Last day lazy

I had a field that had geese on it yesterday, but I'm saving it for a shoot tomorrow.
So to round out the year I'm taking it easy and getting some chores done. However this week has treated me pretty well, with 2 geese on Monday and 3 on Tuesday.

I had limit on Tuesday before Bob and Tom were over. For those of you not in the "know" Bob and Tom are a radio show that ends at 10:00am. I had one flock that I called in and dropped my 3 birds from it, done time to pick up and head for the house. I did want to get back out today but the water has turned hard, with no hopes of it turning soft again anytime soon.

I had to break the ice to get back into the ramp, more than I had to break to just get out.

Duck season is over

Well duck season ended last week, I hunted Tues. and Thurs. for waterfowl and only got 1 Mallard on Thursday.
 I also hunted for coon on Wed. night and shot 2, unfortunately I didn't bring either one home. I still can't believe I didn't get either coon. Here's what happened... I was walking to one of my calling spots and I saw 3 sets of eyes in a tree. So being the opportunist I am I started inching closer and setting up for the shot. When I was close enough I shot and dropped the first coon, after the shot the other coons started scurrying for the ground. I lined up the second coon and shot, both coons dropped. So I started walking over to pick up my prizes only to find blood trails. Here's the bad part, it had started raining and hour before so by the time I shot the ground was already wet. So I was able to pick up the blood trail of only one of the coons. I followed it for about a fifty yards then I lost it, the rain had washed it away. There wasn't anything else I could do but move on, I don't like loosing game but it's not like I didn't try to recover them.
Anyway I sat on the water all day on Christmas day and finally had a pair of mallards come sailing in. When I shot, the drake and hen had aligned perfectly and both went down. The hen went down and straight underwater so I waited for her to come up to put her down again. When she came up she didn't just sit on the water, she took off out of the water like a rocket. I shot 2 more times trying to drop her but luck was on her side and she got away. The drake on the other hand got to ride in my truck.

Went all week without firing a shot

Well at least that is true for geese, I hunted every day but Thursday and never even took the safety off.
I went out Wednesday night for coon and only managed one. I saw four others but they were on private property so I couldn't shoot 'em. I am going to make at least one more trip down to Mississinewa after I get my new foxpro. Last week when I was down there I found a beaver pond and I think if I put a babbling brook sound on the foxpro the beaver will come to investigate it.
Since everyone is into selfies these days I took a selfie too, it was with my camera but I still think it should be considered a selfie.

I shot that muskrat right early in the morning. That answers the age old question,"if I shoot a muskrat in the water will it sink?" No would be the answer. I saw him swimming along and "snuck" up to within 30 yards, aimed a little high and let the steel fly. When I got up to him he was floating on a weed mat. I took him and dropped him in the water and sure enough he floated. So I added one more pelt to my fur pile, which I hoping to bring in today after the morning duck hunt. $$$$$

couple week check in

Well it seems I haven't been on here for a couple weeks so let's start with the first week of December. As I go back over my pics I only found one, that tells me it was a slow week. Oh, wait a minute I was sick that week, I took a couple days off to recoup. Now it makes a little more sense that I only have one pic to show for that week. I am still hunting the water and have yet to hit the fields for ducks and geese.
I had a chance to hit one of my fields for ducks but passed it up for some stupid reason.
Lesson learned: When there's fowl in the field today better shoot it tomorrow because you don't know how long they'll stay.
OK back to the water hunt I dropped 3 ducks out of one flock. I was able to secure a goose out of a flock that landed out of range and then swam in.

Last week I had Monday off due to weather, so I hung out and got some traps ready.
On Tuesday I goose hunted in the morning with no luck. Tuesday night (11 pm) into Wednesday morning I coon hunted, then in the morning (8 am) I switched clothes into all orange and deer hunted. Tuesday night I only saw 2 sets of eyes one of which came home with me. Then Wednesday around 9:15 am when I had just started my day of walking up deer I jumped a little doe, that I promptly dispatched. I gotta tell ya she looked bigger when she was running. So even though I was disappointed with her size, we'll have some deer meat this year. I'm hoping to get out to my private property to try for another deer, since I took this one off public I can't take any more off public property.

