Is duck season really over? Ok maybe the part where the Fed / State Governments let us drop the hammer on them, but is it really over? Or is this the period time where we set back and regroup, rethink and make some changes. If your like me just because they won't let me shoot, doesn't mean I walk away from the sport that I love so much. I have to shake my head at guys that wait to the last moment to find out that their decoy lines need changing, that's if they can find decoys. These are the same guys whose waders leak and their boat motor doesn't run well.
Don't get me wrong, sure crap happens, but it shouldn't happen because of neglect. This is the time of year we should work on everything and I mean everything. I can't think of a better way to get through these nasty cold winter days than to be repainting my decoys or putting in an order for decoy line or snap swivels and those new waders that don't leak.
As the weather gets better, we work on our boats if we can't throughout the winter. Also throughout the winter and last season we think of some changes that we need to make in our boat blinds or layouts. There is always room to improve and as we work to improve on all aspects of our sport it will drive the love of our sport even deeper down with in us. For me, there is nothing better than to see birds cupping a spread of decoys that I painted. Then I rise up from a boat that I built or I see a dog make a great retrieve that I trained. It sounds like I have an "I" problem and I'm bragging, but that's not it at all. There was a time in my life when I use to raise Polled Herefords. There was this old guy that did the same thing very successfully just down the road. So I went to him one day to ask advice on something's and how he became so successful at it. He told me to do everything myself, don't buy new and when all your buddies are in the bars or out partying your working on your equipment or cattle. Well I've taken those principles and tried to apply them to all aspects of my life especially duck hunting.
I guess what I'm trying to convey is a deep sense of self satisfaction and accomplishment. That all of the work in the "off season" has paid off. I hope that this makes sense and that you don't walk away from the sport, and that you will make good use of the time you have before they let us drop the hammer again. :thumbsup:
I've already got a bunch of things I'd like to work on. I may have to call you 870 when I start working on a boat blind. I like the one you've got and I've found a spot where it should work well.
I'm flocking goose necks & heads already, I got 12 done & 12 to go. Then i'll start on the bodies. Can't clean out the "CRACK SHACK" (layout blind) until spring, I have to get out the frozen coffe cups, cookie wrappers, dog treats :sad: etc....
I'm insulted by your leaking waders comment! :rofl: They're nearly completely covered in Shoe Goo and it still hasn't stopped it. I have no idea where the hole is, but they're my early season, marsh bustin waders anyway. The water helps to keep me cool! I think I'm gonna take on that gun painting project that Stump has posted up. That looks fun, and I've been wanting my 870 camoed up anyway so I can turkey swat with it. :thumbsup:
870, I have 1 1/2 dozen decoys right now, a bag that will hold 3 dozen, and enough weights and line for another dozen or 2, so I think I am working towards my goal, which was ...at a minimum...by opening day of this year, I would at least have enough equipment to venture out by myself on a few hunts and get more experience. I want to get a couple dozen (minimum) goose decoys to be able to bring something to the table with you and keep myself in good standing! :thumbsup:
It is all gonna depend on the job I get after I retire this May as to how much waterfowling $$ I will be able to get before the opener!! :biggrin:
Disco duck...I bought a couple cans of camo paint at Wally World, taped up the end of the barrel, ejection port, and loading port of my gun real good, then just painted the entire thing sand/tan color and made a few odd streaks with the green or dark brown (your preference) and it looks great. :thumbsup:
Tarheel,
Yeah, I don't think I'm going to go to quite the same extent that Stumper goes to. But his paint job does look awesome, and seems to hold up good. As far as the prep work, I have no issue sanding the wood. The part that makes me nervous is roughing up the blueing. That's why I'm doing the 870 first. Depending on how it goes, I may do a rifle too. I want a little practice first though!!
Disco, I didn't bother the blueing, but I used 120 grit sandpaper and lightly scuffed up the wood parts. The paint job has held up so far with just a few scratch marks, but I plan on repainting over it again this summer in a warm garage or in the sunshine so that it has a good second coat.
