Steve Sanford
Well-known member
All~
It was my privilege earlier today to meet and hunt with Parker - a grandson of a good friend - on his first day afield in our zone's Youth Waterfowl Weekend. I could have named this post "First Bowsprit" (another post, sometime soon), though, because my day started - at my not-unusual 3:00 AM - in the shop. I had glued up a couple of the components before dinner last night -and so awoke certain that the epoxy would have cured and I could put her together before I went afield.....just made it! She'll get faired and coated later today.
In any event, with a freshly-minted license and a posse of adult "assistants", Parker trudged in to a sweet little pothole amongst some woods, corn and hay. The morning was warm, calm and foggy.
The first "challenge" was setting the rig. The bag of Mallard stool turned out to have a single floater - and the rest were field decoys. Which, by the way, do not "trim" very well when afloat. So, we improvised. Dead branches were found and hurled out to (at?) me. I stuck the branches in the bottom mire and tried to prop each bird so its "feet" just kissed the water.
Bur Marigolds surrounded the water - their "beggars tick" seeds being delectable to Mallards and others.
And, hundreds of spiders have been busy on their own "web" sites (that pun's for you, Silverback)....
Grandfather and Grandson sat at the ready....
Watching the skies.
Here is what a few small bunches of Mallards saw.
And one young Drake found himself right over the bead of Parker's 1100. (Makes me think of Leopold's "Red Legs Kicking")
And so, here is the course before Betty (aka Boo).
Off she goes - kind of in the right direction...
Almost there....
Return trip.
Making landfalll - sort of....
(Sorry for the blurry shot.) Everyone seems pretty happy!
Here is the "documentation" shot. Three Generations - and one young-of-the-year.
The Proud Dog Handler.
More "photo shoots".
The Fall colors are really starting to show of late.
Sure is worth just taking a moment to really look and see.
.
The sun finally made it up over the hills and at least through the trees.
Of course, a late Mallard circled several times, wondering where all the decoys had gone.
And, the fog hung around, even on our way to breakfast.
I look forward to many more days afield with Parker and his helpers.
All the best,
SJS
It was my privilege earlier today to meet and hunt with Parker - a grandson of a good friend - on his first day afield in our zone's Youth Waterfowl Weekend. I could have named this post "First Bowsprit" (another post, sometime soon), though, because my day started - at my not-unusual 3:00 AM - in the shop. I had glued up a couple of the components before dinner last night -and so awoke certain that the epoxy would have cured and I could put her together before I went afield.....just made it! She'll get faired and coated later today.
In any event, with a freshly-minted license and a posse of adult "assistants", Parker trudged in to a sweet little pothole amongst some woods, corn and hay. The morning was warm, calm and foggy.
The first "challenge" was setting the rig. The bag of Mallard stool turned out to have a single floater - and the rest were field decoys. Which, by the way, do not "trim" very well when afloat. So, we improvised. Dead branches were found and hurled out to (at?) me. I stuck the branches in the bottom mire and tried to prop each bird so its "feet" just kissed the water.
Bur Marigolds surrounded the water - their "beggars tick" seeds being delectable to Mallards and others.
And, hundreds of spiders have been busy on their own "web" sites (that pun's for you, Silverback)....
Grandfather and Grandson sat at the ready....
Watching the skies.
Here is what a few small bunches of Mallards saw.
And one young Drake found himself right over the bead of Parker's 1100. (Makes me think of Leopold's "Red Legs Kicking")
And so, here is the course before Betty (aka Boo).
Off she goes - kind of in the right direction...
Almost there....
Return trip.
Making landfalll - sort of....
(Sorry for the blurry shot.) Everyone seems pretty happy!
Here is the "documentation" shot. Three Generations - and one young-of-the-year.
The Proud Dog Handler.
More "photo shoots".
The Fall colors are really starting to show of late.
Sure is worth just taking a moment to really look and see.
The sun finally made it up over the hills and at least through the trees.
Of course, a late Mallard circled several times, wondering where all the decoys had gone.
And, the fog hung around, even on our way to breakfast.
I look forward to many more days afield with Parker and his helpers.
All the best,
SJS