Then on Thursday I went down to Huntington for the pheasant clean up. I had walked two and a half fields without seening a bird. In my head I was already strategising  what my next move would be. This was the lateset I have tried for pheasant, usually I go down the week right after Thanksgiving. So with the thought of most of the pheasants gone already I was going down the list of places to hit next.
When all of a sudden in the very nest corn row sat a pheasant. Bang.... then another pheasant got up an flew from my right to my left, Bang.. limit within 1 minute.

This week so far has been a bust, I went goose hunting yesterday with no luck. Checked my traps- no luck, I'm going out goose hunting today and it's raining right now. And as we all know I hate hunting in the rain I'm hoping that if I persevere I will be rewarded with a goose or two but who knows. I might just be going out to get myself and my gear soaked.
Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Sooo Sad

Take a minute and ask yourself, "why am I getting this posting when Lost should be out there... well Lost?"
Answer in a nutshell: I AM SICK

I started feeling sick on Thursday when my throat wasn't feeling quite right. By Friday it felt like a dozen leprechauns were tap dancing in my throat with golf spikes on. Today I'm congested in my head and chest, my ears are ringing and I'm generally just unpleasant to be around. I worked all weekend hoping that it would just pass. Not that lucky I guess, so now I'm at home coughing, wheezing and sneezing hoping I'm not going to miss out on all 4 days of hunting.
Well enough of my problems, last week ended with 3 drake mallards and a bonus muskrat.
A muskrat????
I have seen muskrat there before and since I'm there all week I decided to get and set a trap. I figured I might as well make some extra money as long as I'm already on the water. The first day nothing but the second yielded a nice fat rat. Now I'm starting to think I should expand my trapping efforts. I do t alot of scouting for ducks and geese and I could set and check quite a few traps on my travels. I'm still putting that together and probably won't start til next year but it's rattlin' around up there.

Here's the pics

This pic was taken with my phone because I forgot my camera.

PSA and a Midweek report

HAPPY THANKSGIVING
I hope this posting finds my family and friends in good health and wishing for nothing.

PSA-If you have a ceramic (glass) stove top keep tin foil away from the burners. I was going to use one of my outside pans on the stove, in order to protect it I put tin foil down. Sarah thought that it wasn't a good idea because it might catch on fire. I was relatively certain it wouldn't, what I didn't anticipate was what actually happened.

This is after scrubbing and scraping it for 2 hours. It not only left a very visible mark it also pitted the top. So please learn from me and don't do this.... by the way a new top is going to be around $230.

 Last week ended with another Mallard limit and a bonus Woodie on Wed.

On Thursday I left with a mallard hen, I guess after pounding a spot for 3 days they kinda catch on. 

Yesterday I shot ok, good enough for these 2 drakes. I should've had at least one more.

 Now I don't know if you remember but when I went Turkey hunting last spring I had a coon break into my supply tent and eat my rhubarb pie.
Well I've been waiting a long time for this.
PAYBACK

It was finally time for some payback, I went down and did some vermin control last nite. This is just the first phase.I don't know if one of these critters was the one, so I'm not taking any chances. With phase one complete phase two is next. Phase two is just as easy as phase one - go back down and kill more coon.

Last week and a special mid-week report for this week

Last week was a horrible, horrible week. I didn't see more than 8 ducks any one day. The ducks I was seeing were not workable, they were very stale.
I finally nailed down one duck on Thursday.

 Yesterday was a complete turn around from last week, the ducks are here and plentiful. Thanks early snow storm.

 Now did I mention COLD? Today we had a high of 18 with 20 to 30 mph winds, it was cold. I started going to the lake I was at yesterday until I found it had froze over. I probably don't have to repeat this but my boat will not break any type of ice. So I went with plan B, which is a spot I have permission to hunt on a river. I had 3 mallards by 8 am and finished and was home by 11 am. I'm not snobbish about it, but I did try to shoot strictly green today. I dropped that little susie in the early am shooting light... oops. This would be my first mallard limit of the season.
 Did I mention it was cold?
I had to take the hero pic sitting down cause my waders were frozen that way.
I had to keep clearing the ice in front of me or it would have froze in.

DID I MENTION IT WAS COLD??????

