It's Tough Keeping Up (pics)

Bill

Yep, that's jeff. I don't think he ever registered for the new site so a lot of folks don't even know who he is, the other half of Art Stoop.

Eric
 
Great pictures and stories.
Thomas, I was into my 20's before I got a bull Pintail like that one you are holding in the picture with that old guy. I still haven't gotten one with a sprig longer then a wigeon tail.

Speaking of that old guy I do miss him on the forum. Tell him to quit playing with his old tools and guns for a while and stop in and say Hi.

Tim
 
Mr. Patterson, on opening day this year we shot two drake mallards...one huge drake, the most plumed out I've ever seen in October, it had two curls...then I shot a drake that was half the size of the other and had four curls...it also had one deformed foot...there was only one web and it was curled to look like it was making a C with its foot....poor thing must have swam in circles most of the time....so I think it is more genetic than anything to do with size, maturity, etc...just my two cents....Dave
 
Lots of my buddies freak out about 4 curlers and more often than not I find that they do have 4 curls...lots of times a couple will be doubled up and look like 3 or even 2. 3 or 4 seems normal. The assumption is that the ones that have 4 with some silvering on the edges are old. I doubt it but never heard an official answer on that. Old redhead hens tend to gray up so who knows.
 
It takes me back to my first duck hunt. I was eleven, I froze my tail off, and didn't get many shots, and no birds. I didn't get to go again until next year, I had so many clothes I looked like Randy on "The Christmas Story". I didn't get a duck until late in the season, a drake blue bill that flew over as we were about to leave. I still remember it's feet paddling as it laid on it's back on the dike. I don't know who was more thrilled, me or my dad.
Good choice on the shotgun. I cut my teeth with a 20 gauge model 21 my dad cut down for my mom. A double has more weight than those single shots, and it's less complicated to operate.
 
I've never paid that much attention to the number of curls but don't ever recall seeing four. Seems like three or less is the norm. Anybody know just how many they can have and if they relate to maturity or anything else?
Click to expand...

Eric,

I remember the late Dick LeMaster (he was a carver who pioneered extensive research on waterfowl anatomy for carvers - he's the guy who published "The Great Gallery of Ducks" ) in one of his seminars saying that there are actually two pairs of feathers that make up the tail curls at the oil gland on mallard drakes. On younger birds they are not as pronounced and may even tend toward straight; but on a fully plumed adult, four is not that unusual.

All this talk I see on forums (not this one) about "shooting three and four curlers" amuses me, and got me looking more carefully when I clean birds (I have a whole boxful of good tail curls that I've saved, as I actually use them in my mallard drake decoys [see attached pic] and need to replenish them every now & then when the oil breaks down), and it has always seemed to me that LeMaster was right. The two center feathers closely overlay, but on some birds the curl is not developed or only mildly pronounced. I usually just discard the underlying poorly-formed feathers and keep the nice ones.Not so sure I'd categorize a mallard with good tail curls up there with say, a trophy elk.

View attachment magmallard 002 (600 x 381).jpg

View attachment magmallard 002 (600 x 381).jpg
 
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Great story Eric, great photos! Reminds me...I was sitting around a table at Shot Show a few years back, eating lunch with Scott and Hoppy and Reid Kempfer and Hoppy's boy, about 9 at the time. We were talkin' about deer and I ask the kid if he killed a nice buck yet, and of course he had was the answer with some detail. Then he looks me right in the eye and with his best southern drawl conjured up tells me; "I've killed more deer than most grown men".

Another fine decoy Bob!

Hitch
 
Eric, enjoy all these young years of duck hunting. My son turned twenty-one this year and is leaving for marine boot camp shortly. We enjoyed several hunts together this year knowing it may be a while before we can enjoy them again. I chairish ever hunt we have had since I started carrying him at the age of five. It seems like they learn so much from hunting that they can't learn in any school and of course it always makes staying gone hunting easier with the wife if you're spending time with the family. Missed seeing you on the river this year.
good job dad,
david
 
Thanks for the curl info. I'll show it to Thomas. He'll be thrilled his curl observation generated this much interest. Thanks too for the stories of you own kids hunting experiences. I think maybe down the road we need to put together a duckboats.net father/son hunt somewhere. I know Thomas would love to meet Lil Hank and the rest of the young guns.

Eric

p.s. David, I thought I might see you on some of the tribs with all the rain we had. Shoot me a PM and let me know how you did this year and I'll do the same.
 
Get that kid a decent (Filson) waterfowling hat. You ever waited too long before pulling down those fuzzy ear flaps in a snow or rain? That fuzz is like a sponge. Froze ears ain't no fun.
Looks like you had a pretty good season, but not as good as the kid's.
Give me a call on my cell some time. Probably going to join a club on the Eastern Shore next year and, perhaps, I can host a hunt/get-together.
 
Oh man, that was funny reading about "Never miss Thomas". You have a good partner for life in that little man. Thomas, I hope you get a wood duck over the deke I sent down there a few years ago...nothing would make me happier.
 
I'm loving this thread...just sitting here thinking of a funny from the last day with Lucas, my grandson. He sets down his gun in the boat carefully, safety on and turns to me and says "Git your gun ready 'cause I'm gonna take a pee". Just like I taught him, some things you only need to tell them once...I have to be careful.

Hitch
 
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