Took my Mom duck hunting last week..... Happy New Year.

Well, first we'll start with this week. 

I woke up yesterday with a little sore throat so I decided to just take it easy and try to stop the oncoming cold. 

So far so good I'll keep you informed.

 

 Last week was pretty awesome, I hunted Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I did take Thursday off only because I was whooped and I'm not 20 anymore.

 

I actually set up 2 days in the same spot and the last day on the adjacent property. The landowner was super cool letting me leave my trailer in front of his barn, so I didn't have to drag it back and forth. Needless to say that was a huge gas saver.

 

Monday- I took a chance on a spot that I hadn't seen ducks or geese at in a while, but I figured I would be able to bring 'em in. Boy was I right... let me back up a little bit. I have been hunting this particular property for a little over 20 years. I knew there was a chick that hunted the woods for deer but have never met her until Monday. She was running a little trap line and drove on the opposite side of the crick I was backed up to. When she drove back she stopped and we kicked of a conversation. While we were talking I was able to shoot my 4 mallards, she mentioned it was a long time since she had duck hunted so I invited her for the next days hunt. She accepted and I finished my hunt a little early, so I didn't burn the spot.

Yeah I was 3 geese short, but I wanted the ducks. They were only open (for me) 3 more days, so that's all I was really gunning for.

Tuesday- I told Amy not to worry about set up but to just show up when she wanted. So she showed up ran her trap-line, grabbed her gun and ammo and we started another BS session, while waiting on the ducks and geese. We had a flock of ducks working and finally committed I gave her honors mainly because she was shooting a Citori O/U 20 (I found out later it was her skeet gun and had skeet chokes in it) and her reach just wasn't as good as it could be. Well she managed to drop her first duck in over 2 handfuls of years. After we made the retrieve she turns to me and asks,"can I give you a hug?" I said hell ya of course you can. She was pretty stoked. Turns out she solo hunts almost exclusively including Maine bear, Maine moose and a couple Florida gators. She started hunting when she was 40 and has quite the resume for a short period of time. Well, we hunted to within a couple hours of shooting time when she had some stuff she had to take care of. So she asked if I wanted help picking up and of course I declined, putting out and picking up by myself don't bother me a bit, I was just happy she had a good hunt. Well, I kept my ducks and let her take the rest since she hasn't had duck or geese in a long time.

I shot the geese and 2 ducks while Amy got 3 ducks, her gun really held her back. At the ranges we were shooting, and the chokes she had in, she might as well been shooting salt. But since she has an open invitation to hunt with me I think she'll be looking for a new gun. I told her I want her to shoot my X2 first, she's small and really worried about her short length of pull (small reach = small stock).

Wednesday- I got out late, like not even set up by 9am, I wasn't mad though I had my shopping to get done, and I had to buy a water heater, and since I knew I was going to be late I even stopped for some Casey's pizza. I got to the field around 9:30 and started to get set up, by the time I was it was already past 11am. So I decided to do what anyone would've done, I started with a little hunting with my ears....

When I opened my eyes and lifted my head I noticed I had 2 more mallard decoys than I put out. So I popped up and shot the drake, after that I thought, "what else did I miss?" So I picked up my phone and saw Mom had called, so I hit the button and called back.

Well, Dad answered so I talked to him for a while before he had to get ready. He handed me off to Mom and while we were talking I had a flock of mallards start working. Talk to mom, feed chuckle, talk to mom, quack -feed chuckle, talk to mom.... mallards in the decoys, put the phone down and shoot 2 mallards. I picked up the phone and told mom I just shot 2 mallards and she says."Ok I'll let you go." To which I responded,"no way we shot 'em I'll take you with while I go pick 'em up." So there you go, I took my Mom on a duck hunt. 

