decoys. Let me tell you I am very happy I did, I hunted til 2pm and almost got a limit of mallards.

 Did you see it?       See what???         Look again              I'll wait...... Give up????

Yep I finally got a banded duck. He was number 29 for the year. He was banded in Heckla, South Dakota in 2010 and was at least 1 year old when he was banded.
That's what the banding certificate said.

Thursday I thought the competition for space on the water would be a factor so I went to a spot on a river that I have given access to by the landowner. I had a pretty good day, I saw 15 Turkeys roosting in the trees above the river. When the sun came out they flew down in a nearby field. I also saw a mink on the opposite shore, I really thought about shooting him. The last one I brought in got me 15.00 bucks, but since it was such a nice day I let him live.
I also had this deer cross the river just down from me. She was a yearling that got within 10 yards of me before heading up the embankment and disappearing.

 I got one mallard with the one and only shot I had all day. I left at 10am to get home and start the Thanksgiving day meal.

 Friday I showed up at the landing an hour and a half early, only to find all the water had turned hard. My duck boat will not break through any ice what so ever at all, so I raced back home dumped the boat grabbed a couple six packs of decoys and headed back to the river. I had a wood duck come in and land in my decoys with only minutes to go before shooting time. Once shooting time rolled around the wood duck rolled out without so much as a salute. The next duck I had a shot at I only winged and chased 4 blocks downstream only to get back exhausted and duck less. Right around noon, I finally put some meat on the ground and by that I mean I had to chase him down. I finally found him huddled up under an uprooted tree.

So as you can see I had many things to be grateful for.