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I just returned home from a prolonged dog training- field trial trip. I received your pm and replied.

This is my buddy Neil, my dog Gus and a Tundra Swan in my modified Cackler on Freezeout Lake Montana. We take a trip to Freezeout Lake each year, trying to time the migration which is usually hours in front of the first Artic cold front that comes down out of Canada. If you time it right the...

Over the past fifteen years until last year when we commissioned my modified Devlin Cackler we used my buddies Snow Goose, and before that an aluminum Lund. In both the Lund and Snow Goose we had oars on board for emergency use, which came in handy twice over the years. Now I have my new Cackler...

Hello, I remember there were some here that were interested in getting a high quality, field bred Golden Retriever. Well, we bred my Gus (Topbrass Montana Lonesome Dove) to a very nice master hunter bitch a while ago, and she now has seven pups on the ground, four boys, three girls. I am...

For Christmas my wife bought me gift certificate for a boat cover to be made by a guy with a large local shop, he specializes in boat covers. After picking Dave Clarke's mind on fabric and talking to a couple suppliers, I decided to try the new Topnotch fabric. This made by the same mill as...

Other experts to. Dave gave very good information regarding fabric and tomorrow is when I have to decide on fabric for my lengthened Cackler. I have ruled out Sumbrella for the reasons Dave pointed out, I don't think pre-shrunk marine canvas is the way to go for me with my boat being stored...

I've been struggling with different ideas for decoy and general gear storage on my new 15'-4" Cackler. After years of sailing small to very large boats, I'm kind of anal about clear, unclutered decks and organized storage. I made some under deck storage shelves and gun racks, with a clear...

My wife bought me a gift certificate for a custom boat cover from a local canvas shop for my new duckboat. I visited the shop after Christmas to check it out and I'm very impressed with his quality of work. We have a very large lake with boats ranging from little runabouts to some sailing...

That picture was taken by my best friend's Dad the day I got hooked on duck hunting. Dave and Danny Fink were my neighbors and best friends. Christmas came on a Friday that year as it did this year, and as we bragged about and compared gifts that afternoon, I saw that both boys had received...

During my haircut today, I was talking about boats and such with my barber. I told him about my new duck boat and older Merc outboard. Then we started talking about motor weights, two cycle versus four, versus the E-Tec. Then the discussion of two stokes not being made anymore and he said...

Now that my duckboat is finally done and in the water, I need to direct my attention to getting a set of nice traditional blocks for next season. Over the years I have hunted with my main hunting buddy Neil, we built his Snow Goose about six years ago. When we first started hunting together...

Alex (my other young dog), and I went out on saturday trying to beat the cold weather. The river was freezing up along the edges, but we found a little open spot where we were able to set up. It was one of those days where the few ducks that came in were always a little off, left behind my...

Neil and I took his Snow Goose out this morning on the river. Artic air is moving into the area, it was single digits overnight and 11 degrees when we left the ramp at 8:30. Most of our sloghs were all frozen, we ended up scaring about 40 Mallards out of a tiny open spot where a creek/slogh...

You guys may have noticed the scabbed together, temporary console I used to get my boat launched and operational for a few hunts. I came to the conclusion that if I left it that way for this season, it might stay that way for a long time, so I decided to bite the bullet and finish it now, here's...

Yesterday I had a late start as I had to meet a client to discuss his design. Anyway Rich and I launched my boat a little before noon. Neil had an out of state guest hunter and was already set up at a spot we occasionally hunt where a fairly major creek empties into the Flathead. Neil asked me...

Well' it's been a year and a week, but my boat is finished and Rich joined me for a hunt and to scatter my Cody's ashes in the marsh as we had promised a year ago, while Rich was in the hospital. Rich in the hospital after the crash November 2008 Rich hunting out of my new boat the day...

Neil and I took his Snow Goose out for a morning hunt yesterday, here's pics... He just rolled in mud and got it all over his face, he's old but still acts like a puppy.... He can still do it, he had one long 200 yard blind retrieve on a cripple, plus used is nose and bird finding...

I have posted pictures before of my buddies blind we built for his Snow Goose, but for the sake of discussion, here's a couple pics of Neil's boat w/ blind. You can see it is a very simple take down blind. It is made of a natuaral color plastic snow fence material wire tied to 1 1/2"...

It's been a long two years with the boat project put on hold for various reasons, but today I finally got to test drive my modified Cackler / mini-Honker. I was able to find a really nice 1983-84 Merc 50 with power trim a few weeks ago. It was way more work than I could have guessed mating the...

The debate on spinning wing decoys on the other threads surprised me, and it brought up other issues such as why are live decoys outlawed. I believe a lot of these laws date back to the early 20th century when a combination of market hunting, zero game laws, drought and loss of habitat almost...