 Now I was just waiting on geese, I figured they'd be a little late so I got the spread cleaned up and waited. When they decided to fly they came in force, from the looks of it they all flew at the same time. So I started calling, when they started to land in the decoys I shot and dropped 2. I got up and had to chase the first one almost to the woods and back to the spread. It was then that I had a different goose come flying over honking so I shot him. I finally shot the first one and started looking for the second.... which was nowhere to be found. So I counted him, picked up the 2 that I had on the ground, and decided I was happy with that and thought there wouldn't be anymore flying.... Until I saw a 5 pack coming straight for me. I got in my blind and started calling when they touched their feet down I shot 2 more which gave me 4 with 1 in the wind. With light to spare I started packing up my blind and gear, then walked to get the wheeler to ride to where the truck was parked... on the way I found the 2nd goose I shot in a field 400 yards away from where I was hunting..... LIMITS.

I found the last goose after I took my pic.

 

I'm hoping to start the year right by going goose hunting next week.... if I can kick this cold. 

just a quick one

 I spent most of the day waiting on the water-heater guy so I haven't gotten done what I need to get done. That being said.... I did get out yesterday, it was an all day sit but I ended up with limit.

Next week is going to be heck tick so I don't know if I'll get a post out. 

If I don't get one out next week.... MERRY CHRISTMAS  be safe and I put out a huge post the week after Christmas.
 

Busy week

 After work on Sunday I scouted for Monday, and once again I found them on the same property I shot last week. I knew Monday was going to be an all day sit, the weather was calling for partly cloudy.... That actually means mostly sunny, and geese will sit until last light. I got to the field kinda early and started to set up, it was then I realized I forgot my main blind so I had to set up a backup blind. I finally get settled in and to my disbelief I see my locals lifting up and flying to the North.... that is not the direction I was. At this point all I could do is hope they come over to see me on the way back to roost. So I did what any dedicated hunter would do... I made it more challenging by hunting with only my ears.... The first migrator flock woke me up with their calling. So I started calling back and wow they just got in the elevator and dropped right down on me. I wasn't sure if I was able to make them come around for another pass, so as soon as I had a good shot, I did. I dropped one out of the first flock and whiffed on my other 2 shots. Same went for the second flock, the third I dropped 3 but one had 2 lives apparently and made a quick getaway before I could get another shell loaded. 

 If you look at the geese on either end they are smaller, and they both came from the last flock. The two in the middle are regular sized whereas the others are definitely subspecies of Canada's.

 

 VIDEO 

I don't know why you can't see the video, but if you go to the blog site or YouTube you can see it. 

Anyway it was a pretty good day and I got some sleep between the goose interruptions. 

Oh yeah, this guy showed up when I was picking up.

He stayed just long enough to realize it's not duck season.
 

Tuesday I ended up getting my weekly stuff done and I went and shot my .222 to get it ready for coyote season. 

I think it's good to go.

Well that's all the good stuff that happened this week....

Wait, Wait don't go yet... 

what would a week be without some bad luck? It just wouldn't be real.

I don't remember what I had to check in my furnace room but I did see that my hot water heater is leaking. I was just in there no more than 2 weeks ago. 😢

 

All major spending is on hold until I find out how much this is going to cost.😢😬😭 

How was your Thanksgiving?

 I went to my buddies house for Thanksgiving again this year. His wife puts on a very good spread, and I appreciate the invite. After the meal my buddy, myself and Phil headed out to the barn to start the annual after Thanksgiving BS session. At around 2:30 Jake asked if I want to go across the road to see if I could get a doe. I said yes and got out of my good clothes and into some hunting clothes (that I just happened to have with me.) He Ubered me over to his blind in the Canam, dropped me off and went back to the Barn. At 4:20 I called Jake up and asked for a knife since I left mine at home, he said you need one? I said yep I'm done.

Long story short I took this doe at 275 yards with Jakes Christensen 300 prc, what a piece of equipment. Since we had been talking about goose hunting the next morning (friday) that started the wheels turning to take the day off. When we called off that hunt, I was still in day off mode and called in anyway. That really didn't turn out good for me becuse instead of MAKING 350 I SPENT 800.... decisions were made...

