All I wanted for Christmas was....

Cold, cloudy weather is all I really needed from this past week. What I got was 50-degrees and sunny for Monday and Wednesday, Tuesday was soooo foggy you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.
So, Monday I did try an evening hunt, I got set up by 2:38 pm and slept until 4 which was ok because the ducks didn't come out until 5 mins after shooting time ended. So I picked up and headed home without firing even a shot, on my Christmas duck season opening day. Tuesday was spent driving around to see if any of the lakes in the area were open so I could get in a water hunt on Wednesday. With nothing open, I called my buddy in town to see if the river was frozen up or open above the dam. Jerry said the river was not frozen so on Wed. morning I packed the truck, hooked up the boat and headed to town. When I got to the river much to my disappointment it was frozen, all I could do was turn around and head home.
So, I'm sad to announce that my Christmas duck season has come and gone without even firing a shot. I guess if I had good news it would have to be this- remember last week when I said I didn't get my second hunt on video? Well, when I hooked up my camera Shazam there it was, so without further delay here it is.

It really doesn't make up for not hunting all week but, I am glad I got this video.
Anyway, I hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe New Year. Speaking of New Year it looks like the hunting will be able to continue with the onset of some cooler cloudy weather.
And before I sign off today I have a question to pose.
My Mom sent me this.... this elf that she made. Let me ask you does this elf look evil or is just me?

gotta admit I didn't sleep too good last nite.

Geese this week, duck opens next week

Monday and Tuesday I made the pilgrimage to town, 4 hours of driving to shoot 6 geese. And I'll do it all again next week, as our duck season opens for the 1 week Christmas special.
Monday I had my second hunt at a newly acquired field, and let me tell you even though the geese weren't in there the prior couple days they definitely showed up for Monday.
I will now refer you to the video:

After the last flock left I was just about to get up and start picking up, when I had another flock come in. So I snuggled in for a well-deserved nap, while that flock fed and left. After they were gone I cleaned up and headed North.
Tuesday I hunted the same area just a couple fields over on property my buddy Thom used to own. Since the corn was planted really close to Thom's woods I just threw out my decoys and sat in a chair and hunted from the edge of the woods. As I was setting up I was pretty excited because of the geese in the area. Once it was all set up and I got my "blind" set I looked up and realized that I was going to lose my cloud cover. Which in and of itself wasn't a bad thing, but with how cold it was it just meant the geese would sit all day before flying out to feed just before sunset. And so the day went something like this, nap, wake up, stretch, nap, wake up look for geese, nap and then finally the horde decided to make it's way to me. I hit the record button on the remote but apparently, it didn't take. That sucked because the show that took place until dark was amazing.
I shot my limit and picked up my gear just like I put it out... in the dark.

Wednesday my minion and I shot over to Mongo and did a couple one-man drives to try and get him a deer. We each saw deer but neither of us was able to get a shot at them. So with that, I ended my deer season for the year. Sean might still continue at the magic 5 until he gets worn out or the season ends, in Jan.
Either way, I'll stay on call for him if he manages to drop a deer. He has actually passed on many small deer this year already, pretty proud of him to not just drop a deer to drop a deer. Anyway got my geese, guns, and gear cleaned up today and looking forward to next week already.
Yay ducks.

Free at last, Free at last....

Oh thank God almighty I am free at last....
Monday was a rainout day and I ended up in town all day.
I started the day on the hunt for geese and found them out West of town. After I got permission I was off to Ft Wayne Nissan to put the truck in the shop for its 20000-mile check-up. While I waited I had the shuttle driver run me over to Gander, which is closing in Fort Wayne.... again. Then I went over to Menards to pick up a blind for a couple buddies. A quick stop at the dentist to get my crown stuck in my mouth. After I was done there I went to Discount Tire for a lifetime rotate/balance and road hazard. By the time they got done, I was on my way home just like when I left the house, in the dark.
When I got home I gave Jake a call to see what was going on in the morning and if he had birds. He said he did and that he would call back after his house settled down. Well, apparently his house never settled down, I hadn't received a call by Tuesday morning either. So I waited like a puppy in the truck and when it was an hour out from sunrise I made the decision to go deer hunting. When I picked up my phone I saw Jake had left me a message at 10 pm Mon. He said he wouldn't be able to hunt this week or next.... oh, well better late than never I guess. Anyway, I headed over to the magic 5 to try my luck during muzzleloading season. The morning was a bust so I left out around 10 am to get my running done for the week. After finding out my minion wouldn't be going for the evening hunt I shot over in his stead. I had to wait until 5pm before I had 3 does come down the deer trail from my left. She saw me as soon as I saw her, I didn't move but she knew I was there. Since she was the biggest and apparently the smartest I decided she was going to be the one to ride in the truck. As soon as the other does cleared and I had a clear shot I cocked the muzzleloader and squeezed the trigger. She took off like a bolt my first thought was, "did I miss"? I wasn't until I got down and started looking for blood that I knew I had doe down. So I went back to the truck, shed some clothes and grabbed my work bag and headed out to field dress and drag her to the truck. Since it was dark by the time I started I didn't waste time with the hero pic but got this one when I got home.

