Todd Duncan Tennyson
Well-known member
long before the sun was up
my phone was ringing
i didn’t have the fire lit or the coffee going or anything
i knew it had to be mike
because no one else would call me so early
i’d just rolled out of bed and was kind of worried that maybe mike had hit a deer or had a flat tire on his way
he indicated that his alarm was experiencing issues from the recent solar flare activity, and somehow, he’d arrived at the rendezvous about an hour ahead of schedule
he said, “just knock on the window when you get here and i’ll see you then,” he added, “don’t forget the big window sash weights or the longline reels, because we are going to need them later on to blast some divers.”
“ok mike, i have already got the big bag of burlapped birds in the boat, see you soon.” i said
i got my cup of coffee and my dog, a box of shells and a sweet potato that anya made for me the night before
we loaded up and rolled down the block after i let about a bathtub full of water out of the back of the bomber
soon we met up and rolled to the launch
we did the routine
mike unhitched the lights and straps and i put the plug in the stern so we wouldn’t sink
mike doesn’t ask if i need help
he watched me for the first couple seasons
(i’m pretty particular about the routine with loading and unloading on the bomber.)
now he just gets to work undoing lines and ropes and checking tiedowns
it is nice to hunt with someone that i can count on
the red dog sat there and watched it all like he knew the next steps coming
i backed the bomber into the water and put the red dog’s flack jacket on him
it is difficult to put a flack jacket on a dog that wants to get going
you have to be able to get him to hold still for long enough to lay the jacket on the ground splayed open
then you have to put both of his front legs through the left armhole
and then both through the rt armhole
once all of these are completed
all you have to do is get the zipper to zip and the velcro to fasten
you will need to muss the fur out of the way of the zipper
and then you will probably either pinch yourself or your dog in the fasteners
once you have done the aforementioned your dog should be ready
you will be sweating and exhausted
we left the launch and were in the dark on the big river
i always feel a bit apprehensive at driving the boat out into the dark
even with lights and a compass
it is intimidating to go through fog patches
or rollers and side currents
and although we’ve made the same run easily over a hundred times
we ran aground on a new shoal today
it took a moment to free ourselves but we kept on and into the blackness just like we always do
soon we were at the chosen location
i dropped mike and what he could carry and he was off on a long hike into the marsh and the dark
i took the bomber and ditched it and hauled the rest of the gear
mike shouted “hey man, don’t forget the longlines”
he had the deeks out and we had birds coming in from every direction
some in the spread
& high overhead
i am shooting a little side by side 20 ga and it seems to pattern nicely with a 3’’ #2 at 1550 fps
red dog had plenty of birds to fetch
we got our birds and each made some good shots
i sure was proud of the red dog
mike got a nice drake with quite a set of curlers
soon we had all we were allowed and the red dog was trying to say something
mike said “what’s that kaden?”
kaden said “i sure like a corned dog”
me and mike pitched in and got the boy his corned dog on the way home after rolling through thousands of birds
mike looked back and laughed and said “well, it sure was a good thing we brought the longlines and 50 lbs of sash weights”
. Good essay, btw. 