Anyway with the passing of Thanksgiving came the start of the pheasant clean up. Monday I went out in perfect conditions... fresh snow. I had a harder time than I thought I would've but I did shoot at 1 bird, that kept flying 😩. I worked half the day just to see a pheasant. Tuesday went a little better....

After the hunt I drove to Fort Wayne to check on the goose situation and low and behold I had geese, so I got on the phone and devised a plan. 

Well none of the usual suspects could make it so I rolled out by myself the next morning. I got set up by 7:40ish and had limit by 9:42, the actual time from the first shot to the last was less than 20 mins. Super good time and an awesome hunt.

VIDEO!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

 This guy was thankful I already got my 🦌.

Not alot happened I'll lay it all out next week. Stay safe.

Finally

 Monday I went out in the am and pm mainly because it was my start to the gun season. I saw a doe and a fawn in the morning, and this guy strolled through in the afternoon toward dusk.

Tuesday in rained all morning so I hunted from the house.... mainly saw alot of YouTube. I did go out in the afternoon mainly because of the cold front. I thought they should be moving.... and they were... in every other field but the woods that I was hunting. I think at last count I only saw 3 squirrels, which for my woods is pathetic.

Then Wednesday rolls around I hadn't seen anything until 7:42, when I saw a buck coming down the trail headed my way. I got my bino's out and recognized him as the big bodied 8 that I saw a couple weeks back. So I got the gun up and picked out a clear lane and waited for him get to it...squeezed the trigger.... and off to the races. He bucked so hard I thought he was going head first into the ground. Then he bolted straight away across the field, and the road, and into the next section. Well I got down and got into the truck knowing I had a dead deer. I drove over to where I saw him cross, and started looking for blood, hoping to cut out the field run.

Well, I couldn't find where he went in so I went over to the landowners house and asked permission to track and was givin' a green light.. so back to the beginning.

I went down to where I shot him at and immediately found blood and a chunk of lung, dead deer I thought. Trailed the blood to and across the road, the deal I made with the landowner was, since he had hunters in the woods, I could only trail the blood and if I lost blood I was to back out. 

Well, I got into the woods and immediately jumped a deer so I backed out and got breakfast. I went back to the woods and contined the trail, I got in about 20 yards and bumped another deer, I realized they both jumped the opposite direction from the way the blood trail was going. So, I kept trailing the blood, I had gone in about 50 yards and the trail just stopped. 

 

Since I couldn't start a grid search I had to think of another option. So, I got on the trakr app and started a request, after I did that I texted Jake for the number of the drone guy he used. I was with him the last time when he grazed a big 8 so I knew the guy through him. 

Well, I got a response from a guy named Braxton I told him about the shot and conditions. I realized it wasn't the guy I knew, and since he was coming from the south side of Fort Wayne I let him know I'll try to get someone closer. It wasn't a minute after I had hung up that Keegan called and after figuring out that was the guy I let him know who I was and he agreed to come out and fly. It took him about a half hour to get there. He set up his drone, sent it up and asked where I lost blood at, I pointed and said 50 yar... hey I got it on OnX I had a track on. I got my phone out and got OnX with my track pulled up. I looked at the screen and I heard, "I think that's your deer." with a laugh.

 

I know the video is terrible it's the end of the whole video where I just followed the drone to my deer. You should be able to see me walking to my deer, following the sound of the drone. 

 

In the time it took me to find that app and get it on the phone he had my deer found. Just amazing.

I mean I shot that deer at 8am and it was located at 1:30ish really really dead. He died within minutes of getting into that block of woods. When I got to the deer I grabbed an antler to move him a little an rigor was really set in. 

So, I went out thanked Keegan agreed on the payment, we parted ways and I got to work.

He was an 8 when I saw him the first time and a 7 when I shot him, nice big bodied buck.... 

only a doe to go.

