The fork has been stuck.

fred slyfield

fred slyfield

Well-known member
Hunted the last two weeks of the season darn near every day. The boys and I had some good hunts together, between one still in college and the other working full time (and girlfriends) we don't get enough time to hunt together.

Anyway with a bit of window time and finding pockets of birds to target we managed to finish up the season with some good shoots on divers and puddle ducks,


Whistler with some birds from a solo hunt the last week of the season



Whistler with a pair of cans we knocked down last Friday, had a good friend out on his first duck hunt in 20 years, the one Can was an absolute monster, one of the best I have ever taken, he is in the freezer for now until I decide what pose he gets to become.





This is my buddy Tom he is a retired boat builder and also retired boat Captain for Alaska Fish and Game, Tom is an absolute wealth of knowledge on building and welding boats, he is the only reason I got to build my custom duck boat, I never could have done it without his generous offer to coach me through the whole process. Sitting in the boat with him and hearing the stories of Kodiak and what he saw up there could be made into a movie.His dad was the former Commander of Air Station Kodiak for the USCG and one of the first guys to use a chopper to rescue stranded fisherman from a sinking boat.



a morning hunt of widgeons and divers with my buddy Chip.






The best part about my boat is turning this.......


into this....


I was able to get a friends daughter out on her first hunt the first week of January, Page is only 12 but did a great job on these big honkers,




Yesterday the boys and I hunted a friends place and got into some great flocks of birds, we had some fog and wind yesterday so the birds really worked well even after several months of getting their tail feathers burned off. The high head pintail is a Robert Mitchell decoy my buddy Chip had sent to me, it looks great on the water



A couple more shots from the end of the season






I hope all of you have a great 2015!!

Fred
 
Nice pictures Fred! Looks like a good end to your season.

You've got an oven in your boat?? Wow!! How big is your boat? And to think I feel high tech having a two burner coleman stove mounted on the side of the blind.
 
John the boat is 17-1/2 long by 7-1/2 wide with a hard side curved blind, I can haul up to 4 hunters, 120 decoys and all the other "junk" we duck hunters tend to carry around.

The boat is fully grassed out with 3 spring loaded flip lids on the top to cover you up.
 
Yes it is , from an old travel trailer it weighs about 50 pounds, I use a 2-1/2 gallon propane bottle to run it.

The really nice part is using the oven to warm my hands up!!!
 
Wow, just wow! Monster cans, puddlers, a good dog, your kids, your friends and chocolate chip cookies....priceless.
Thanks for sharing, I d love to a photo of the boat.

Best - Paul
 
And I just drove right passed all that? The brant made it worth it but next year, I don't know......
Great stuff Fred!
-
 
I'm glad you got Tom out.
About the time I wanted to take him, the birds LEFT.

Will get him out fishing this spring.

Looks like you had some great hunts at the end!
 
where did you find that cooking grid for your big buddy heater? I can forsee warmed up pecan twirls next season with that addition.
 
Mark that Mr Buddy looks nice, I was thinking about one of them for the really cold days, have you been happy with the heat output?

I just didn't want to drop 150 bucks and not be happy with it.

Thanks

Fred
 
The grid I just bought from Mr. Heater. Go to their site, find the grid that is the replacement part for the heater you have and order it. Get it home and just cut and bend till it fits the way you want it to. Cooked hot dogs, beans, mac and cheese etc... and it works very well.

As far as keeping me warm. I have an Otter insulated cabin ice house. I have been fishing in temps well below zero and big wind chills. Very rarely have I had to put the heater on high, most of the time low keeps us plenty toasty. I have the smaller of the three Mr. Heater offers.
Northern tool has Big Buddy heater on sale now for for $119.99, here's a code for another $20 off..... 202911. This would heat me out f my shack but for bigger shacks, uninsulated shacks or pop ups, this might be the better choice.

So is it cookie dough Fred or some brownie thingy?

Mark W
 
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Wow. Hope you know how fortunate you are. Just one of those pictures would represent a great entire season of hunting for me.
 
Mark, Thanks for the info I'll check out the web site

The cookie dough is just the store bought stuff you just pull it apart and bake for 11 minutes.

My real specialty is peach cobbler in a 10 inch aluminum dutch oven!! yummy on a cold day
 
Hey Fred -

Just to be clear, I have what Mr. Heater calls the "Buddy Heater". They also make a Little Buddy heater (too small), the Hunting Buddy heater (slightly bigger than mine), and the Big Buddy Heater which puts out a ton of heat.

All have very nice features for the ice fisherman the best being low oxygen shut off sensor which has kicked in on some buddies more that once. Very easy to use, no troubles, and bullet proof so far (4th year and not any trouble). I run mine off a a small refillable propane tank (5 lbs I believe) verses the 1 lb throw aways. I could never get all the propane out of the 1 pounders and the idea of throwing them away just didn't sit right with me. I know there are adaptors to refill the 1 pounders but I have seen videos of what can go wrong doing this and the risk it isn't worth the savings to me.

http://www.mrheater.com/.../heaters.html?cat=95

Mark W
 
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Mark I just ordered the big buddy heater (18000 BTU) thanks for the info on them and the link for Northern Tool

Fred
 
Very cool photos. I miss living and hunting out west...a good day hunting in Centex is a slow day on the LCR.
 
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