The decoy arrived in Vermont on November 5th, being sent to John Bourbon's home, in anticipation of my original arrival scheduled for the 8th. Then sequestration hit Northern Virginia (as well as the rest of the Union, but this writing is about ME!). Sequestration was a stupid plan to ensure action, which resulted in a lot of rearranged plans and not much real intended action. One of the things that was affected was the Wilson Bridge Half Marathon. I have this new sickness, started a year ago when I wanted to lose a few pounds... resulted in 55lbs and a new addiction. I like to run! So I moved my trip to Vermont out a few days to run the race on the 11th. So before I arrived John Bourbon and Cheech Kehoe took him out for a hunt.
When I arrived, the weather got colder!
Tuesday and Wednesday, the highs were in the teens and twenties. The shooting was slow, but the company was good. Monday we took a couple buffies and a common merg.
This is John's Snowgoose he built some 12 years ago.
Really low water levels forced us to hunt where we could, not where we wanted. Usually we pull the boat back to the weeds, but here we are some 40 or so yards from the weeds and in just barely enough water to float.
The next day we moved to another part of the lake and had another adventure with low water, submerged rocks, and pulled drain plugs! Exciting, when it is so cold, that you can watch the slush and ice form while you are hunting.... the decoys get skirts and have snotty bills.
But Lord Yooper did his best and managed to decoy some Whistlers to us....
The canvasback and blackduck are both carved by John, the canvasback contains Moses' ashes, and the blackduck, has Onyx and Abby ashes. These decoys spend the off season on the mantle and get placed in the bags for the season. It is special to have them hunt with me.
After a couple days on the northern part of the lake, I relocated to finish the week with another hunting partner, Kim Smith. Kim and Judy have a littermate to Moses, the last surviving from my last litter. She will be 15 the end of this month.
While hunting with Kim, we managed to educate a whole bunch of blackducks and mallards, along with a couple of widgeon. We did manage a few, but generally did not shoot well. On the 3rd day of hunting we shot only puddle ducks, but did see and hear a few whislters. The other item of note...I shot another banded bird. This is noteworthy because I have now shot a total of 5 bands. The first band was with John, some 20+ years ago. It was quite awhile later when I got my next band which was a goose with Kim, I have since shot 3 more bands, all with Kim. During that time, Kim has never shot a band while hunting with me! And I believe has only 1 during this time. So it is a running joke.
On the last day of my Vermont hunt, we hunted the same part of the lake as day 3, and this time had some whistlers decoy.... while our shooting had not improved, we did manage a pair.
The black dog is Brewer, one of Kim's 3. Brewer and Kim qualified this past August at the NAHRA Invitational in PA. Brewer knows the game!
All in all, a successful week in Vermont. Not heavily weighted down game straps, but a few birds, a fair amount of shooting, and some very good catch up time with John, Frank (Cheech), Kim and their families.
When I arrived, the weather got colder!
Tuesday and Wednesday, the highs were in the teens and twenties. The shooting was slow, but the company was good. Monday we took a couple buffies and a common merg.
This is John's Snowgoose he built some 12 years ago.
Really low water levels forced us to hunt where we could, not where we wanted. Usually we pull the boat back to the weeds, but here we are some 40 or so yards from the weeds and in just barely enough water to float.
The next day we moved to another part of the lake and had another adventure with low water, submerged rocks, and pulled drain plugs! Exciting, when it is so cold, that you can watch the slush and ice form while you are hunting.... the decoys get skirts and have snotty bills.
But Lord Yooper did his best and managed to decoy some Whistlers to us....
The canvasback and blackduck are both carved by John, the canvasback contains Moses' ashes, and the blackduck, has Onyx and Abby ashes. These decoys spend the off season on the mantle and get placed in the bags for the season. It is special to have them hunt with me.
After a couple days on the northern part of the lake, I relocated to finish the week with another hunting partner, Kim Smith. Kim and Judy have a littermate to Moses, the last surviving from my last litter. She will be 15 the end of this month.
While hunting with Kim, we managed to educate a whole bunch of blackducks and mallards, along with a couple of widgeon. We did manage a few, but generally did not shoot well. On the 3rd day of hunting we shot only puddle ducks, but did see and hear a few whislters. The other item of note...I shot another banded bird. This is noteworthy because I have now shot a total of 5 bands. The first band was with John, some 20+ years ago. It was quite awhile later when I got my next band which was a goose with Kim, I have since shot 3 more bands, all with Kim. During that time, Kim has never shot a band while hunting with me! And I believe has only 1 during this time. So it is a running joke.
On the last day of my Vermont hunt, we hunted the same part of the lake as day 3, and this time had some whistlers decoy.... while our shooting had not improved, we did manage a pair.
The black dog is Brewer, one of Kim's 3. Brewer and Kim qualified this past August at the NAHRA Invitational in PA. Brewer knows the game!
All in all, a successful week in Vermont. Not heavily weighted down game straps, but a few birds, a fair amount of shooting, and some very good catch up time with John, Frank (Cheech), Kim and their families.