Since this week is a bust so far, I might as well tell ya 'bout last week

The weather has not been very ducky since the start of season. However last week was a little cooler, this week isn't going to get cold 'til I go back to work. Anyway .... we were talking bout last week, I had a pretty good week. I brought home some geese and ducks on every trip. I didn't miss a whole lot and generally had a pretty good time. Don't really have any good stories... so here are the pics.

Mergs in the decoys

pair O geese

Wigeon hen, Pintail hen and a mallard drake I missed the Pintail drake.

Gadwall hen, Mallard drake and a gooser

















Pair of Mallard drakes










Well I've gotta get going, coon season has started and I really want to go. The moon has been very bright and I always done better on a dark nite. So I probably won't get out til next week.

SG-20 Myth or Miracle?

SG-20 for those of you who don't know is an epoxy sealer made for repairing waders, boots and the like. It is sold at Cabela's and a couple other stores, they have some videos on youtube you can watch to see the applications.
My experience with SG-20 is as follows. I have had a rather bothersome leak in the crotch area of my Super mag waders from Cabelas for the past 3 or 4 years. It started as some simple dampness and this year turned into an all out soaking of my man berries in a matter of minutes.
In lieu of buying a 350 dollar pair of waders, I decided to give SG-20 a try. Well I took off the tape on the inside seams of the waders and applied the stuff. It really dries quickly so get it where you need it and don't mess with it, but holy crap does it work great.
I have been dry and warm since I used this stuff, it ain't cheap but it's better than a couple hundred for a new set of waders.
So if you have some boots or waders that are leaking give this stuff a try you won't be disappointed.
I say Miracle.

Previously...

Sorry but this has to be pretty brief, as all post might be this winter. Between working and hunting no time left for anything else.
Monday.. no luck
Tuesday one mallard

Wednesday one hen wigeon.

Thursday.... well Thursday sucked... let me explain.
Started out the day at the landing looking back at the truck and noticing I left my boat cover in the bed. So went back to shore and stowed said boat cover in cab. When I got to the boat I saw a line hanging from a tree branch into the water. I had seen it all week and wondered what it was so I gave it a tug. To my surprise it tugged back, it was an 11 inch catfish. Since it had been there for the last 3 days I thought the best thing to do was to let it go. So I ripped the line from the tree branch and removed it from the fishes mouth and released it.
On with the hunt, I thought I would have very good luck considering I had done my good deed for the day sooo early.
I had 4 geese come in and leave, I called some more and they came back. Bang Bang Bang nothing....
I had a mallard come in and leave, I called some more and she came back. Bang Bang Bang nothing..
Ok good calling bad shooting, time to go, pack up my gear and the pouch I always put my keys is empty. Tear apart boat.... nothing. Get to truck thinking keys might be either in truck or on the ground. No such luck... tear apart boat again... then the truck just for good measure.  
Nothing.
So I did the only thing I could do and that was to call my wife. Have her leave work go home get my spare set of keys and bring them out to me.
 The only thing I can figure is when I was releasing that damn catfish I dropped my keys in the lake without even realizing it.
So how was your week?

My Waterfowl Opener

Well last week was the first week I had to hunt waterfowl. It turned out pretty good, I put a couple ducks and geese in the freezer. It wasn't a barn burner start but I am making a dent in the population. I got some good video but have no idea when I'll be able to put anything together.
I might just have to wait a while, while I'm collecting more video.
Anyway here's the pics

Last Hoorah

Monday was the last fishing trip of the year. I went up to the big lake and put in at New Buffalo, MI. This is one of my new favorite launches, it takes me so much less time to get to depth and to the fish. Anyway I went out to 110 fow and trolled around 70-90 fow for the day. I missed the first hit I had on a rigger because I was getting a picture of the fog bank in front of me.

After that I started paying attention a little more and that's when Boomer showed up.

 This little guy stayed with me all day, he continued to circle the boat and eat anything that was flying. Needless to say I really appreciated not only the company but his natural ability to rid me of the nuisance insects. I think he thought that I was there for him because he didn't think anything of me.

