1 week

That's all we have for the late duck season, and the week started on Sat. Since I hadn't done any scouting and just wanted a real easy hunt I would see if Mike wanted to go to the river on Christmas Morning. Well he couldn't make the morning but said he could do the afternoon.
When we got down to the river we saw that someone had been down there Saturday, and had a really good shoot, judging by all the shotgun shells everywhere. Well we stuck it out in the hope that a couple ducks and geese would come back. They did but only 2 ducks and maybe a dozen geese. I took a poke at the ducks, I dropped both but only found one.

I chased the mallard for an hour before he gave me the slip.
Tuesday it rained all day so I spent the day scouting for Wednesday. As it turns out, I found a field that in all actuality I got permission on back in 2010. I had not hunted it because for what ever reason the birds just hadn't showed up again until Tues. So once again I gave Mike a call to see it he could make it. He had something to do in the evening, but said he could make the morning 'til about 1. So off we went in the frozen morning to try and get some birds. I had been watching the birds in the area and there were plenty of geese and ducks around so my hopes were high.
We had been set up for about 30 minutes when the first four pack came in. The birds worked perfectly and just when they were going to set down I called the shot. 2 birds stayed and 2 went in search of greener pastures. Next was a dozen or so birds that wanted to come in. Well they split up and we had a four pack ready to land while the rest of the flock was still unsure. I have always believed in, "a bird in the hand" so I called the shot and all four stayed on the ground. Next was a split threesome with one way out in front, just in a hurry to make a new friend. I called and when the goose was right out in front I told Hunter to smoke him, one shot one goose. We had another threesome come in looking for company, but we were all outside the blinds and couldn't get closed up in time to convince them to come in.

Tuesday's final- I got 3, Mike and Hunter got 2 apiece.
We had 2 ducks fly over when we were all out of our blinds and not paying attention. 😭

Oh yeah and here's the kicker. Since last week I had noticed there was a grinding sound coming from my rear tires. I chalked it up to road grime on my rotors, so I got the truck washed. Then when I was backing up the brakes were acting kind of weird. So I had Mike get out and watch them when I was backing up. That's when he noticed I had 0 pad left and the rotor was ground away pretty bad. So I called around to get an appointment for pads and rotors (both sides were bad) and was able to get into the shop Jan 4th. So needless to say the truck is not leaving the driveway for the rest of this week and next week....... maybe I'll have to go coyote hunting.

I should be getting paid

Let me explain why. I went coyote hunting on Tuesday (nothing) and on the way home I did some scouting. I saw a bunch of geese in a field that Mike has permission to hunt. When I got home I called Mike up and told him the game plan which was as follows:
1. get to the field by noon thirty and get the spread set as the geese were coming in at 4-4:30 pm.
2. get hid and shoot geese and go home.
Simple plan right?
Well by the time 1:45 rolled around, we were getting to the field and getting the spread out. Of course we had 2 flocks try to land on us and nobody had a gun ready. Well they didn't go far, just out to a field across from us. So we had hope that when they came back they would come close enough for a shot....... That didn't happen.
So as the clock turned 5:05 with only 11 minutes of shooting light left I started packing it in. You know the usual, unload the gun, put the calls away, start dragging the sled arou....... hey those geese look like they're coming this way.
I yelled out to Mike ,"geese coming are you loaded?" No was the answer, but by the time the geese were within shooting range I watched him shoot twice and had 1 goose fall. As he loaded up again another flock was on the way. When they got close enough 3 shots later and Mike had his 3 bird limit.
All while I watched (I know it was my fault)- I should've stayed in the game and made it pay.
So let's recap:
I did the scouting  (albeit on his property.)
We used my decoys which I set out
I did the calling (which in the end didn't help at all)
I even drove, so I packed and unpacked the gear by myself.
All so my Buddy could have a good hunt.... kinda sounds like a guide..... huh.  😖

Deer season

Is finally over.... I got out everyday during muzzle loader . Mornings, evenings not an entire day but I actually gave it a good shot this year. I was fortunate enough that Mike brought me to some of his ground and that is where I saw deer (Thanks Mike). I saw 2 last week and 2 this morning, nothing willing to give me a shot but at least I saw deer. So to wrap up year #2 without a deer, I think next year I'll just have to break down and get a crossbow so I can hunt the early season. That being said it's back to blasting geese which is what I would rather be doing. So hopefully I'll have pics of dead stuff next week.💀

Starting December with a bang

Well it was suppose to be raining Monday so after last years pheasant fiasco I decided to go and put it in the rain, since that might keep some people away.  I saw 4 pheasants and only one when I was walking....which is the one I got. The people were not as bad as last year, so that was awesome. I only flushed the one bird but since I got to bring meat home it was a good day.

My clothes are still drying

Tuesday Mike and I decided to shoot his Uncle George's pond in his field. Once again, we shot poorly but managed to end up one bird short of limit; Mike still needed one more. So we packed all the gear except the birds and decoys because I left my camera back in the truck.
 On the walk back a Drake quacked and landed on the water right next to the furthest decoy.

The Drake is on the right

 Mike said he was going to walk back for his gun to which I agreed.

You can see the truck to the right at the base of the telephone pole

On the way back the duck must have seen him and got up and started flying over towards Mike when he shot.  He hit him on the first shot waited for a decent shot on the water and then had to shoot again before going down to retrieve his prize.

last duck for Mike's limit

Really good hunt.

 After we were done with the hero pics for the day we packed up the rest of the gear and headed out.
Only to get back to the truck and Mike realized he forgot his gun back at the blind.

Mike going back for his gun.

Then this morning we went back to GP's (George's Pond) and shot a couple ducks. We didn't get limit but I'm blaming that on the cloud cover.  The wind and temp were good but I think we could've done better if it had been sunny.

When I got started cleaning my duck the first thing I noticed is it had rice breast. Since it wasn't that bad I made the decision to keep it, I've read it won't hurt me but there are few enough that if I want I could probably cut them out.

Rice breast doesn't look appetizing but won't hurt you