outlaws out for snipe

Today Johnny and I hit the lake in search of more snipe. We are at the split of duck season so a couple more weeks till we can hit the quack pipe again. It was a beautiful day out there and we found a good number of birds. We probably would have shot our limits but we were detained for an hour by a sheriff officer who was convinced we were doing something illegal. He checked us over then double and triple checked us. Determined to find something he could arrest us for or at the least give us a ticket for. He threatened court and fines. He pulled out his ticket book three times and waved it around. He told us what (he thought) we were doing wrong. I explained the actual law to him. He got really pissed and threw a bit of a fit. Then he realized there was nothing he could do and sent us on our way. I can't tell you how many times I have had to inform LEO of what the law really is. It must really suck when they get someone that isn't intimidated and knows hunting laws better than they do. Beside that it was a pretty awesome day.

preseason clays

I took these pictures before the season and before my camera was stolen. Yes, stolen. That is why all my current posts are pictures taken with my phone. Anyway, Johnny and I went to dust a few clays and get primed before duck season. I took the opportunity to get a few shots for the blog and now they have finally found their way home. Just fish my camera would do the same.

black belly in the boat

I went out for a quick hunt this morning before work. The black belly whistling ducks on the lake have been taunting me every hunt with their early morning antics. Well, this morning they must have forgot to set their alarm. They showed up after legal shooting hours whisteling their little heads off. They were flying pretty high but I managed to drop one in front of the boat. They were a nice change from the ringers. I saw a couple of friends on the lake this morning. The Fullgraf boys were out to shoot some ducks as well. It was nice to see them and get to chat.

thanksgiving ringers

I took the pirogue out on a solo hunt this morning for my annual thanksgiving day hunt. I had a group of hunters run over my decoys 10 mins before legal shoot even though I had shined them off. They set up about 30 yards behind me on the other side of the cattails. Thanks guys. If I can hear you load your shotgun then you have set up too close. There were not a ton of birds flying but the ones that came by my spread circled and decoyed in beautifully. I managed to put together a limit and get to my parents just in time to eat some turkey.

the canvasback

It's amazing the difference a day makes. We had to skip hunting yesterday because of work. Today there was a fraction of the amount of birds as there were on the opener. Andrew, Johnny, and I went headed out with high hopes of an early limit. We stayed on the water for 8 hours and shot 11 birds. The highlight of the day was shooting a beautiful bull canvasback. We shot 1 drake bluebill and the rest ringers. Not as many birds but I would trade any amount of ringers and bluebills for the one can.

ringers in the wind

Well the 2012 duck season opener was a great success. We spent the night in the boat to ensure the spot. It is not a well used spot but we wanted to make sure it was ours. When we showed up at the boat ramp at 11:30 pm there were already 3 boat trailers there. We arrived at out spot to find it empty, set out the decoys and were in the blind by 12:30 am. Johnny had no problem falling right to sleep and snoring his head off. Every time a boat went by I woke up fearing that they may be setting up too close to us. Forty boats must have passed us and all headed out to a more well known spot. When it was shooting time we had the entire area to ourselves. We finished our two man limits in 19 mins. Eleven ringers and one bluebill. After that we just sat back and watched the birds fly for hours. What an awesome season opener.

scouting ducks

It's two days before the 2012 opener and the ducks have arrived. We saw thousands of ringers and bluebills, a few teal, a few wigeon, and a group of canvasbacks. Looks to be a great opener. The next two days can not pass by fast enough. Big thanks to Johnny for taking some pics of the ducks, I was in too much awe to even think about it.