Like I was just there to attract his breakfast, lunch and supper, which he ate all day. I have no idea how this tiny bird ate so many flies and moths. I watched him eat 4 huge flies and at least 3 large moths on top of all the little pesky flies that were on and around the boat.

At one point Boomer had a couple buddies show up, but they didn't stay that long.
The reason I named him Boomer was because he was like a boomerang. He would spot a bug on the water fly out and get it then come right back to the boat and eat.

Even when it was time to go he didn't  want to leave. He patiently waited for me to clear my gear, get the kicker on board and throttle up to 24 mph.

When we got the mouth of the river and we were within 30 ft of shore he finally flew away. It was pretty cool fishing with him all day. I was a little disappointed in him though. We had many talks about the rules of the boat, and how he could stay as long as he didn't crap all over my stuff. I thought he understood and was adhering to that rule until I started putting my gear away for the trip home.
That little bird crapped everywhere, no wonder he had room to eat all those bugs.
In the end I had a great last trip out, I have some video but haven't put it together yet.  As soon as I get it together I'll get it up here.

I caught 2 fish, 1 king that weighed in at 8#'s and 1 steelhead at 6 #'s.

End of early season lull

Well early goose ended without a bang on the 15th. So I did what anyone would do... I went dove hunting. I spent the morning and evening sitting on a field doing some pass shooting. The in between time was spent walking up all the fields at Huntington. I only got one bird walking the fields but 3 apiece in the morning and evening.
The morning hunt actually turned out to be very eventful. As I was sitting waiting on birds I had a couple CO's show up. They were out and about and wanted to check my shells, license and hip number. Shells... no problem, license... aummmm, oh crap where's my license? I went through every pocket of every bag I had in the field with no luck. In the mean time the CO ran my name and DOB and found out I did have a license. That however didn't change the fact that I was freakin' out about not having my license. Well long story short I ended up going back to my car, which wasn't that far and found it wedged between the drivers seat and the armrest.
I have found many things while hunting. For a long time I was using 25 dove decoys that had been left in a field. This year I had one of my better finds. I was walking the first field and just happened to look down and saw an older Thermacell. It was a little wet but I picked it up and carried with me until I could get to the car to see if it worked. It worked beautifully I actually used it on my evening sit.
So I had a pretty good day in hindsight, lost and found my license, found a fully functional Thermacell and shot 7 doves.
Not sure what I'm doing next week fishing or hunting.
Friday is my DU event I'm really looking forward to it, wish me luck one of the guns they're giving away is the new A5. I really want that gun.

Day before the last day limit

I've been out goose hunting 8 days now and I finally brought some geese home. I sat through rain, sun, wind, and no geese to finally make a limit before 10 am. The first flock that came in I put 3 down, then 1 more that came in as a pair. I was trying for a double but had to use all 3 rounds to drop the second easy one, with the first easy one sitting on the water in the decoys, he got away. The next one was a single that I had to beg and plead to come in. Even when he came in he still didn't want to drop in the decoys, which made for a high over head shot. I hit him all three times and I'm not sure were he dropped but I did find him floating on the water. So there it is finally after all the blood, sweat and tears I got to take some geese home.

Slloowwww Start

I've been goose hunting every morning, and dove hunting last night. The only critters I've brought home since the first was doves. I got three last night in Huntington, I was so disgusted I didn't even get a pic. I've been seeing the geese, at least a couple flocks a day. Nothing wants to come in no matter what I do. Four days of hunting and only 3 doves to show for it...... Oh well there's always next week.

Last couple weeks

Finally made it up to Lake Michigan yesterday and trolled all day and only had I hit. It was around noon and I had a steelhead take an SOG spoon at 60' down in 160 fow. He made it to the surface in 2 seconds jumped once pulled the line tight, the drag wasn't letting out line so I tried to loosen it. The fish jumped again and when I started to tighten the line the fish was gone.
Things to remember: Check drag on all reels periodically through the day especially in the morning.
Anyway here's some pics from the last couple weeks. The first pics are from LM then the rest are from Tippy.

starting lineup

2nd team

lures washed and ready to go for next time

Well one more week and then it'll be hunting season. I'm going to try and get up to LM again next week and try for some Kings again. If I can't go "Oh well" hunting starts in a week. : )