Well opening day finally got here. After scouting around I decided I'd head to an area that I'd seen a decent number of birds at, though I knew likely I'd have to get there really early. Since I had a trailer malfarction in teal season and I hadn't yet fixed it....I know I know...major procrastination from Sept to Nov, but I did fix it before the season started.....anyway because of that I did my scouting by foot. I found an area that would be easy enough to walk to but did some studying of google maps and it said I could get to it by boat too.
Needless to say I didn't find it in the dark, so I didn't get to where I wanted to be. I took the canoe because it was supposed to be damp, windy and the place i was setting up (or planning on) was wet and i wanted a dry place for me and my Black Dog. I eventually set up somewhere and didn't do bad at all, though it wasn't a great place birdwise, I did some great shooting (for me that's incredible). Two redheads and three teal (a mix of green and blue winged teal). My Black Dog had some great retrieves on birds I would've been hard pressed to find by myself since I dropped them in the grass. By eight I couldn't take being cold anymore so i picked the decoys up to head back to the back and see just how far off I was....a lot....but i figgered we'd do some snipe hunting as well to warm us both up.
As we were walking I heard a weird noise...like quacking, but not quite right. So out of curiosity to see what was wrong with that duck we started heading over to the noise. When we were really close we stopped and I was looking around and was looking for water. Couldn't find any but the creek I'd paddled up, though not that far up. I just stood there looking and then I saw the pig. At 10 feet I figgered #4 steel shot would take care of her. She didn't run far at all and once found was quickly dispatched.
That afternoon my neighbor was very kind to teach me how to shuck a pig.
A good opening day indeed....great dog work, great shooting and tasty critters to take home, despite the getting all turned around
Dani
Needless to say I didn't find it in the dark, so I didn't get to where I wanted to be. I took the canoe because it was supposed to be damp, windy and the place i was setting up (or planning on) was wet and i wanted a dry place for me and my Black Dog. I eventually set up somewhere and didn't do bad at all, though it wasn't a great place birdwise, I did some great shooting (for me that's incredible). Two redheads and three teal (a mix of green and blue winged teal). My Black Dog had some great retrieves on birds I would've been hard pressed to find by myself since I dropped them in the grass. By eight I couldn't take being cold anymore so i picked the decoys up to head back to the back and see just how far off I was....a lot....but i figgered we'd do some snipe hunting as well to warm us both up.
As we were walking I heard a weird noise...like quacking, but not quite right. So out of curiosity to see what was wrong with that duck we started heading over to the noise. When we were really close we stopped and I was looking around and was looking for water. Couldn't find any but the creek I'd paddled up, though not that far up. I just stood there looking and then I saw the pig. At 10 feet I figgered #4 steel shot would take care of her. She didn't run far at all and once found was quickly dispatched.
That afternoon my neighbor was very kind to teach me how to shuck a pig.
A good opening day indeed....great dog work, great shooting and tasty critters to take home, despite the getting all turned around
Dani