Here's the issue

 Last week I decided to contact my crossbow manufacturer about an issue I've been having off and on since I purchased it. These were the pics I sent....

So I told them I was having cocking issues where the anti fire did not allow me to cock it unless I manually held up that roll pin in the second pic. To which they replied that I can buy another trigger for 50 bucks with a 15 dollar shipping fee. I found this to be totally unacceptable since they have a lifetime guarantee. 

So, I was going to finish out the rest of the season and figure out which crossbow and company I was going to upgrade to.

Then this happened...

See that silver thing? that's my anti fire device completely out of place and unusable. So while pondering what to do I contacted my buddy in WI who said I should call and give them another chance to make it right. I let him know, I don't want to strong arm them into doing the right thing, I just want them to do the right thing. So, that's what I'll be tackling today, along with getting ready for work this week. 

 

Next week is the gun opener 👍....  👀to fill some tags. 

I borrowed my buddies .243 again.  

Woulda tagged out

 I had to do alot of running to do on Monday , so I didn't get to go hunting. Tuesday I went deer hunting but only saw doves and squirrels. More of the same on Wednesday, but today..... 

I got to the stand and heard rustling in the dark until daylight then a buck came from behind me at 20 yards. I think he is the 7pt I have seen out there prior. I saw him 2 more times within the next couple hours. Then just when I was getting ready to get ready to leave, I was standing up turned around in the stand. When I turned back I saw a really nice 3 year old 8pt at 45-50 yards. He was at the end of my comfort zone and I had alot of limbs in the way so I couldn't get a shot anyway. He hung out for a couple minutes then just turned and started to cross the neighbors field. I tried grunting him back and even tried a rattling sequence to turn him, but he had other plans. 

The one deer I would've shot and I never even got a chance..... hope he stays around. Gun opens is a couple weeks. 

 🤞

Great week

 Well, it is deer season, so I deer hunted. Monday morning, I saw one deer. I hunted Tuesday morning, I saw 12 doe's and 3 different bucks. The biggest of the 3 was a 6 point with no brow tines. He's about a two-year-old, he walked right through my kill hole at 26 yards, and I let him walk, still early. I hunted Wednesday morning, and saw squirrels and coons. 

So this morning, I went out duck hunting because I wanted to. It was a great time, I shot fairly well and I ended up with 2 wood ducks and 1 smiley.

Next week is kinda messed up, I will be out of the field all day Monday with the boat. And I'm finally going to have the annual fish fry with Jake and his family on Wednesday so Thursday might be out too.

I'm going to try and go deer hunting... when I can.... they are chasing.

1st official field hunt went..... ok?

Well, with the cool temps and possible freeze I am putting the rose bush to bed. All I can do is cover it in leaves and hope it comes up OK next spring. 

The boat is in the garage for the season however I'm still waiting on the windshield cover to get done. Since I had the boat in the middle of the garage I decided to loosen the lower unit screw and check for water. 

Again the why me? hit me in the face, of course when I dropped the screw I had some mocha foam come out which is indicative of a water leak. 😡😲😡😡 I only ran it 4x's.....for an hour apiece.

The marina just contacted me and I'll be getting it in on the 3rd, to have them go over the lower unit again. And since I had 1 complaint I decided to tell them about the inner bearing seal not being replaced, which I wasn't even going to bother with until this other happened. So it seems my boat issues continue even after the season is over.

 

My hunt was like a 3 stooges movie, just a comedy of errors. New blind... set up facing the wrong way.... wind change (had to move decoys 4 or 5 times).... and had 1 failure to fire. I saw plenty of birds but with the way I was facing they were coming from behind me, not optimal. I would have done the whole set differently and will remember this next time...😞

 

I did have one thing work really well. I have been thinking about an improvement to my decoy delivery system and this is what I came up with.

