Dave Simon
New member
We had a quick hunt on Thanksgiving morning and were covered up in black ducks. They decoyed nicely in the little river behind the shack. My buddy dropped one promptly after legal shooting time and gave his amazing big lab "the Line". We were in a "S" shaped creek, and the bird fell over a little finger into the next channel. Perfect hunt test/field trial stuff. Anyway, I undid years of training by dropping another black right behind him, while he was doing his blind retrieve. That was a limit of blacks. Didn't see any other species, and the forecast for Friday and Saturday didn't bode well for any weather. So we left the puddlers alone on Saturday and did one last scoter hunt.
The marine forecast for Long Island Sound was NNE wind, 5 - 10 knots, waves less than 1 foot. We launched into the big black morning, carrying the Busick athwartship and lashed down. Pretty calm near shore, but once we were 3 1/2 miles out it got a little "sporty". We had the Sound all to ourselves.
I don't claim to be much of a photographer, and lately I've been using my cell phone camera, but the wacky angle isn't my fault. It was jumpin'. Both boats, the Busick box and the new Snow Goose, handled the water easily. But it was a challenge staying out of the long lines and not scuffing the paint on both boats! Only one little rat's nest when one of the strings got blown down onto the layoutboat anchor line. Deployed my new favorite safety tool, the replica WWII paratrooper M724 folding knife and cut away the mess and we were back in business.
My gunning partner drew first watch in the layout boat, and after a few backdoor passes, three birds came up the string and he tripled!
The wind and seas continued to build, and a funky cross current developed behind the big island.
I got my turn, and blew some holes in the sky before I connected on 2 singles. Before things got any more interesting, we listened to Prudence over Valor and called it a day! But with no more than a quart of water in the layout, and very little green water over the bow of the garvey we had a day to remember.
The Arthur Anderson sneakbox in the pic belongs to another gunner who hunted the marsh that morning. Poor fella, he got skunked, and his eyes were a little wide when he heard what we were up to...
Scoter jerky, anyone?
The marine forecast for Long Island Sound was NNE wind, 5 - 10 knots, waves less than 1 foot. We launched into the big black morning, carrying the Busick athwartship and lashed down. Pretty calm near shore, but once we were 3 1/2 miles out it got a little "sporty". We had the Sound all to ourselves.
I don't claim to be much of a photographer, and lately I've been using my cell phone camera, but the wacky angle isn't my fault. It was jumpin'. Both boats, the Busick box and the new Snow Goose, handled the water easily. But it was a challenge staying out of the long lines and not scuffing the paint on both boats! Only one little rat's nest when one of the strings got blown down onto the layoutboat anchor line. Deployed my new favorite safety tool, the replica WWII paratrooper M724 folding knife and cut away the mess and we were back in business.
My gunning partner drew first watch in the layout boat, and after a few backdoor passes, three birds came up the string and he tripled!
The wind and seas continued to build, and a funky cross current developed behind the big island.
I got my turn, and blew some holes in the sky before I connected on 2 singles. Before things got any more interesting, we listened to Prudence over Valor and called it a day! But with no more than a quart of water in the layout, and very little green water over the bow of the garvey we had a day to remember.
The Arthur Anderson sneakbox in the pic belongs to another gunner who hunted the marsh that morning. Poor fella, he got skunked, and his eyes were a little wide when he heard what we were up to...
Scoter jerky, anyone?
