Crazy enough.... Its snowing here today as well. Insanity as it was 85 degress two days ago. Looking good! Looking good sir.
I'm putting the finishing feathers on this goose. It has taken me several years to get around to finishing it. I have broken the neck twice and the bill once. I've doweled the neck and added a dowel in the bill. It is frustrating to get so far then bump, crack, swearing, putting it away until later. Well later is ttoday . I'd like to do more Geese but they're fragile and frustrating.
This goose is hollow spruce but still weighs quite a few pounds. 6x12 spruce beams planed, hollowed and laminated. Neck and head are three pieces all dowelled together.
The goose carving really is fantastic! The feather detail is what I am enjoying really looking at. Awesome job sir.
I prefer smoothies but every once in awhile I will get the dremel and woodburner going. I had a plastic goose decoy that gave me the idea and basic pattern from. Unfortunately once I go down the feather detail rabbit hole, I can put months into one bird. In the case of this nightmare it became several years. Don't think I'll ever have the heart to sell it.
Ya you can tell the detail work is done VERY well. Done with master precision. I love seeing work like that, as I have no concept with a dremel to even come close to making anything resemble a bird.
Don, at what age did Mrs. Mintz start laying down her foot and saying you cant be wandering in the woods by yourself anymore? I swear this will be my demise. I dont know my own limits and despite pushing them to the point of scaring myself, at least twice a season im in the truck home thinkng "you're so unbelievably stupid". She hates when she "overhears" some of the stories of the situations ive been in. So Im curious when that conversation comes, although she knows ill likely be like a high school kid again sneaking out with my friends. Only instead of with drinking buddies itll be with my little best friend with four legs.
I get mine from Flockingunlimited, not sure where Don gets his from.
I get mine quick and they sell nylon and rayon. Of course nylon is the preferred.
Act like I didnt read this sentence.... 33 now and going to be 34. She would use this statement against me.
Cant say ive been lost, but flirt with mother nature's power every duck season a few times at least. Last season was the only season I really spent an ample amount of time outdoors by myself. I generally fish a lot by myself in the summer, but theres no real danger in that, even when it gets real windy, the bass boat is so fast and so much torque, its much easier to navigate big waters. Even if the big motor dies, I still have the trolling motor to get me back to the ramp, and that has happened once when my negative battery wire popped loose inside my outboard one time and all day it was losing charge and I didnt know it until i was as far up the lake as can be and then it wouldnt turn on. No biggie, put the TM on 10 and sit back in the chair and drive it with the remote it comes with lol. Theres always boats in the summer and even on that day, I had 2 others pull over to ask if i needed a tow. I was happy just kicking back and taking the scenery in so I told them no thank you as I had plenty of battery to get back still.
I dont think so Don..... I think when you know you love something, its not work anymore. I think there will be some real opportunity in your near future, if you want it, to do some of these things again. It'll be up to you if you really want some of these "lasts" to really be "lasts" or you get back out there and explore the fun in the outdoors.
I'm 65 and hunt by myself quite often. My daughter hunts with me whenever she can but she has a full time job and kids of her own. My wife caribou hunts with me. That is fun. We stopped hunting moose. Too much work after you pull the trigger.
Ya maybe I just need to find easier hunts. Issue is easier means more pressure and competition. I would rather travel 2-6 hours and have no competition or see any other hunters. The hunts arent always easy either, as I push the limits pretty good, but thats what it takes sometimes to get to the good stuff. I dont know how to be content with easy, not dangerous and maybe shoot 2-3 ducks. I would much rather flirt with mother natures power, fight sleep deprivation, make long drives, and have a waterfowl show with no one else around. I bet I saw 2 hunters all season last year, and I bet I watched literally thousands of birds in and out of my decoys, that never even had a barrel pointed at them. Either the wrong species or i just sat and watched. Pretty easy to get 6 birds every morning, but not always easy to see and watch waterfowl exchange waters every morning. I find the older I get, the more in love I am with trickery vs hunting.
I hunt small lakes and places most people don't go. I'm set up like a roving gypsy ( pickup with canopy, tent, kayak, decoys etc. I go and scout. I use Google earth satellite photos and I hunt mainly during the week. Drives my son and daughter nuts cause they work full time. I take the entire month of September off and chase ducks, Geese, cranes