There's a truck accessory place in town and I have gotten bed liners from them in the past. They pay to have them disposed of so they give them away for free. They are incredibly easy to manipulate just with a knife and can be use for many things. My neighbor took a bottom and uses it to tow dirt and rocks around the yard, like a sled. I've used one to separate my decoys and wheeler section in the trailer.

This time I cut one up and added sides to my sled... this increases my decoy haul by at least 8 or 9 decoys, and I don't worry about them falling out. When I get back to the trailer the sides fold down and it fits the same as before in the trailer. 👍

That's my set up in and out and works really well. I figure with the extra decoy hauling ability I should be able to make one trip with all my geese.... that'll be awesome. I can't do the same thing with the other sled because they wouldn't fit together if I did, I wish I could. Anyway, I didn't get any video because my phone kept disconnecting with my gopro.... so that sucked.😪

I did get ONE lone goose and ONE lone mallard, I did knock the rust off and have made some improvements to my set up, to aid in rapid spread deployment and exfil.

I know, 1 goose and 1 duck is better than getting skunked but..... damn.

Next week I'll break out the deer gear again and give that a shot for a week or two. Then back to duck hunting for another couple weeks before deer gun opens for a couple weeks.... busy. 

Same old same old

 Well, I went deer hunting Monday and Tuesday, I saw all the main characters.

Wednesday I got up left the house, as soon as I sat down in my stand it started raining. I turned my data on my phone and looked at the weather. It was nothing but green all the way to Milwaukee which means, a lot of rain. So, I waited in the rain until 8:30 decided it wasn't going to stop. I was done, got up, got to the truck got halfway home, and it stopped raining. It hasn't rained a drop since. 😡

I should have gone out this 🌄 it was nice and cool, but I'm kind of done with deer hunting until 🎃Halloween👻  anyways. 

🦆 and goose opens on Saturday. Monday will be my first day for 🦆 season this year, I'm super stoked. I got a buddy at work that wants to go to he is also stoked. 

I hope its going to be a be a good year,🤞. 

My first days 🦌 hunting

 So we finally got some cool weather. Yesterday was in the forties, this morning was in the thirties.Went out and did some deer hunting.It's a good time saw, two deer.These guys...

Yeah, he's looking looking at but he is only 10' away. He never stopped or snorted he just kinda walked off.... really, really slow.

This little guy came in this 🌄.

I also worked on my decoy trailer and set up a new blind for duck hunting, I am ready.😉👍

Next week looks good also, so I'll be able to get out all weekend. I've got some projects to get to in the afternoons so it should be a busy week. Hopefully a decent buck or even a good doe will come in at 30 yards or so 🤷‍♂️, hopefully.

Tuesday was take an idiot fishing day

 Rose bush watch 2025

 I still have new growth on this bush, but with no flowers.

 

 Yep, I went out Tuesday and I was the only one in the boat. I fished all morning without a bite. At 2:58 PM the rod on my port side downrigger was bouncing like crazy, FISH ON. I picked the rod out of the rod holder and it was heavy, like I thought it was still in the clip of the downrigger. So, I reefed up on it 3 or 4 times to release it out of the clip. Come to find out it was already out of the clip🤯. I was reefing on the fish, and he was able to spit the hook when I made the hole bigger, and gave him a little bit of slack😱. That's right I totally 💩 the bed. I fished from 🌄 until 🌅 and that was the only fish I had on. It was a rough day, it was a sad day, and was my last day of the year😭. Since then, I got the boat home, got it cleaned out, took it down to get a canvas maker for him to make a cover for the windshield. I'll be taking it up to the trailer fixer so he can look at my axle. My driver side tire looks a little slanted.  

 

🦌 🦌 season started on Wednesday, I did not go. 

I might go Monday or Tuesday if it's not 🌧.

😪🤷‍♂️  

Move along... Nothing to see here.

 Rose watch 2025

Well... there was this pic from last week I forgot to post. 

I got this alwife out of the King I caught last week, it's a pretty good sized meal.

