Late Starts

MLBob Furia

MLBob Furia

Well-known member
One of the perks of retirement is being able to pick one's spots when the signs look the least bit promising. In this year's goofy weather mix, it's been a lifesaver to have that option.
Had a few good weekday hunts on the River when the sloughs opened up a bit after the hard freeze. High water levels, but there were birds around.Then we had another freeze up and fresh dumping of snow this weekend, followed by a bit of a warm -up yesterday. At 10 yesterday morning, after a leisurely breakfast and scanning all the forecasts & radar, I guessed that the geese might move to eat ahead of the new wave of cold & snow predicted for mid-week. Loaded up a dozen half-body goose decoys, a sack of goose silhouettes, and a sack of puddler pickleweeds - took off and was set up by mid-day.


Some pictures of the "ropes & the tools" (especially the pickleweeds!) used :


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5" of snow last night - 14 degrees & dropping as I write. I'm going out to the studio to paint!
 
Picked up at 3 from my field hunt, and headed to a preserve a few miles down the road where one of the ponds had a bit of open water. Lots of Cans, Ringers, & Redheads along with some Mallards + a few Widgeon & Gadwall. Suppopsed to be single digits tonight, so I doubt they'll be able to keep it open.
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Trying to convince the folks at the center to let me get in the weeds with a layout & camera, and spread some decoys when the reverse migration occurs.
 
Bob
It's kinda like a game of chess isn't? At least your season is still open.
wis boz
 
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Nice!
Looks like the Polar Vortex is coming back. It was about 50 here on Sunday, talk about a nice one day reprieve from winter. Yesterday it was still almost 30 in the morning. By midnight it was -9 or something crazy like that. We've warmed up nicely to 0 now. I think your studio is a good place to be.

Tim
 
Oh, that spread you had set out in the cornfield is a work of art. Your wonder dog is still doing her thing. That makes you lucky, Bob.
I sure enjoyed those duck pictures.
Al
 
Al,
We're both getting older and picking our spots ;-) Today, the "spot" is in front of something warm. Thermometer in the studio reads a toasty 70 although it's now 11 outside & the winds out of the NE are rattling the windows today.
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Jim: Got 'til the 31st, but I don't think I'll see much open water by then. Hopefully we'll get a time or two back in the corn. I'll just keep looking at Intellicast and checking my spots.....
Mike: She's always been a good "hider" when we hunt the stubble. Always amazes anyone who hunts with me that she'll get in her blind and stay there watching, no matter what's going on (...or going off), until she gets the OK to start picking up.
 
So that is where all our birds went,if you recall i am upriver from you we lost our birds after the last"high tide". Yesterday was nice i spent it splitting firewood,brutal today,i may be done on the river for this year.
Great looking dog and rig,nice bag also.
Bill.
 
Bill A,
That's the set of a dozen Palm-frond pickleweeds that I did a while back. They have proven to be very effective in the right situations. Always have them in the boat now - The "carry-on luggage" of waterfowling.
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Bill C,
The "tides" have been a bear to deal with this year; haven't they? I don't recall the water level changes being so extreme in these kinds of temps. Of course, it seemed every time we'd get drops to ideal levels, we'd also get freezes at night so it layered thick ice right down the ramps as it went. Oh well, "Sport of Kings!" ;-)
 
Love the pickleweeds, they look really natural out there. Was gunning a spot yesterday and was thinking that would be the perfect spot for them... Great carving...
 
We are just now getting the storm that just passed thru you Bob. Unfortunately, I didn't have the field results you did. The pickleweeds are still my favorites.




dc
 
I thought I'd heard of every kind of decoy...what the heck is a pickleweed? Looks like just a head and neck in the photos...is that for getting above stubble? My silhouettes show up well in stubble, but my full shells just kind of vanish...
 
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