Hunt photos and a cool gift!

[Charles H.]

On Thanksgiving day I duck hunted with my brothers and one of my brothers colleagues from work. A nice guy who I've goose hunted with on several occasions. He was surprised to hear that I carved my own decoys.

It was a wonderful morning to duck hunt! Cold, probably in the mid 20's and windy with clearer skies then I had hoped for. I split off from the others because my 9 year old lab is a bit of an old lady and doesn't always appreciate the young dogs energy. More ducks were in the air then I've ever scene before shooting light. They were splashing my decoys 2, 3, 4 at a time right in the hole. Then shooting light..... all birds wanted to land 60 yards out. I got one good shot all morning on a decoying mallard that I blew. My brothers on the other hand had an excellent shoot!

My brother Cyril on the left with his Deutsch Drahthaar, Toby my brother's work friend, and my youngest brother Stan on the right. I took the photo. the Boat is my devlin Cackler.

On Friday we got together again for a field goose hunt. Another wonderful day to hunt with some cloud cover this time. We hunted cut corn less then half a mile from a roost that NEVER freezes. This roost pond belongs to a waterpark that needs to keep lots of pipes from freezing so they pump heated water through the lines all winter and it runs back into the pond. A good cold snap will bring in birds from miles around. We are in the first cornfield the geese see when they leave the roost. The birds started to come off the roost around 8, by 8:30 we were cleaning up. Of course some days the birds have other plans and fly right by. But this was one of those days where the first few flocks were on strings from the second they left the roost.



After cleaning up our decoys and blinds, my brothers friend hands me a box of old decoy cut outs. Apparently he found them at an auction/flea market several years ago cheap and never did anything with them. I'm really excited to carve them because I have this image in my mind that some old timer never got around to finishing them. They look like they've been sitting in a garage or basement waiting to be carved for quite some time.

These bodies I would describe as bluebill sized.



These were more bufflehead size blocks. The one in my hand was still attached to a base for carving. I'll probably keep this one like this.







There were 4 heads in the box, 3 were a High Density expandable foam, but this one is much heavier, perhaps plaster, but it seems more durable. Way to heavy to use unless you making a dead duck decoy. I imagine it was just to test the mold being used, or perhaps it was used to make a mold?

 

[TimJ]

Looks like a good time even if you did miss out on some shooting on Thursday. How well does your brother's Drahthaar handle the cold? Fine looking dog.

Neat shape to those bodies.

Tim

 

[Bill Burkett]

Good story, great pictures and one handsome dog. Never heard of a Dutch Drathar, he looks like my French Grif; if he's like her, water cold enough to turn to ice at a blink is just his cup of tea; she likes to sit in shoulder deep icy water outside the blind so she can see what's happening. Considers her neoprene hunting coat too damn hot. I liked the shot of the Drat craning to get at the geese. Thanks for putting this together for all of us to see and read; your supposition about the old duck hunter not finishing those blocks sounds right on. And wherever he is--perhaps loafing in the wing of Valhalla reserved for waterfowlers by now--I bet he is pleased his work found its way to your hands for finishing. When my elk-hunting son gets around to cleaning out my decoy legacy from his jammed garage, he will uncover well-seasoned blocks of cork waiting to be finished--I hope they find their way to someone like you!

 

[Al Hansen]

I sure enjoyed that story and those pictures. Glad to see you have such a great hunt. I liked the part where you talked about the ducks coming into the hole prior to shooting time. There is nothing about our sport that I enjoy more than that. I do have a question. Is it possible that there was something in the spread or set up that made them come in short?
Al

 

[Charles H.]

Bill, the Deutsch Drahthaar is basically a controlled breeding of the wirehaired pointer. They are genetically identical, Drahthaar bloodlines are very specific about breeding controls. Dogs are not permitted to be bred until they've passed some very rigorous testing. They are trained to hunt both fur and feathers, and track wounded game. My brother will often will finish up a goose hunt by donning an orange vest and hat and running rabbits out of the nearby hedgerows. As far as the cold weather is concerned I would hesitate to hunt that dog in the water if it was any colder then the mid 20's we had on Thursday. She hesitated to go in the water on the last few retrieves.

Al, I tried to think of all the reasons they may have been landing out of range. It was clear skies, so perhaps there was just a little glare on my decoys. But that shouldn't have mattered for the first hour or so. The other guys were a couple hundred yards away on the same body of water, and they had the added advantage of goose decoys, so they pulled a lot of birds away. My decoys were a little closer to shore then I would have liked due to a soft muddy bottom that limited wading. The wind died out not long after first light as well. Lot of stuff to consider, I'll try a different set up next time.

 

[Bill Burkett]

Thanks for more on the drathaar. I have become very attached to whiskery dogs in my old age...First ones I ever saw were in German taverns lying quietly at their owner's side while a fast and furious card came went on overhead. Then I met two traveling the world with their well to do boss at the Couerd'Alene Resort in Idaho, as well behaved in the posh lobby as the tavern dwellers of working class Germany--or a highly trained service dog. Dignified and reserved, but willing to accept an ear rub if the boss said okay...