My processor was closed by the time I got there, so with a low of 15 and a high Wednesday of 25 I figured she would be ok. The next morning I packed my goose gear in the truck and off goose hunting I went. I had one flock hand me my ass in the morning, unfortunately that was the only flock to fly (my way). I really wanted to stay but I had to go drop my deer off by 5pm. I left the field by 3, made another quick stop at Gander, then got back on the road to drop off my doe.
The landowner texted me not long after I got home and let me know the geese showed up shortly after I left.... 😡
I knew that would happen.
That's ok, it won't be the last time we'll tangle.

Well nothing broke...

I hunted Monday am, Tuesday am/pm, Wednesday am, and Thursday am. With only one goose to show for it. I know I always say," you need some bad days hunting to really appreciate the good ones", but I didn't think I would be getting them all out of the way in the same week.
This was Monday

The geese just didn't want to commit, we could get'em over and call 'em back but they just wouldn't do it right. The goose I got I think Jake was just ticked and took it out on that goose. Like I stated in the video Jake and I think there is someone hunting the area with a big spread and alot of blinds just shooting into every flock. Geese aren't smart but when the boogie man shows himself enough they get a little more cautious.
Anyway, Tuesday I deer hunted am and pm. I saw a buck and 2 does in the morning and nothing in the evening. They all were moving pretty good and were way out of range of my crossbow.
Wednesday Sean and I practiced goose hunting, spread setup and takedown. We went back to the field we hunted on Monday with a smaller spread and fewer blinds to see if that would work. We weren't able to really judge if it did or not... there were just no geese wanting to get within a mile of us, minus one, who didn't even give us half a chance. So just one more strikeout for the week.
 Thursday I went to the magic 5 to try and shoot another deer. I had some does come in but nothing good happened. Next week muzzleloader comes in and I really hope they come back to say hi.
Speaking of next week

If this were next week there would be a doe attached to this hair. Apparently, I misjudged the shot, it was a little further than I thought. So instead of the double lung that should've happened, all I did was give her a hair cut. No blood only hair and another broadhead needing new blades.
Hope she tries that next week....

Happy Thanksgiving

Monday I started out by myself in the field my buddy Ron oversees. He had texted me last Thursday asking if I was going to be down during the weekend because he has had people asking to hunt. I let him know I had to work but would be down on Monday to shoot it. Long story short Ron held the field for me, thanks again these hunts probably wouldn't have happened without Ron looking out for me, I really appreciate it.
Back to the facts of the hunt: wake up at 4am on the road by 5:15am hit the field by 6:15 have my first flock of geese do a flyby while still setting up at 7:10 (shooting time) get done setting up by 7:15 shoot my limit by 8:05, pack up and go home. You'll see in the video that once I shot, the pond at the end of the field just emptied out. I hung out to try and get a couple ducks.

Did you see the spinner in the lower left-hand corner kick on? It's started and stopped with a remote, this info is important for the events that unfold on Tues.
 So as you saw none of the ducks wanted to have anything to do with me. I had a flock of geese land between me and the end of the field that I waited for them to feed and leave of their own volition. I waited because after I saw what was in the area I knew I was coming back either Tues or Wed weather permitting. So once the geese left the field I gathered my gear and headed for the house.

I got home and called Jake and my buddy Cliff from work.... you remember him I took him to Erie this summer.

