Recent content by SJ Fairbank

We got home at 1 AM. Same as RM, they stained Gunner's eye and theres a scratch. No other visible damage to his eyeball. He has antibiotic eyedrops for a week, which is what we were hoping for. Unless theres a small piece floating around in his eye socket, it's good news. Gunner wasn't grounded...

Got after grouse again this morning. Put up a half dozen in an hour, then a group of five. That was unexpected. The bell on Gunner brought mixed results, just to confuse. My wife likes to hunt birds and came today. We had a good time until Gunner yelped. He got a small stick in his right eye...

I considered that as well. Perhaps it's a trick of the lighting, but it looks like a different color paint in a portion of the bilge. That typically means repair. We need an in person inspection and report! :)

Tough to be sure, but the interior bottom looks repaired. It appears to be coated in resin and there's two paint colors.

I have no problem with the birds flushing, just not 40 yards ahead of the dog and 60 from me.

Went for grouse. There's enough wind today that the birds are a little spooky. A half dozen flushes but no birds came home. It was an interesting test day however. My lab Gunner points as well as any of the pointing breeds. Tuesday he pointed a number of grouse and some held like woodcock. I use...

I love the new A5's. I loved the originals too, but they aren't built to take the shells I use. Can't say recoil is significantly more in my new A5's than with my old 1100/1187's. No doubt the gas guns spread the recoil curve a touch but farewell to the gas guns, the jams are ridiculous with...

That's the way it should be everywhere.

They tried that for a year or two in CT.....blacks vs mallard hybrids. My concern was shooting what appears to be a black, then oops! mallard. If it's a hen, and you already have two hen mallards, or four mallards total, that's bad juju. I wrote an email to the head state biologist, his response...

Yeah, takeoffs are great if nothing goes wrong. I just cant get the possible bad luck out of my head. But there is magic in flying yourself around. Pretty much every pilot I know remembers in detail his first solo flight, especially the takeoff. When the wheels leave the ground, in that moment...

For many years I flew commercial all over the continental US. I've been to all but a few states, hunting, fishing and competitive shooting. The constant travel got old. I haven't been on a commercial plane since March, 2009. Always wanted to fly a plane. Seven or eight years ago, I got my...

Shut down guiding. Noone should make money from shooting waterfowl, especially seaducks in open water. The population of eiders or scoters can't support being pounded to the tune of six-nine birds every day, from one boat, for 60 days or more in support of commercial interests. We as sportsmen...

If you opt for the bucket and antifreeze, us the RV/Marine antifreeze. It's typically propylene glycol, which isn't toxic to the animals (or humans) the way ethylene glycol is. It should say on the label.

I enjoy hunting brant, they're the most elegant, fun, entertaining waterfowl there is IMO. No doubt hunting pressure is a factor in their population, but I believe it's well established that poor breeding success is the major factor. With a one bird limit, my decoys haven't left the garage in...

Eric, Your post sounds ominous. I hope I never get to the point where I call it quits.