Straight outta Troutdale.

Ladies and Gentelmen:

LYNYRD SKYNYRD!

What the heck?

Can you see what's wrong with this picture?

This is exactly the type of image we try to discourage here at the HOY7 hunting team. People may get the wrong idea of what duck hunting is all about with pics like this floating around. Perhaps this hunter has been polluted by the ethics of a few bad egg 'catch & release' fisherman. Maybe he is mildly retarded. Or it could be that he is just out to give hunters a bad name.

Whatever the reason we here at the H7HT would like you to know that we are diligently working against this kind of thing. As soon as the season starts here in the Pacific Flyway we will be out at every opportunity to make sure these evil birds cease their rein of terror. No more will they litter our landscape or defile our sense of beauty. The end is near punks, the end is near.

GBCH

77 Days left till hunting season

The cooler of death. Serving beverages since 1987

Thanks to Ned Flemke.

I sure hope the 5 packs of smokes were worth it.

The cooler of death still keeps the frosty ones frosty, and ain't she a beaut?

Danger in the woods.

Recently the founding members of the HOY7 hunting team took a camping trip to Southern Oregon. We traveled the back roads and stayed as far from the highways as possible. Fred took his motorbike and I traveled via automobile. (Automobile?) We set camp the first night by a refreshing resoviour and had a wonderfull steak dinner. Later that night a fire was lit and dusk settled.

Later that night one of the team members, who had just finished a digestive cleansing routine, suffered pain and discomfort due to occasional stomach upset. The lower picture shows what can happen when you mix Makers Mark, a clean & clear system and fire. luckily we were not both killed by the explosive gas cought here in this photo. Smokey the Bear would have been proud.

Good news for summer.

MEMPHIS, Tenn., July 11, 2007 – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) today released its preliminary report on mid-continent breeding ducks and habitats, based on surveys conducted in May. Overall, duck populations increased 14 percent since last year with an estimated 41.2 million breeding ducks on the surveyed area. As a result of winter snowfall and good precipitation, habitat conditions are similar or slightly improved compared to conditions in 2006.
"The 14 percent increase in breeding numbers for the 10 surveyed species is consistent with what Ducks Unlimited’s field biologists have observed across the U.S. and Canadian breeding grounds this spring," said Ducks Unlimited’s Executive Vice President, Don Young. "Excellent brood-rearing habitat is present in many areas and brood survival is expected to be above average."

America. Now 231 years old

God bless the USA

Duck hunting: US Navy style.

Happy 4th of July!

Summer news

No resting for nesting waterfowl moms: Picking up the house. Keeping track of the kids. Making sure everyone eats a good meal.
Sounds like the traditional job of a mother, right? Well it also describes life for female waterfowl this time of year.

The spring and summer months are when female waterfowl build nests, lay eggs and care for newly hatched young. For most waterfowl, all of this work falls mainly on the female.

It's a busy and often dangerous time for her. There is no resting for the nesting in the waterfowl world.
During midsummer, the breeding grounds are a flurry of activity for waterfowl. Many species are now experiencing peak nesting activity.
By today, most pintail and mallard nests have hatched, and broods of these species are abundant on shallow wetlands.

The first redhead broods are appearing, as are blue-winged teal, shoveler, lesser scaup and ruddy ducks.
By mid-July, most mallard and pintail young from early nests begin flying. Midsummer rains are critical now to maintain shallow wetlands and influence re-nesting efforts and brood survival.

You can follow this season's nesting action on the Ducks Unlimited Web site as DU researchers study nesting ecology in the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region at ducks.org/Page2484.aspx.
Here are some interesting nesting facts:

Bigger is better: A trumpeter swan builds a nest that measures up to 13 feet across.

Hiding out: Cinnamon and blue-winged teal hens often create a cave-like nest by weaving grass above their heads.

Home is what you make of it: Some waterfowl don't put a lot of effort into making a nest. The hen often stays put, stretches out her neck and grabs whatever nest material she can reach.

Extra-large eggs: The ruddy duck hen is one of the smallest waterfowl, but she lays some of the largest eggs compared with her body size. In fact, a clutch of six to nine eggs may weigh three times as much as she does.
Dump 'em: Different hens may lay as many as 80 eggs in a single nest.
Lay 'em and leave 'em: The redhead sometimes chooses to lay an egg in another bird's nest – often that of a canvasback. Or it can belong to another redhead or another kind of duck.

Sometimes it's even a bird that isn't in the waterfowl family. The receiving duck then has the job of caring for the redhead's egg and its duckling later on.

Little bundles of joy: A hen will lay one egg every 24 hours. Waterfowl typically lay anywhere from two to 16 eggs.

Waterfront view: Nesting close to water isn't always important to waterfowl. In fact, it can be detrimental to nesting success because shorelines provide highways for nest predators. Pintail hens often choose a nesting spot in fields up to 2 miles from the nearest wetland.

High-rise apartment for rent: Hooded mergansers hens often like to nest in tree cavities as high as 75 feet above the ground.

Know your neighbors: Common eiders often nest alongside snowy owls. The owls chase away predators to guard their own nest. This helps the eider, too.

Long lost brother?

Found on E-bay. Could this be the long lost brother of the fabled Rust-Am?