Anyway, he had mentioned that he would like to try hunting so I figured this would be an easy/warmish hunt for his first. With all the birds in the area, he should have a pretty good time. With Cliff being the newby I know they want to help, and other than hauling stuff I'm kinda very particular on how the setup and takedown go. So with that being said, I dole out very easy tasks for new people and as they hunt more the responsibilities and understanding of how and why I do things grow. That being said first hunts usually start out the same: help pack as much gear as possible, then get stubble to stubble the blinds with- just keep getting stubble until we tell you to stop. Now take that stubble and stubble the blinds. That is usually the extent of their help, I usually have everything else handled. However, this year as you saw in the video I have employed a spinner into my spread. I gave Cliff the responsibility of turning the spinner on and off with the remote. When we had geese working the spinner needs to be off. Ducks eat the spinner up, while geese don't really like them and they will skirt your spread and land wide because of them, in most cases.
With Jake having to leave earlier than we did I put him on the left as it would be easier to re-stubble the ground where he was, with the birds coming in from right to left. I also had Jake call the shot on this hunt, usually, if it's your field it's your show. With Jake on the left, he would have a better idea when to call the shot.
Ok, let's get started.... We were set up and ready just waiting for the fog to lift a little for the first flocks of the day started.

Usually, with fog on the ground they wait to fly until it burns off, today however we had some anxious geese that decided to fly early. Now, keep in mind the spinner was going because usually the ducks fly off and feed before the geese do. So with the honk, we heard from behind, the: turn off the spinner chant started and do you remember who's responsible for that????
Yep, that was Cliff. The geese came in for the first pass looking to land.... the spinner was still going, turn off the spinner. They came around on the second and the flock was trying to break up and have 5 land off to my right, I was on the right side, but we picked up the calling and they stayed in the air.... turn off the spinner. By this time it looked like Cliff was trying to dig a tunnel in his layout blind, the doors were bumping up and down and he's goin' crazy trying to do the 1 important thing that he was responsible for. By the time the geese were on the third pass, we were still working the geese and they would've done it....TURN THE DAMN SPINNER OFF 😡, they finally slid off and I told Cliff to open the doors and find the remote, and finally, the spinner was off as we watched the flock fly out of range and away from our set. Lesson learned, if at any point during the rest of the hunt you asked were the remote was, Cliff had it in hand.
Jake relayed a story about James (hunted my first early season hunt with him) where if the spinner wasn't shut off he would take care of it,😱 (shoot it) and buy you a new one. No joke, and trust you me he would do it without hesitation.
Well, with the first flock well on it's way to a less frantic field we were left to wait for the fog to burn off and discuss what had just happened. I got up to shut off the video and this is what I saw....

facemask on upside down

facemask wore the correct way

It didn't take too long and the ducks were in the air. With ducks on the way I turned on the video only to think, Jake will probably call the shot before the video starts anyway. Well, if you saw the video above that's how the ducks came in, all at the same time. They just kept circling and landing in the decoys still no call to shoot. Even as this lone goose landed to my right at only 5 yards still no call. As the horde circled and landed in the dekes I saw one black duck and one spoonie in the mix of mallards. So I kept my eyes on the black whenever it came around. After we hit the 5-minute mark, (I'm guessing), I asked Jake if he was waiting for the ducks to land in the blinds before calling the shot. Just then the black landed in front of the spread about 15 yards, that got my attention. It was only a little bit after that, that Jake called the shot. The first and only duck to fall from my gun was the black, of course I squeezed the trigger 2 more times out of sheer joy I think. I never got on another duck that I can recall but I did unload on them. Jake was happy he said he got 2 and Cliff was ecstatic because he dropped his first and only duck. With the guns empty and smoking we laughed and joked about the scene that just unfolded as I got up to turn off the video.... the video was not on. I MISSED THE WHOLE THING 😰. I felt sick.... even as I write this I'm still kickin' myself for not getting the duck display on video, it was truly awesome. So even though we didn't put a bunch of feathers on the ground, everyone had a super fun shoot.
I hope.
Well, it was time for Jake to leave so I got the hero pic, he packed up and took off. No geese, just ducks.

little rigo set in.... the drake on the right is a beast

After another hour and a half passed Cliff and I picked up and headed home.

P.S.-I had to pry the remote out of his hand.

My black duck, I hemmed and hawed about whether or not to get him mounted.... in the end he ended up as supper. When I got home I checked out what the $ would be to mount him... 3 bills was about the norm. I'm going to start a "mount it" fund. Of the ducks and geese I have shot there are 3 I should've had mounted. The black above...

in 08 I shot this mallard-pintail cross

and of course my spec from last year.

I'll be ready for the next one.