Best day of the week and I'm sitting at home.....

I only have one excuse- I torqued my back.
I thought it might be the way I sit in my duck boat, but I won't know until it gets better and I hunt out of my boat. Anyway I took the day off to try and recoup before I go into work.
So I went out on Tues. it was a pretty warm day and the fog took forever to get off the water, when it finally did the ducks started flying some. The problem now is that there was little to no wind. So I went out to employ some wave makers, on the way back to the boat I heard a quack. I looked up and saw a couple ducks circling, I gave a quiet quack and that's all it took, I had 'em. Just before they touched down I jumped up and gave 3 salutes.
Since I had all three misses out of my gun I figured the next duck was really in trouble. Unfortunately that next duck never showed up.
Wed- Got out in time, set up and was ready to do some shooting. I have been seeing alot of ducks but they just haven't been wanting to play. I did have 2 Suzie's drop in my dekes from the up wind side landing with the wind. Normally I would've shot but there were houses in that direction so I let them pass. After watching  the morning flight pass me by, I finally had a drake that wanted to work. I called, he flew by, I did some panic calling, and lost him over the trees. I gave up on him, when from out of nowhere in he dropped. When he cleared my dekes I stood up and shot, it only took one, down he came. I had a couple others let me warm my barrel but finally dropped a Suzie to end my day.

PSA- Always use your safety chains.
I always load my boat by standing on the end of the trailer and pulling the boat onto the trailer. This time was no different, except the tongue popped off the hitch and left me standing on the end of the trailer holding on to the rope of the boat wondering what happened. So I tightened the little nut on the bottom of the hitch in hopes of keeping the trailer on the truck next time.

Next week goose season comes back and deer season ends.
Field hunters rejoice

Went deer hunting

I decided to get out deer hunting before shotgun opens on Sat. I got out and saw 4 bucks and a doe, none of which came close enough for me to get a shot. I also saw a coyote and a mink on Tues. not many geese out that way right now. I did however see a bunch of ducks on Thurs. morning, they were in the field just west of the field I am hunting in. I asked permission to hunt it and apparently there is a handicapped guy that he allows to hunt there, so he told me no.
I went out duck hunting (goose is closed) on Wed in the rain, I hate hunting in the rain. I did get 3 ducks- two suzie's and a drake mallard. There were actually a pretty good number of ducks out there. I hope with deer season starting it'll get the part time duck hunters off the water.

gotta work on the dorky camera smile

couple good days off

Alright who am I kidding any day off is a good day, but when you get to go hunting I guess it's super good.
The first of Nov. found me at one of my close water spots, I saw one duck. I didn't even hear a goose.

I was hoping this pic was a good omen

turned out to just be fog until after 9:30 am

I was hunting the X

Weed gave me a call and extended an invite to hunt the poo pond, I didn't even have to think about it. So at 6 am I started the hour drive to meet at the now infamous poo pond. As Weed was setting up the last 2 decoys I had a suzy buzz the spread, she didn't see another day.
We finally got everything ready and the geese started coming in. The first two were the 2 lessers, I haven't shot a lesser before so I was kinda cool. They were the size of a mallard, as a matter of fact a drake could have probably beat one or both of them up.

  Well we shot our goose limits by 10 am or so and as we were picking up the geese just kept coming.

I got these video's only after the majority of the geese had already flown over and left.

I really wanted to hit a field on Thursday but I couldn't get anyone to go with, so instead a burning a field by myself I decided to hit a lake that is pretty close. I got to the lake a little late so I had to watch the morning flight go out. I was able to get some geese and 1 mallard to come in later in the day.

happy day

Sad to think that I gotta go back to work tomorrow.
Oh well, there's always next week.

Been a couple weeks

My duck and goose opener started out pretty good. Since the corn is still up around here it's pretty much all water hunts. So I started this year at one of my favorite water spots. I really didn't see alot of ducks or geese but I had 1 dumb wood duck and 1 dumb goose come by. The next day it rained and blew all day, I never even squeezed the trigger.

sorry about the indoor pic

Every Mon after I get off work, I drive around to all the properties I have permission to hunt on to see if the corn has come down yet. Well, even though none of the corn has come down I did find a field the geese were using. It is a field I had permission on last year, so I asked if I could hunt it this year and the owner said I could.
That is the great part, the bad part is it is a bean field this year. That means there is absolutely nowhere to hide, you are just out in the middle of the field in your layout blind, which is stubbled the best it can be with whatever kind of vegetation  you can find.
So I set this hunt up with two of my buddies - Weed, who has been in here quite often, and Chad, this is the first time I have hunted with him.
Well I think the 2 things that stand out most about this hunt is:
1. Since Chad rode with me I noticed that as soon as he got into the truck that he had cologne on. Now this really isn't a big deal since ducks and geese don't rely on smell. However I did make some mention that whoever the next person is that uses that ground blind might question the goings on, on the last hunt.
2. Even though he had mentioned that he has hunted before, he still came walking out to the truck with a gun,a lunch bag, and the bestest part a white plastic bag that I can only assume had his gloves and face mask in. He assured me that he has a camo backpack, but his son had borrowed it and now he couldn't find it.
I'll be sure to update you on that when I see the backpack. By the way I did tell him I had a bag he could have if he needed it.
So we got to the field and got set up, waited only a half hour or so when we had 5 coming in just like I wanted them to. When they got into the kill zone I called the shot and 3 geese dropped. The other 2 didn't want to leave so we kept calling, the fourth goose got close enough and we winged him. He went down in the next field and since he wasn't moving we decided to leave him there. We kept working on the last goose but he finally took off.
I was keeping an eye on the wounded goose when I noticed him up and walking. We didn't want him to get away so I loaded up and went after him, by the time I got within a block of him he had made it across the road and parallel to some corn. Fortunately the owner of the property showed up as I was crossing the road, I let him know what was going on and asked if I could chase the goose on his property. He said that I could, so I looked over and saw the goose with his head down "hiding" by the corn so I walked up to within 20 yards and shot. MISS, what? now the goose is up and running, shoot again, MISS, Really?? Shoot the last round aaaannnnndddd got him. I started walking over to him to pick him up, got within 2 feet and this goose stood up started running and flew away over the corn.
SON OF A, so I went into the corn to see if I could locate this goose, I spent at least a half hour walking the corn rows looking for this bird but without a blood trail I was unable to find him.
So we ended up with 3 geese for the day, we had a good time, got some sleep and didn't get rained on. What else could you ask for?

Weed, Chad, and Me

Time to pick up.

My Deer Opener

I finally got a day off today and was able to start my 2011 Deer season. 15 minutes after shooting time my deer season was over, well at least my Buck tag was filled.

He weighed out at 167 pounds

 After I shot, he only went about 45 yards laid down and passed. I gave him plenty of time because of the extreme angle of the shot. After I field dressed him and started dragging him, I realized that I had to find a better way to get him to the car. Tom was at bingo (he won some pop tarts and mac and cheese) so I went over to the neighbors and asked to borrow their gator. Thank god they said yes or I would still be dragging that deer to the car. This is the biggest buck I have taken on this property, not the biggest I have seen though. This typical 8 point is going on the wall, since it's probably the last buck I'll take here.
Tom- the old property owner, sold the farmland to Mike- the guy farming it, and he plans on tearing out all of the fence rows. I can still hunt there, but without the fencerows it's uncertain where the deer will go through at. So I'm making hay this year and hope to put 1 or 2 more in the freezer before the 15th.
Now I can just fun hunt (does) until duck season opens on the 15th.