Finally something to write about

So since the last time I entered a blog entry I have been:
1. Fall Turkey hunting 4 times and did not bag a bird.
2. Waterfowl hunting 4 times and have not bagged a bird.... until this week.

Monday I went to Loon Lake and had 2 geese come in and land in the channel to my left. After at least a half hour of talking these birds in I was finally able to get a shot on them. Unfortunately only one stayed on the water the other one got up and made for a quieter resting spot.

Tuesday I scouted and called for permission for a couple fields I wanted to hunt on Wed.
After I got permission on a field that has been holding MANY ducks and geese. I called my posse and let them know I nailed down a killer field for Wednesday.
When Wednesday morning rolled around it found me and my compadres hard at work stubbling blinds and putting out a killer spread of decoys.  But there was also bad news
The bad news was:
1. The roost pond was less than 100 yards behind us.
2. There was little to no wind.
3. The ducks and geese would have to come from behind (over) us to get downwind into the spread.
4. When the clouds cleared we were looking straight into the sun.
5. Once again we all shot poorly.

Despite all that was bad about this shoot, we still managed to anchor down a 3 man limit of geese and a couple ducks.

And the best news is I just drove by this field today and the ducks and geese are still using it..... can't wait for Monday.

Couple dove hunts this week

Well Monday I worked on the house and Wednesday it rained. Tuesday we went to Huntington for dove and sat the morning then walked all afternoon. We only shot 2 dove, Mike got one and his son Hunter got one. Very poor shoot.
Today Mike, Sean and myself went to Huntington. I got 5 dove, Mike ...... well Mike has a really black cloud over him. He got down to where we agreed he should set up only to be greeted by a skunk. So he moved down a little only to realize he was setting up under a paper wasps nest. So he moved again, how he managed to shoot one I'll never know, but he did. He stayed down to try and get a couple more after Sean and I had left.
Sean, well.... what else can I say 'bout Sean??

 Not sure why he didn't get one but he didn't....

My Sept.

As you know hunting season started on Sept. 1 with dove coming in. I got drawn and my buddy Mike got drawn for the hunt. Well as it turns out he brought his son Hunter and I had Sean fill my empty chair. So with everyone that was going a friendly wager came into play.
Last place buys pizza, second to last buys pop and first place eats and drinks for free. Well the closer it got to the date I gave it some thought and decided to have a traveling trophy made. I ordered it and it got here the day of the shoot.
As it turns out we all had a really good day, lotsa birds and plenty of shooting. That being said when the birds were counted there was a tie for first. So the tie breaker was to count up the left over shells and then the winner would be decided.
After all was said and done the winner was......

Here's the trophy I will display with honor and pride.

Woody Stiewig Dove Classic World Champion

 My buddy Woody loved to Dove hunt so I thought this would be a perfect tribute to him. He passed on 29 May 2014 and this is dedicated to him. This trophy will be passed to the winner of each Dove opener among my group of friends.
He is missed...

The first day I got out for goose was on Mon. and Mike had a private pond for us to hunt. I knew where it was but had not scouted it. Since Mon was a holiday it was either hunt there or not do anything since everyone was going to be out.
Well we didn't slaughter them but we did manage a couple geese... oh yeah we shot horribly.

CAUTION: BAD WORD

left to right: Me,Sean,Hunter,Mike, and Derrick

 Like I said we shot terribly but in our defense we only had that one flock come in. And in that one flock we killed our first band of the year. Since everyone lost track of their goose and there was no shot in it, the only fair thing to do is draw cards and the high card wins.
I'll keep you informed of that too.

I went dove hunting again Tues and took 5--not awesome but almost enough for a good meal. Then this morning got the boat out for a water hunt. I saw some geese but nothing wanted to play... and I need to fix my trailer lights. I am hoping to get out Thursday and try to put the smack down on some more geese... I'll let'cha know how that goes.

Wow it's been awhile

So I got up to Lake Michigan today and had a pretty good day. The wind never let off so I couldn't stay as long as I wanted but had a good day anyway. I fished from sunup til around noonish before the waves got the best of me. I didn't get skunked but I didn't get to bring anything home either.
I ended up catching 2 gaspergoo's (sheephead)

  and a short coho that I had been dragging around the lake for I can't tell you how long. When I finally noticed this poor fish it was only because he was on top and getting dragged. Well since he was short I had to let him go, and since I had him hooked in the head-not sure how that happened- I know he didn't live. It didn't take the seagulls long to find him though, wish he could've been my meal.
This might have been the end of an era.... I cleaned out my boat and am going to put it up for sale. No I'm not going to stop fishing I just think I need to get a bigger boat.
Let ya know how that turns out.
Since hunting season starts Sept. first I won't be using the boat the rest of the year. I know it's not the time to sell a boat but it is the time to buy. So worst case scenario I will pick one up this year and sell my next spring. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

5 July out on the big pond

Fished hard all day with nothing to report. Hit all depths from 50-75 all colors that have been productive. The only redeeming thing that came out of the day is it didn't rain. Wish I had something better to report but that's why they call it fishing and not catching.