Pat M
Active member
I headed up to my buddies on Lake Michigan Friday night after Thanksgiving. I had the duck/goose gear and the blaze orange for some deer hunting as well. The wind was really blowing Friday. My buddy had gotten out Friday morning and said it was already getting pretty rough. So we weren't to optimistic for Satruday morning. It blew all night and it was going to be cold (teens with windchills close to zero) so we got up and moved the decoys from the boat to the truck to shore hunt. Huge mistake! We got down to the water and Lake Michigan was glass, plus the wind was gone! Like someone just flipped a switch. Well we set up but nothing really worked the shore. The few that did would land out side the decoys and just sit there or would buz the end of the lines at moch 10.
So we packed up and headed up to the farm to catch his uncles and cousins for a few deer drives. We got there just in time. A nice big doe and yearling came right at me. It would have been comical to to watch me shot. I had been shooting a semi-auto in the morning and now a pump. First shot was fine but after that it was a mess. I went click, click, "why aren't you firing gun", oh- got to pump. In the process of doing that manged to nock down my rear v-sight. I did manage to drop her so I can't complain too much. My uncle and cousin had called me Friday night to give me crap about not hunting because they heard the gf wouldn't let me go. So after i got the deer tag I sent them a nice picture message with "who's hunting now!"
Sunday morning we took the boat. The wind was light but out of the south which can make the lake pretty rough. We got set up and had a few birds work. So a TON of birds but most were in huge groups. We were right in the flight path but with tha big a groups they wante nothing to do with us. We did bring in a couple pairs of birds but had some piss poor shooting. The wind started to pick up and the white caps started coming so we called it kind of early. We did scratch a real nice bluebill drake and a bluebill hen early and one buff hen as we were picking up. Kodiak did pretty good. The first retrieve was the about 40+ yds out and a blind retrieve. The boys shot it off the front of the boat. I don't even think Kodiak saw it come in. I sent him off the front of the boat and out he went. The 2nd was pretty much the same but not as far, Kodaik was off the mark a little and went out to far but swam back in to pick it up perfectly.
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Does this count as a tailgate shot? The tractor we use to launch the boat doesn't have a tailgate soo...
View attachment thnks2.jpg
After we cleaned up we did a couple more deer drives again and scratched out two more deer for the family. They butcher everything themselves Sunday night while listening to some football.
It was a good season, it doesn't end until next weekend but I have to coach a wrestling tournament saturday and help my Granparents move out of there house of 40yrs Sunday. I am very thankfull for Kodiak. He made the season that much more enjoyable. Hopefully we'll get on some pheasants and he can get a few more retrieves.
Thanks for all of your help and kind words. This site is a pretty amazing place.
So we packed up and headed up to the farm to catch his uncles and cousins for a few deer drives. We got there just in time. A nice big doe and yearling came right at me. It would have been comical to to watch me shot. I had been shooting a semi-auto in the morning and now a pump. First shot was fine but after that it was a mess. I went click, click, "why aren't you firing gun", oh- got to pump. In the process of doing that manged to nock down my rear v-sight. I did manage to drop her so I can't complain too much. My uncle and cousin had called me Friday night to give me crap about not hunting because they heard the gf wouldn't let me go. So after i got the deer tag I sent them a nice picture message with "who's hunting now!"
Sunday morning we took the boat. The wind was light but out of the south which can make the lake pretty rough. We got set up and had a few birds work. So a TON of birds but most were in huge groups. We were right in the flight path but with tha big a groups they wante nothing to do with us. We did bring in a couple pairs of birds but had some piss poor shooting. The wind started to pick up and the white caps started coming so we called it kind of early. We did scratch a real nice bluebill drake and a bluebill hen early and one buff hen as we were picking up. Kodiak did pretty good. The first retrieve was the about 40+ yds out and a blind retrieve. The boys shot it off the front of the boat. I don't even think Kodiak saw it come in. I sent him off the front of the boat and out he went. The 2nd was pretty much the same but not as far, Kodaik was off the mark a little and went out to far but swam back in to pick it up perfectly.
View attachment thnks3.jpg
View attachment thnks4.jpg
View attachment thnks6.jpg
Does this count as a tailgate shot? The tractor we use to launch the boat doesn't have a tailgate soo...
View attachment thnks2.jpg
After we cleaned up we did a couple more deer drives again and scratched out two more deer for the family. They butcher everything themselves Sunday night while listening to some football.
It was a good season, it doesn't end until next weekend but I have to coach a wrestling tournament saturday and help my Granparents move out of there house of 40yrs Sunday. I am very thankfull for Kodiak. He made the season that much more enjoyable. Hopefully we'll get on some pheasants and he can get a few more retrieves.
Thanks for all of your help and kind words. This site is a pretty amazing place.
