A Huff and Puff, Sweat and wonder why I got up in the first place season to remember...

Kristan

Kristan

Well-known member
The last hunt wasn't a bust, finally...Setup this Sunday morning with a small spread of goose decoys. Since moving back home to the Commonwealth of Kentucky though now in the central part of the state I have found that waterfowl hunting is extremely tough around Bardstown, KY. Compound the issue with unfortunate warm weather most of the season or when I have gotten out has been a lot of Ducks/Geese-win with Kristan sweating profusely because I overdressed again and empty handed. This season sas been limited to a few farms though vast in acreage I have gained access to but no four wheeler access through the fields. So I huff and puff out and huff and puff back to the truck with blind, gun and decoys in hand. I have been empty handed nearly every hunt. but have been graced with some beautiful morning watching a new sunrise light up the scenery. Its new to me to see knobs protruding from the land scape and the fresh smell of bourbon mash cooking in nearby distilleries. I took an afternoon hunt on to see if I could change the marks in my favor. A polar wind starting to show its early signs around noon I immediately jumped out of my chair and looked at my wife and told her I am going goose hunting. Well the drive only last about 10 minutes from the house but it felt like hours since my mind was telling me what are you doing, the seven prior hunts were of no gain. An hour into the hunt geese off in the distance and my blood was flowing. An like a squirrel to a dog a group of 5 mallards flew overhead and with no duck decoys out I decided to throw them a line or two through the call. Like the first time as this time of seeing mallards cup my heart was pounding, but wait a minute I have the 10 gauge and not the 20. Don't shoot was going on in the back of my mind. I have not had my wife's Duck Confi in a year. I don't want to mangle the birds. On top of this I am going to be throwing triple Bs, Hevi-Metal down range. So, I let them land amongst the spread and decided not to shoot. After watching them pick at grasses and any grains left from the corn field for 30 minutes my urge was killing me and decided to scare them up...Wait, Wait, Wait, 30 yards out...Pull forward of a nice fat mallard, cannon blast....I hit the hen....Oh, well didn't want to shoot the hen but now I have a duck sitting in duck fat for next weekends dish....

Hope everybody's season had better bag limits coming home but I don't want to trade the sights and smells of Bardstown...2018-19 season in the books..

Regards,
Kristan
 
Kristen,

Over dressed and carrying too much gear,,,,,,,,,,,, been there done that. I'd thought you were going to be telling about the "scotch double" when you mentioned touching off the 10 gauge
Glad you had a successful hunt. .
 
Damn, you've moved around a lot in the last few years, haven't you??
 
Yes Carl,

Oil industry fell off when the Barrel Price of Oil dropped from $108 to $26 a barrel. In subsea the money is made at $40 and above. The company dropped off 10000s worldwide in 2015-2016. Found a job in North Carolina that was a dead end...I was so happy to leave that place in about 7 months I paid them all my moving expense...It was a ticking time bomb...Now I am in a happy place again with a strong company and good culture. The problem I have is level of management...2 to 3 years swings get to you quickly not counting the ebb and flow of the economy. The generation before me could work in the same company their whole life. Now the rat race is even tighter...Hopefully I can stay around here for awhile...If not the number one choice will be to ask the question: Can you shoot a limit in 5 minutes, 5 hours or 5 days?
 
Kristan, it's good to hear about you and what you've been doing.I had a similar season. One day I'm sitting out there and saying to myself, this is going to be the 7th time you went and never fired your gun. That's in addition to the two times when you took one shot. Fortunately, I actually got a duck that day, just when I was getting ready to pick up and head in. So it was 6 outings with no shot, and 3 outings with 1 shot instead. That's a long winded way of saying I can relate.
 
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