 

This week the wind and rain kept me off the lake. I probably could've gone for a little bit on Wednesday but the waves built all day so I just stayed home, and got ready to go one last time next week. 

 

Even though deer opener is next Wednesday I think I'm going to abstain until the next week. I really want to get out one more time for salmon before I hang it up for the year.

 

Well that's it I hope everyone is doing well... talk to ya next week. 

Can't fish all day....

 Rose bush watch 2025

Now as I started to say, you can't fish all day if you don't start in the morning. So that's what I did, I made a solo run this week to Holland, MI. I got there in the dark and had plenty of time to set up the boat before it got light. After I launched, it was the normal idle out, then hammer down out to 50 plus fow where I started. I had only been trolling for an hour or so before I decided to change out some lures. I had my back turned and attention undivided on the downrigger rod, when my dipsy rod started screaming.

I put that rod in a holder and grabbed the dipsy rod which was already on it's 3rd or 4th run, I knew it was a decent king. I fought this guy for what seemed like 30 minutes, in all actuality it was probably only 5 or 10, when I finally got to see the fish. 

A dipsy is a disc shaped diver that attaches to your line and when it is let out, dives and pulls away from the boat. Usually on the lure side of the dipsy is a long leader of anywhere from 5-15', I only have a 6' leader. That being said I can't back up enough and hold the rod high enough to be able to land a fish.... So, what did you do you may ask... I installed rod holders on my boat by the windshield on the gunnels so when I need to have a third hand to hold a pole to unravel a mess, or land a fish, I have that option.
 Gotta tell ya I was glad I did, once I got the dipsy reeled up to the tip of the rod I put it in the pole holder, grabbed the line and was able to land the fish.

This was the result

A 12 pound wild king landed around 7ish am, this is my PB king.... I don't spend alot of time fishing for them.

Well, with one in the box and the skunk out of the boat, I was on the hunt for another.

No the radio doesn't work, yes I'm planning on removing it.

The reason for the pic was to show the other fish I couldn't catch 😡, but I am in the right neighborhood.👍

 

I trolled all day and washed a large number of lures to no avail. I got off the water at a little after 7 with only one fish to show. 

 

Left to start the day at 4a and got home at midnightish. 

Not a bad day. 

 

Oh yeah, before I sign off, I seemed to have misplace the only key I have for my pos, so if you have an idea where to look, it would be greatly appreciated.😘 

Might have one more trip in me

 First off Rose bush watch 2025

It's really getting big with absolutely no sign of a bud. I'm just hoping it'll make it through the winter to next year.

I'm old... that being said trying to get 4 ducks and 5 geese from the truck to the garage to process was a killer. Same with getting the cooler out of the boat and moving it around with ice and or fish....

Problem solved....

The cool part is it's all repurposed except for the furniture dolly, which I bought when I started thinking about this project... a year ago.
 Not sure what to call it but I'm leaning twords Kimber's Killer Back Saver. 😁

 

Yesterday, Holbert and I loaded up the truck and boat and headed to Holland, MI, which is where I was hoping to....

 

A. Test the boat for fish-ability. 

B. Hook into a couple "nice" Kings and then finish our limit with Coho. 

 

That was the plan.... what ended up happening was... 

A. Well, figuring out the bimini was not going to be making trips salmon fishing. It just ended up being in the way if or when we caught a fish. The rest of my set up worked pretty good. I think the fighting deck on this boat is smaller than my last boat, making it a little smaller to fish. All in all though I was pretty happy with how it turned out.... I think I can make a bimini that would work... gonna give that some thought. 🤔

B.In the morning, trying to troll against the wind while keeping the lines in the back of the boat to avoid a tangle was a little heck-tick, but we got the hang of it. We started out in 100' of water and headed out to the 180' mark. Then we noticed all the other boats were in quite a bit shallower, so that's where we trolled to. We finally had a hit on a slider in 138? 148? feet of water. The reason the question marks are there is, we couldn't remember which it was. So, we decided to troll in a zigzag pattern bouncing between 130 and 150. 

