Bull, Traveling diver decoy, update

[Brad Bortner]

Bull arrived just before Thanksgiving. He was greeted by my 3 year old grandson.

My son and grandson enjoyed joining me in my boat for his first duck hunt.

we got Bull out for a very short hunt before the holiday and the torrential rains of the last 5 days.

Now that the holiday is over, I got Bull out for a little longer hunt today. He swam on a longline with birds from Brad F, Steve Sutton, Phil Nowak, Pat Gregory, Bob Hayden, Derek Zumwalt, and a few on my own.

He was successful in fooling lots of flocks of greater scaup, and 3 nice drakes stayed behind as did a drake canvasback and a juvie scoter. Not too bad for his first full day on the wet coast. I have a couple of nice go pro videos of birds over Bull and shots of the dogs swimming past with their prized possessions.

 

[Steve Sanford]

Good morning, Brad~

Great story! Of course, those rich blue bills got my old heart racing.

All the best,

SJS

 

[jim bosanny]

Great start to Bull's west coast hunt. The decoy spread representing the mix of carvers and duck hunter's sure beats a bunch of plastic. Good luck the rest of the season. Do you post your videos?

 

[Carl]

Excellent! Nice to see three generations in the boat.

Bull certainly pulled his weight, gotta love greaters & cans.

 

[Brad Bortner]

Jim, I'll try to but they need editing and I may need CraigF's instruction.

Jim, I know all of us miss your dad's contributions on this page. I hope you have recovered from your injuries.

 

[Will M]

Great write up and hunts. And way to include the youngsters. I started tagging along with my dad when I was 3 and I'm positive it helped pave the way to where I am now

 

[Craig F]

Great write up and pictures! I have a lot of editing work to do myself... running four GoPros plus a DSLR this season, yikes.

 

[jim bosanny]

Thanks Brad. I sent you a PM.

 

[Phil Nowack]

Nice bunch of birds!

 

[Pat Gregory]

Brad - Hopefully your grandson had plenty of time playing with Bull and pulling him around the yard. It's the best honest wear a decoy can experience...

 

[Brad Bortner]

This picture is mainly for Pat Gregory and Steve Sanford. Bull worked again today but I didn't have the patience to spend day waiting on canvasbacks to show up.

I will admit to a case of mistaken identity on the gen lesser. In the rain I thought it was a Drake. I wanted s comparison lesser to go with the the greater drakes.

 

[Al Hansen]

A very nice write up, Brad. Looks like you found some nice spots to continue filling the off season memory bank. Glad you are getting into the birds. Sure liked that picture of your son/grandson. Says a lot!
Al

 

[Brad Bortner]

So because of a cancellation in November, Bull has had an extended stay and some unique experiences and hopes to get a few DBHP members in on the action. But before Bull could back to work fooling birds he took a side trip to Washington DC. He attended a reception marking the centennial of the Migratory Bird Treaty with Canada and starting working on the vision for the next 100 years. He met with FWS and CWS colleagues including the Director General of CWS for species management.

On December 7th, Bull paid tribute to sailors at the Navy Memorial in remembrance of the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

After the side trip Bull got back to work. The next group in lured Brad F of DBHP fame and Ken Richkus who works as #2 bird guy for FWS in DC.

We had to work for our birds since the weather had changed and cold east winds were draining frigid air from the approaching polar vortex. Nevertheless Bull kept on working.

The weather forecasts for the east side of the state were calling for -10 F windchills so plans to hunt with Fred S were hastily altered to stay and hunt the balmy 21 F wind chills on the lower Columbia. With Brad F's space in the boat free, Todd Sanders, the USFWS Pacific Flyway Representative joined us for a great shoot with lots of decoying birds.

All in all, Bull floated for about 12 days, hunted with a bunch of great friends and Along side decoys carved by Pat Gregory,Steve Sutton, Brad F, Bob Hayden, Derek Zumwalt and others from this site. He had many birds shot over him. My thanks to Darin for carving and donating a great decoy and Chuck for organizing the traveling decoy effort. Here is about half of the birds shot over Bull.

 

[Carl]

Outstanding!

 

[Al Hansen]

Well done, Brad!
Al

 

[Huntindave McCann]

Brad, Thanks for the update. Looks like Bull has had a full schedule and seen a lot of country. I'm sure his trip to DC was less taxing than the trip made by his feathered friends.

Speaking of which, Bull has met some influential folks while traveling, although I suspect he enjoyed his visit with your grandson the most of all.

Thanks for sharing your photos.

 

[tod osier]

You got that decoy some action!!!!

I love the broadies on the bard pic - very old timey.