Been a while

MLB Tom

MLB Tom

Member
Haven't been over here for quite some time, now that the MLB sites gone figured I'd stop in and say hey! Might as well pull up a chair and stay awhile!:) Mark, Greg and I have been on some fun adventures the last few years but one I'll remember for the rest of my life was a couple of years ago we headed out to the east coast to hook up with our buddy Jim Bucko and hunt some sea ducks. Mark and I have been infatuated with sub gauges for the last few years and decided to try our popguns as we call em on some of these stout birds.
We hooked up with Jimmy and a buddy of his named Stuart Fairbanks then headed up to the Cap to gun Eiders. Never took a Eider before so I started my day in the layout with my trusty Berretta A390 12ga. 1st bird up the pipe was a beautiful drake! At 15 yards I splash him clean! Now my confidence is up so I switch to my 28 red label. I love this little gun and having taken geese with it I was pretty sure I could drop one of these behemoths with it. A few minutes later another perfect toll by another beautiful drake and I had my second bird!
I used my 28 for the rest of the day and finished my limit of Eiders with it. On a side note, after seeing a hen in hand I wished I had taken one to be mounted with my drake. I think the hens are as beautiful if not more than the drakes! What a gorgeous pair of fowl! I'll try to post a pic of the 3 of us with our groups limit.
The pinnacle of the trip for me came one night when our hosts took us over to meet my favorite of all waterfowl artists Chet Reneson! We spent an evening with Chet and his lovely wife Penny. They live in a house in the country that's around 200 yrs old. What a beautiful home they have with it's rough hewn beams and enormous New England fire place. During our time together Chet took us into his studio and showed us some of his work including a piece he was finishing of a snow goose hunt in a rice field down south. What an incredible painting that was!
I must say Chet was quite the host showing us his studio and then his work shop where he carves his own gunning stools. After holding a few of the bluebills I asked Chet if he would be willing to part with a bluebill and to my surprise he said sure then turned it over and signed it for me! That block now resides on a shelf to the side of Chet's painting Cedar Point which I've had for years. I've never really been a collector of decoys but in the last few years have come to acquire two blocks that I really treasure. One, Chet's blue bill and the other I picked up a few years ago at an MLB event, it's another of my favorite artists. It's a working canvasback carved by David Hagerbaumer. All in all it was a great trip with great friends!
I think the thing I love about our sport the most is the tradition it is steeped in. What a wonderful history this sport holds. The art, the decoys the many faucets and styles of hunting that we all enjoy! I can't wait for this season!
For now, so long from Tom of the MLB

View attachment Chet-Dave.jpg
View attachment CON TRIP 2010 (75ab).jpg
 
Tom,
Chet and Dave are two huge parts of my love of the waterfowl we hunt. Those paintings really make for a shorter off season.
Great decoys. You are very lucky to have them in your collection.

Bob
 
Good stuff Tom. Say hi to Mark for me. BTW, I have a Hagerbaumer Can drake just about identical to the one you have. Hitch
 
Tom

Thanks for coming by and checking in with your eider hunting story. That's some really cool stuff and if you recall Reneson is my favorite as well so I would have been beside myself if I was there. On the small gauge hunting that reminds me of something that happened here in Alabama on an opener a few years back. Thomas and I were hunting some flooded timber and had a good morning. After the hunt on the way out we pulled over to talk to another party that was loading their kayaks. One of the fellas looked at me and said "you been hunting these woods a long time now haven't you." We recognized each other as having been chasing ducks on that area for over 25 years. Well when we talked about the mornings hunt I told him I noticed they didn't shoot that many times and enquired into their luck. He then uncased a single shot 20 gauge along with his two hunting partners. These three guys started their duck season not after numbers, but after the challenge of handicapping themselves with single shots. Somehow challenges such as this are rare. For the outdoor advertising machine and those who have surrendered themselves to it everything is about more payload, more dense, more velocity, more lethality, more blah blah blah. Hearing your story and seeing the guys on opning day is a breath of fresh air. Sometimes less is more.

Eric
 

Tom, too bad you didn't keep that hen eider. I kept one about 15 years ago and still think it was the prettiest bird I've ever seen. Unfortunately, I brought it to a dishonorable taxidermist who never completed the mount.
 
Tom,
thanks for the story.

I remember reading Mark's stories about the "pop" gun in the past. I have always wanted to try them. I know Pete McMiller uses one from his layout from time to time as well.
 
Tom,

Wow...just...wow. Eiders with 28-gauges, and then a visit to Chet Reneson's place...that's awesome. Reneson is one of my favorites, not for the super-realism, but probably the exact reverse...a little is always left to the imagination, but "the moment" is captured...the flow, the movement, etc.

Thanks for sharing...
 
Eric, it has been way to long that we shared a blind together, we need to remedy that! As far as subgauges it got even wilder last season. After having lots of fun with our 28's, 410's came up in conversation. Mark and I were at Cabela's one night and were walking past the used gun rack, we both spotted the old trusty Mossburg bolt action 410 we all had as kids. I said hey look, that was my 1st shotgun when I was a kid! Mark laughed and said me too. Weeks later Greg even commented on having one also. i think every kid that stepped into a field had one of these! Anyway Mark said jokingly maybe we should try 410's now, I looked at him and said that would be way cool! A few weeks later we both bought a new Mossburg Silver pigeon 410 O/U. What a great little gun for $500, I love that little gun but the ammo! whew, heavy shot 410 box of 10, $20 :( That season we took woodys, mallards and pintail from our little marsh, the real treat was when we headed up to our place in canada for divers. My first turn in the box and I killed redheads and Bluebills with it! What an experience! The kicker was late season geese, I took a limit of geese with it and the 1st bird folded dead! I'm gonna use it a lot this season! Hey, I'm serious about hooking up. I'd love to spend a few days together in a blind or in the box! Let's make it happen capin! -Tom of the MLB
 
Rick, I agree, the sureal scenes Chet paints just as we used to say SEND ME. I still love Mass and Adamson, ( love Harry's prairie pintail paintings with the coppers and bronzes he uses so well) but for shear pleasure of viewing nothing does it for me like Chet and what a cool dude, very down to earth. BTW, just had to pick up another print while I was there! hehe
 
So the big question Tom is when are you, Mark and Greg coming back. I am planning a first week of January trip back to the Cape. You know it is a standing invite from Stuart and I.
Jim
 
Jim, speaking of coming out, what about you guys coming out with us and slplash some bills and redheads? Canada is allowing 6 a day this year!
 
October is a tough month for me. My business is exploding and I have been more busy than a one armed wallpaper hanger with a bad case of crabs!
I would very much like to make that trip one of these days.

Jim
 
Hey Tom, Good to hear the MLB's are still gunnin' together ! I really miss our yearly layout convention, hope to see you guys again sometime. Pete McMiller, Clint and I did a layout hunt on Lake Michigan last fall.I had the same idea,.410 for LongTail ....I bagged one with Bismuth,and switched back to 12 gauge.Didn't want to push my luck, anyway I accomplished what I wanted. Take care buddy, tell Mark and Greg I said hi.Good Luck this season! Joe&Clint
 
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