LI-Jack
Active member
Finally it came, but not with out a bang!
I went up to hunt some ducks for the Saturday opener, trailering a momarsh and a final attack strapped securely to the trailer. All was going fine, traffic on the Long Island Expressway wasn't too bad until I got to the bottle neck near the Cross Island parkway. I'm in the middle lane crawling to get to the Clearview (Parkways won't allow trailers) and me and my buddy Mike took notice to a young girl blasting her "music" coming onto the LIE. We'll young girl decides that a merge to the right most lane wasn't enough. The "fast" lane must be the middle lane (the one I'm crawling in). Bamm! I look at my rear view (window rolls down in the back so I heard the bang) and I see my trailer jump up like a basketball. I look at Mike and he looks at me and he say's "that girl just hit us!" I'm thinking yeah, dumb a** don't know how to drive. How she hit the trailer is a mystery to me, maybe it was the good camoflauge or maybe she was part moth and is attracted to lights. I pull over, still scratching my head as to how the hell did she not see a rear light, 3 feet off the ground because I use a light bar instead of the fix mounts under the boat -- for the exact purpose of illumination! Long story made short, the boats were spared any damage. But my passenger side lights, acted like outriggers suffered the blow. Not to mention the fixed light also was busted.
View attachment IMG_0373.jpg
So, rattled and still pissed, we moved on. Mike kept me laughing about the entire event. We got to the house finally
tired, but excited about the morning hunt. Oh dark thirty come's around real fast and we are late for the opener. No big deal, If I can't shoot a duck between 8am and 3pm, well I won't have anything to clean.
Mike was sucessfull in taking a hen Green wing teal, he's a collector of birds, so this one is going on the wall next to the drake. He shocked himself that he even hit the bird, the grass limited his view.
View attachment IMG_0365.jpg
The highlight of my trip was hanging out with my cousin, Mike and last but not least Chance. Chance performed flawlessly at 15 months old I didn't want to bring him, but Mike insisted. I didn't want to ruin an opener for the group because of a new dog. I didn't have an opportunity to place Chance in the Momarsh, I figured he'd be ansy and figity. Suprisingly he wasn't, even after Mike Shot, He stayed in the boat. No bird fell from the sky, he stayed. Even when we hunted from the shore, he'd watch the downed bird and he's wait for the command. He fecthed our birds and gave them to my hand, uneaten, no growls, no quivering lip, no back talk, not even a tasmanian devil scene. Mike, witnessed this terror last year, at 3 months old and the remarkable recovery this year. He thinks I rented a dog that looks like Chance but is trained. I've never been so proud of my dog, he even hunted up a crippled mallard that someone lost in the morning.
Sorry to show Chessie photo's but he saved my weekend.
Here's Chance in the MoMarsh, we are in a boggy area.
View attachment IMG_0363.jpg
The only morning that I forgot the camera, so we are back at camp. That's a Hen Common Merg and an immature Drake wood duck that I'm holding.
View attachment IMG_0384.jpg
Here's Chance next to his Mallard, this was the only bird I felt he might get Tazmainian on me (He found it, I didn't help-- so technically it was his--- I'm just glad he gave it up.)
View attachment IMG_0387.jpg
Good friends and family, perfect retrieving, -- no limits here-- but priceless memories. More pictures to come.
I went up to hunt some ducks for the Saturday opener, trailering a momarsh and a final attack strapped securely to the trailer. All was going fine, traffic on the Long Island Expressway wasn't too bad until I got to the bottle neck near the Cross Island parkway. I'm in the middle lane crawling to get to the Clearview (Parkways won't allow trailers) and me and my buddy Mike took notice to a young girl blasting her "music" coming onto the LIE. We'll young girl decides that a merge to the right most lane wasn't enough. The "fast" lane must be the middle lane (the one I'm crawling in). Bamm! I look at my rear view (window rolls down in the back so I heard the bang) and I see my trailer jump up like a basketball. I look at Mike and he looks at me and he say's "that girl just hit us!" I'm thinking yeah, dumb a** don't know how to drive. How she hit the trailer is a mystery to me, maybe it was the good camoflauge or maybe she was part moth and is attracted to lights. I pull over, still scratching my head as to how the hell did she not see a rear light, 3 feet off the ground because I use a light bar instead of the fix mounts under the boat -- for the exact purpose of illumination! Long story made short, the boats were spared any damage. But my passenger side lights, acted like outriggers suffered the blow. Not to mention the fixed light also was busted.
View attachment IMG_0373.jpg
So, rattled and still pissed, we moved on. Mike kept me laughing about the entire event. We got to the house finally
tired, but excited about the morning hunt. Oh dark thirty come's around real fast and we are late for the opener. No big deal, If I can't shoot a duck between 8am and 3pm, well I won't have anything to clean.
Mike was sucessfull in taking a hen Green wing teal, he's a collector of birds, so this one is going on the wall next to the drake. He shocked himself that he even hit the bird, the grass limited his view.
View attachment IMG_0365.jpg
The highlight of my trip was hanging out with my cousin, Mike and last but not least Chance. Chance performed flawlessly at 15 months old I didn't want to bring him, but Mike insisted. I didn't want to ruin an opener for the group because of a new dog. I didn't have an opportunity to place Chance in the Momarsh, I figured he'd be ansy and figity. Suprisingly he wasn't, even after Mike Shot, He stayed in the boat. No bird fell from the sky, he stayed. Even when we hunted from the shore, he'd watch the downed bird and he's wait for the command. He fecthed our birds and gave them to my hand, uneaten, no growls, no quivering lip, no back talk, not even a tasmanian devil scene. Mike, witnessed this terror last year, at 3 months old and the remarkable recovery this year. He thinks I rented a dog that looks like Chance but is trained. I've never been so proud of my dog, he even hunted up a crippled mallard that someone lost in the morning.
Sorry to show Chessie photo's but he saved my weekend.
Here's Chance in the MoMarsh, we are in a boggy area.
View attachment IMG_0363.jpg
The only morning that I forgot the camera, so we are back at camp. That's a Hen Common Merg and an immature Drake wood duck that I'm holding.
View attachment IMG_0384.jpg
Here's Chance next to his Mallard, this was the only bird I felt he might get Tazmainian on me (He found it, I didn't help-- so technically it was his--- I'm just glad he gave it up.)
View attachment IMG_0387.jpg
Good friends and family, perfect retrieving, -- no limits here-- but priceless memories. More pictures to come.