Josh, my POW for the day.... Prisoner on Water, that's what my neighbor Bill said.

We had a good day, the weather was really awesome, cool in the morning with clouds. Then clearing off in the afternoon with a wind change and making it to 75-80, which was a little warm bit it was ok.

We did end up hooking and netting 2 small kings with nothing else to show but a good memory of a day spent on the water. 

 

I really liked the ramp, the ease to Lake Michigan and the fish cleaning station... the facilities on the other hand left a memory that I won't soon shake. 

I mean...WOW 😖and not in a good way. 

 

Next time I might just dig a hole and geocache it, marking it with a X made of sticks....you don't want to dig those up. 😝

With the first... the hunting season is here

Rose bush watch 

1 SEPT 2025

I actually got drawn for the dove hunt in Huntington on Monday, so a buddy and I went and scouted for a spot. When Monday arrived I went down to Fort Wayne at daybreak to hopefully find some geese that "we" could hunt on Tuesday, and I had to drop my truck off for it's 60k birthday inspection. So the good news was I had geese, with that I got picked up and we headed down to the dove hunt. 

We checked in, picked a spot, and headed out for the day. It wasn't long after we got there that I realized, I once again picked a spot not quite on the X. Let me just say that by the looks of the sunflower fields I wasn't looking for a barn burner.... I figured we would get a couple birds but it wasn't going to be great. 

I was partially right, even though the fields looked not great we did see a fair amount of birds, and shot quite a few times. That being said our aim was... well bad. We ended up with 4 birds and we both blew through a box of shells. So, we had a good time, and my buddy got a meal albeit a small one with only 4 birds.

 I did not take a pic because... well, it was 4 birds and I knew we were up in the morning anyway.

 

2 SEPT 2025 

I got home late Monday because of a lost phone fiasco, I ate, showered and went to bed. I got up had a cup of coffee and got packed and on the road. I got to FW got unloaded and started to set up the decoys and the hide. My buddy had to get his kids off to school so he was going to be.... wow on time.... wait for it... EARLY. Apparently his wife was able to get the kids on the bus so he could come down, bonus. Which was good because it was 15-20 mins out from the time the geese showed up the day before, so we need to get situated. 

We were ready with 5 or so minutes to spare then this happened.

                                                                     VIDEO                 VIDEO

                              VIDEO                                                                                              VIDEO

 We had a good day put 6 geese on the ground and as my buddy proceeded to claim almost all of them 🤔, I gently protested 😒 all the while knowing who really put the bodies on the ground 😎. Then I proceeded to take them home, clean them, salt and refrigerate them, then drop them off the next day so he can have some goose. 

I know, I'm sweet....

I'll just say... I can only shoot 3x's before I have to reload....... 🤷

You can be the judge.

Next week I'm hoping to get my truck on Monday 🤞, then on Tuesday go up to Holland, MI to do some salmon fishing. 

Hopin' to not be sick by Monday.....

 Yep, still fighting a summer cold, I do however think I am winning. This week since I am trying to get better I stayed home all but Tuesday. When I went and scouted with a buddy for my dove draw on Monday. The sunflowers looked

Sorry... forgot to start with the rose bush pic

It is growing like crazy, I'm just not sure if I'm going to get a rose this year or not... 

back to what I was saying... 

terrible this year, through no fault of DNR. They had to postpone the planting because of wet weather by 2-4 weeks. They didn't have time to mature, so there are very few good sunflower heads, the other part is they are still green, by this time of the year they should be brown and ready for harvest. So that being said I'm not thinking this will be a good dove year.

So to use my time wisely this week I pulled the boat out and reorganized my fishing rods... mainly because I bought a couple more.🤷

This is probably the most organized I've been in.... well, a while.

