A Fun Hunt

Al Hansen

Al Hansen

Well-known member
The temps were in the mid 20's and I decided to use just three decoys. Heck, now I know why I only shot three ducks. Next time I'll bring six decoys.
Al

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Had to adjust my plans a wee bit today. This marked the first time my head lamp quit on me. I even put in three brand new batteries but the problem was in the wiring, I guess. Just used the switch too many times and now I need to buy a new one. Glad some of the moon light was still there to help me. Too bad this didn't happen three or four days ago.

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John, I haven't seen a pintail to shoot at this year. Can't tell you what is going on either. This has been a weird year for me.
Al
 
That sure does look like a great place to hunt Al - peaceful, out in the boonies, no crazies around you, pleasant weather. Enjoy what you have.

Mark W
 
Mark,
It is an out of the way place and no one hunts it except me. I go there two times a week but in different places so as not to spook the birds. This small channel is four miles long and I still have many spots that I haven't visited yet. Each year I investigate some more of it.
I grew up straight west of you in a small western Minnesota town by the name of Ortonville. That is where I learned to duck hunt and also to realize what it was like to be out in the middle of no where and not being bothered by other hunters. Many fond memories of Big Stone county.
Al
 
Mark,
It is an out of the way place and no one hunts it except me. I go there two times a week but in different places so as not to spook the birds. This small channel is four miles long and I still have many spots that I haven't visited yet. Each year I investigate some more of it.
I grew up straight west of you in a small western Minnesota town by the name of Ortonville. That is where I learned to duck hunt and also to realize what it was like to be out in the middle of no where and not being bothered by other hunters. Many fond memories of Big Stone county.
Al
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I know Ortonville well. I hunt Big Stone Lake and Traverse Lake frequently and have relatives in Millbank that we visit often. Ortonville is out there no doubt....

Mark W
 
Al as always great photos of your days hunt. Sure wish we were all there with you. 3.5 weeks left in our season and everything is frozen solid. Can't even get the Chuck Huff in the ramp unless some much bigger boats break the ice

Bill V
 
Al,

Nice....three deeks three ducks.... You better start setting out your limit in deeks

I used to live in Dawson MN (1975). You better know where that is HAHA!! My wife is from Taunton MN. I worked for the city of Dawson in the water a sewer dept for awhile, lab work at the sewer plant....did that make me a turd herder?

I have fished walleyes on Bigstone, Lac Qui Parle, and a few other places around there...

Matt
 
Looks like a great hunt Al. 4 miles of private water in NM is a treasure indeed! I know what you mean about it being a weird year. I tend to hunt a bit further north than you but I also haven't shot a pintail yet. Haven't even seen any on the river. And the birds have been acting pretty strangely at times. Good luck in the home stretch.
 
Matt-----I have played many basketball games at Dawson High School and even a couple of band concerts in the 1950's. My dad was the band director at Ortonville and was a good friend of Mr. Soli, who was the band director at Dawson.
 
Al, 50's is a long time ago...haha!! I did not know a Mr Soli at Dawson. Maybe some of the wife's family might have. You seem to have a great place to hunt in NM, here at this time of year it is mostly hunting nothing as most water is frozen up and the majority of the birds have moved to warmer areas. The Snake river in Idaho can be good.

Matt
 
Pablo
You are SO right! After many years in this sport, I have come to the conclusion that being able to sit in a spot so remote-----sometimes even from ducks, is now what I find myself yearning for. I would rather be in this one spot and "maybe" shoot a duck or see a couple, than be in the #9 blind of 24. I am very thankful for small blessings. To have Chili by my side and Mother Nature surrounding me, I really need nothing else.
Al

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Al - How did you wind up in New Mexico growing up in Ortonville?

How about you Matt? I take it you didn't grow up in Dawson.

I was born in Willmar and have bounced back and forth between SoDak and da U.P. of Michigan, but now reside between Bemidji and I. Falls. College, work, and hunting. I like my present location, but I wonder if I should move back to the dakotas for the hunting!

And one more thing Al, how did you set up that shot of the moon? How big a lense? Aperature and Shutter settings?

Small world regards,

NR
 
Nick,

No did not grow up in MN: mostly, Utah, Florida, Cali, Idaho, and Oregon. I have spent most of my time since 62 in Utah,,leave and then come back.

For lack of a better place I call southern Utah home, it had the most impact on my outdoor psychic or something. The deer there in the 60's when I lived in Kanab...Hot DAMN!!! I still think about those old monsters.... Those days are long gone.


Matt
 
Nick,
My mother and father had taken us to every state in the continental US, plus all ten provinces of Canada and the nineteen states of Mexico. We camped out and ate our meals that had been cooked on a Coleman two burner. One of my all time favorite places ever since a kid has always been the desert. It is so uniquely beautiful. Remember after teaching in the Minneapolis area for two years, I decided to go out to Morris, MN, to teach on my third year so that I would be closer to the action. (ducks, geese, and pheasants) After that year when I found out from a teaching/hunting buddy, that the Pacific Flyway was basically hatched in Alaska, I set my sights for AK and spent 8 years up there hunting ducks, geese, and of course was initiated into big game hunting. My working life was spent in the snow and cold of Minnesota, Alaska,
and Wisconsin. One day while heading down to the Tucson area to see my mother in the early 90's, I happened to have stayed in the Super 8 in Socorro, NM. At one of the local restaurants I asked about five different people from the area this one question. "Does it snow here?" They all said basically the same thing-----"Yes, it does but I can't remember if it was three years ago or four years ago." Heck, I fell in love with this country immediately. I didn't even know there were ducks here when I bought my small parcel of land.
I am now using a Canon 50D with a 400mm f5.6 lens, both shots have been cropped

The first moon shot posted had this setting with flash on mode. Shutter speed 250, ISO 1000, AV 20

This second shot with flash on mode: shutter speed 1/1250 AV 5.6, ISO 1000

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