Thanks guys for all the reply's, I didn't think it would get all that many. I find it funny that once the waterfowl bug bites there's no cure for it. Maybe some of you guys have heard me tell this, if so bear with me. I didn't have a choice on becoming a duck hunter, mine and captainduckheads family have been shooting ducks on the St Lawrence since the 1830s, you can say it's in our blood that's all our family did, that and fish. My dad didn't like to work during duck season, so he would take it off leaving Mom to bring home the bacon. Mom agreed as long as he baby-sat "guess who".
I can remember he had a place up under the bow of his outboard where I could sleep and get out of the wind. Some of my earliest memories of my life were duck hunting with my Dad; it's what we did. I can remember him leaving me up on some God forsaken rock to watch over the decoy spread while he went after Musky's, now a days that's called child endangerment, back then it was baby sitten.
It should have turned me so far from duck hunting, but it didn't, it drove home a deep love for the sport. The cold North wind, white caps and snow in the air and ducks heading into the decoy-spread man that's hard to beat. I still love the smell of a 2-stroke outboard before dawn. I sometimes find myself when the ducks aren't flying looking carefully at the color patterns of the ducks shot like I was some kid for the first time. Or I'll pick up a spent shell and take a whiff of the burnt powder. I enjoy the special way the Rive smells late in the season, long after the tourist are gone and all of the boats are out of the River for the season. I love that long push before down, either out on the Lake or River and there are no other boats for miles, it's just you, your boat and the darkness and the hopes for the day. With all the real concerns and trials life sends our way, one of the saddest, is the last night of the season, picking up your spread, knowing that tomorrow we start to get ready for next the season.
I too was started at a young age and I can remember hearing my dad getting ready to go and crying begging him to please let me come with him. I remember my first wade through the gumbo and my first flight of jacks. Every mornings the same whether I shoot a limit in the first five minutes or just watch the sun rise over the trees. The place I hunt now birds roost in a field not too far from there and I make it a point to be there and be set up plenty early so that I can sit there in the dark and listen to greys and widgeons get up and fly overhead. Everytime birds come overhead unexpectedly from behind me low and locked up and make that beautiful jet airplane noise I still get goose bumps and giggle out loud. My dad hasnt hunted ducks for the past 5 years, he wont say why and for the life of me I cant get him to go. I ask him every year and he declines. I just dont understand how anyone can not get the goosebumps after having the bug planted.
I sometimes tell the stories of my dad leaving my brother and I to sit on some muskrat house in the middle of a marsh or on a shoal to watch the action, and people are shocked to hear it. I love those memories, most people would never consider leaving two little boys on a shoal, or muskrat house while they hunted a few hundred yards away, but for my brother and I it was exciting to watch. I remember the first time I was allowed to carry a gun. With strict orders from my dad to only shoot if he said it was OK. I could see the look of admiration in my little brothers eyes as he sat and watched me with the little 20 gauge resting in front of me. He knew then that I was a big boy. and it wouldn't be long before it was his turn to be a big boy. And by the way, I was 9 years old my little brother was 6. He's still my favorite person to hunt with today.
My hunting days started with my best friend down the road getting me into shooting tweetie birds with bb guns, then later
I remember goiing rabbit hunting with my grandpa (with Beagles there CPT D!! :thumbsup: ) and he would sit me on a stump and tell me to shoot the rabbit when he came running by. Then he would disappear into the woods (probably going to his hidden moonshine still!). Sure enough I would hear the dogs running the rabbit in the distance, and when the sounds got louder, he comes the rabbit ahead of the pack.
My fishing days started with the same friend, and we would take turns bringing our tackle boxes. Sure enough, the one day that he just had to catch that 7 1/2 lb largemouth bass, was the day I took my tackle box, and he was using my purple platic worm, and my hook! Then later on in my younger days up through the teen years, my dad would take me to the beach for a night or two to fish off the pier, and we would sleep in the camper shell in his truck. In the morning, he would crank up his Coleman stove, throw in the bacon or sausage, and send me across the parking lot to the grocery store to get some eggs! Then we would fish all day... living off adrenaline, a Pepsi, and a four corner nab, and that night we would go to the public bath house, get a shower and then he would take me to a seafood restaurant for supper to get a good meal.
I just figured out how to post pictures. Wow, I'm happy now. I guess it pays to read the instructions.
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