Since I am forecasting the dove season to be nonexistent, I should be able to get up to Lake Michigan and maybe catch some salmon. 

Never would've thought....

 So, I'm guessing that I, along with alot of people own crocs. I never really wore mine that much. I usually only put them on to go outside or into the garage for a minute. Until recently that is, in the past couple weeks I have wore them to cut up a couple trees, yard work, fishing, and get my tree stand ready for deer season. And I gotta admit I love these things, they're comfortable and rugged. I once heard the holes in crocs is where your dignity drains out, and that might be true, but my feet love being in them. 

Alright back to this week...

Rose pic...

Lotta new growth, still hopeful to get a rose before fall.

 

I went fishing on Erie this week.... it did not go well.

I tried to pick the best day with least wind and least chance of rain, I failed on both. I did get to the launch and my kicker was still attached to the boat.

Super happy about that. 

I looked at the lake and it didn't look too bad, so I launched the boat. I headed East towards the SE side of Kelly Island. I noticed it was a little rough but not too bad. I finally made it to my starting point and deployed my rods. The whole experience felt like I was in a washing machine. The waves were very confused in that the main rollers were out of the NE and the 15 mph wind was out of the SW then with Catawba Island and Kelly they were just bouncing every which way. I kept an eye on the West because that's which way the storm was suppose to be coming in from, and when I did see it I pulled my rods and headed to the launch. 

Yep that sucked, it took me a minute to get this cleaned up.

Really my tackle box falling was the worse thing that happened to me.... I did get drenched when the storm hit and the boat wasn't buttoned up yet. Then yesterday I started coming down with a cold.... but as far as the boat... It ran great and did very well in the bigger waves.

This week

 Rose bush progress pic...

 OK, I got all the gear that was stowed on my last boat loaded and ready to go on the new one. I got the motor mounted🤞, connected to the battery and gas on board, ready to go. I got all my tools off the boat and ready to launch. I've been watching both big ponds wondering which will be my first to hit this year. 

Reports were so so on Lake Michigan and worse on Lake Erie, so not really sure which will be first. I guess it will kinda depend on if I can round up a first mate and where he wants to go 🤷. 

Anyway, kinda feelin' done😞 with this summer and just realized that hunting season is only a couple weeks away 👏👍😁. 

So we'll see what happens next....

drum roll please.....

Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls... The fish are no longer safe.

I finally got the boat out for the second  maiden voyage, and I gotta say this one went much better for me. 

 For him on the other hand, not so much. I had talked to him at the dock a little bit, he was launching right behind me. Apparently he just bought this boat a month ago and first time out it overheated. He had the water pump replaced, this was the first time out after that and halfway across the lake the hot buzzer started going off again. Unfortunately none of the other boaters on this basin could be bothered to help. I mean, I understand it's hard to recognize that a fellow boater on a lake, that's adrift with the engine compartment up, might need help. 

I hope this marks up at least 10 warm and fuzzy Karma points for me. 

 

Anyway, the boat ran great, it's top speed was 36mph, 9 mph faster than my last boat that had a 120. It also rode like a dream, it felt like a tank but didn't handle like one if that makes sense. 

Super happy right now with the boat.

I'll get it loaded and rigged next week and am tentatively looking to make the first fishing trip of the year the week after. 

 

Rose bush progress..

I had a little bug infestation that I noticed last week and hit it with 7 dust, which by the way works like a dream. After the dusting the growth started again and it's doing much better.

 

Well, nothing more to rep....

 

Life lesson: when you open the fridge and notice the last bit of watermelon that is cut into Jeff size chunks is past it's consumable phase of life, but you're too lazy to walk it out and dump it in the woods, so you decide to treat it like a dead goldfish, make sure you at least squish it up a little, or you will have to wait til the stores open the next day so you can go get a snake to work the blockage through the maze of toilet and piping before it's sent on it's way. 

 

PS- If you have a house you should already own a snake.....