Al Hansen
Well-known member
Here it is 4:33AM and I already know that I can't go duck hunting. No regrets, however, because the last moisture we saw was on September 13th. We sure needed this. Anyway, where I go to hunt, I can't use my Mule and or 4-wheeler because of the clay. I'll get stuck in the middle of the road on the ranch and I don't care to do that. Secondly, I don't own any rain gear and there is one more point. When it rains here, normally the ducks don't fly. They just sit, hunkered down, waiting for it to clear up.
In the meantime, here are a few shots from this week.
Al
Bev and I drove to Bosque del Apache for my weekly fix. Yes, I am addicted!
Had a very good hunt on 12-12-12. Got to my spot right on time, set out the decoys, fixed my blind, sat down with my cased shotgun on my lap. Pulled out my cell phone to check the time and was surprised that it was exactly 6:34AM, which was the opening time. I had just put my cell phone away when a flock of about 10 widgeons damn near landed in my decoys. You should have seen me scramble to get my gun out of the case and jam two shells into my Nova. That is all the time I had before the flock came back for a second look at my spread. This time I was ready. Two quick shots and two ducks down. What a great way to start the day. Habi made quick work on the retrieves and finally I could pour a cup of coffee. As it worked out I had lots of time for drinking coffee. The next ducks in came at 8:56AM. This time it was a flock of about 25---mostly widgeons but I saw several ringnecks in the bunch. They came swinging by just like widgeons do and I got off three shots. I only saw two drop, grabbed my camera and took some pics of Habi trying to get to this one downed bird laying on the ice of the small stream I'm set up on. Yes, it was colder than a pig on that day. Anyway, she finally figured out that if she went across where I walked to set up the decoys and ran around, she could get to the duck. My gosh she hates the ice.
I whistled to get her to look at me while she held that nice looking juvenile drake widgeon.
Well, in typical Habi fashion, she put on the afterburners and came back to me. These next 5 shots took just a touch more than a half second to take. One thing I noticed about Habi's coat and cockleburs, is that she will shed the majority of them before she gets back to the blind. Her hair seems to be made up of just the right consistency for that. Chili's hair was of a finer texture and thicker. This resulted in me doing a lot of extracting when she got to the blind.
She finally got into some easy traveling here.
I was ready to go so decided to pull out my decoys. The Mule was parked next to the water and while I was busy, I noticed that Habi had her nose up in the air because the north wind had picked up. While standing there reading her body signs, it was evident that there was a bird down. I grabbed my camera then yelled, "Dead Bird!" Guess what, she went straight across the small stream with no regards to the ice. On the other side, she ran out another 50 feet and picked up a wounded duck that I did not see fall when that large flock came in earlier.
Well, about every 4 years, I will get lucky enough to shoot a diver or two and on that morning it was a ringneck drake. Good girl, Habi!
Well, Habi stood there and it was almost comical. It was like she was asking, "What should I do?" I yelled some encouragements and then said, "If you got over there with no apparent problems, why can't you come back?" Yes, I have regular conversations with my hunting partner. She attempted it then decided to go around the long way! Oh well----
These three shots were from my hunt on Monday.
I kept this shot just to show how many cockleburs were still on that greenhead when she brought it to me.
It was time to go to work. I saw 4 ducks and got three of them. Glad that I had the patience to hang around for 4 hours.
In the meantime, here are a few shots from this week.
Al
Bev and I drove to Bosque del Apache for my weekly fix. Yes, I am addicted!
Had a very good hunt on 12-12-12. Got to my spot right on time, set out the decoys, fixed my blind, sat down with my cased shotgun on my lap. Pulled out my cell phone to check the time and was surprised that it was exactly 6:34AM, which was the opening time. I had just put my cell phone away when a flock of about 10 widgeons damn near landed in my decoys. You should have seen me scramble to get my gun out of the case and jam two shells into my Nova. That is all the time I had before the flock came back for a second look at my spread. This time I was ready. Two quick shots and two ducks down. What a great way to start the day. Habi made quick work on the retrieves and finally I could pour a cup of coffee. As it worked out I had lots of time for drinking coffee. The next ducks in came at 8:56AM. This time it was a flock of about 25---mostly widgeons but I saw several ringnecks in the bunch. They came swinging by just like widgeons do and I got off three shots. I only saw two drop, grabbed my camera and took some pics of Habi trying to get to this one downed bird laying on the ice of the small stream I'm set up on. Yes, it was colder than a pig on that day. Anyway, she finally figured out that if she went across where I walked to set up the decoys and ran around, she could get to the duck. My gosh she hates the ice.
I whistled to get her to look at me while she held that nice looking juvenile drake widgeon.
Well, in typical Habi fashion, she put on the afterburners and came back to me. These next 5 shots took just a touch more than a half second to take. One thing I noticed about Habi's coat and cockleburs, is that she will shed the majority of them before she gets back to the blind. Her hair seems to be made up of just the right consistency for that. Chili's hair was of a finer texture and thicker. This resulted in me doing a lot of extracting when she got to the blind.
She finally got into some easy traveling here.
I was ready to go so decided to pull out my decoys. The Mule was parked next to the water and while I was busy, I noticed that Habi had her nose up in the air because the north wind had picked up. While standing there reading her body signs, it was evident that there was a bird down. I grabbed my camera then yelled, "Dead Bird!" Guess what, she went straight across the small stream with no regards to the ice. On the other side, she ran out another 50 feet and picked up a wounded duck that I did not see fall when that large flock came in earlier.
Well, about every 4 years, I will get lucky enough to shoot a diver or two and on that morning it was a ringneck drake. Good girl, Habi!
Well, Habi stood there and it was almost comical. It was like she was asking, "What should I do?" I yelled some encouragements and then said, "If you got over there with no apparent problems, why can't you come back?" Yes, I have regular conversations with my hunting partner. She attempted it then decided to go around the long way! Oh well----
These three shots were from my hunt on Monday.
I kept this shot just to show how many cockleburs were still on that greenhead when she brought it to me.
It was time to go to work. I saw 4 ducks and got three of them. Glad that I had the patience to hang around for 4 hours.
