Follow me to the last "C.F.T.K"

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The Money Shot.

Clider receives thousands of member dollars for being 'The Expert'. Dec 11th 2013.

Biathalon, Bob DaFolder style.

A Holiday Tradition.

Benellis ring

Are ducks listening?

On the lake

Ice is glistening

We’re ready to slay

Ducks die today

Hunting in H7HT land

The long walk out

Cold and delightful

Decoys set

And insightful

Today they bring in

Ducks and their kin

Hunting in H7HT land

In the blind we can toast Lord Heston

He will bring us many ducks to slay

When we clink bottles and say bless them

We hope that they’ll come right in today

Later on

By our own hands

We will call

And they will come land

The feet will come down

We’ll chamber a round

Hunting in H7HT land

When they hit the water we won’t shiver

A dog will have to go in and retrieve

If he knocks your gun into the river

Then Cliffy will tell us just believe

Many ducks are our big dream

As you know we’re the best team

We continue to slay

Almost every day

Hunting in H7HT land

Idaho 12-23-18

Sometimes you have to give the gift of solitude, that's just what I did today.  I took the day for myself and headed to 'The Point' alone and with the intention of having some time to contemplate life and my position in it.  With the holidays coming up there will be lots of work and precious little time with the things that matter.  First and foremost is quality time with my Sweetie closely followed with time not spent with the masses of people that want me to perform in a occupational way.  Eat it customers!  I also did not tell Clider I was going, sorry friend but sometimes you just can't enjoy yourself when The Expert hand catches banded ducks while you wait patiently in the blind for something to fly in. Plus, the man just had a full week of vacation spent hunting.  (of course you wouldn't know, there have been no posts, right?)  So when I woke this morning and the rain was pouring down on my roof, I knew that I must go.

The f250 and I powered through the downpour and when we arrived at Anderson the rain let up enough to set a fine minimalist spread of decoys in the open water of the channel.  I had time to sip a little wikki and listen to a lone duck pass over me in the dark, it's wings whistling in the predawn darkness. Lately the ducks have been few and far between owing to the massive Canadian cold front that moved through during the Founders Tour.  I am becoming certain that it took every duck within the Pacific Northwest with it to points south.  Remember, if you lived in the water with temps in the single digits it would make you head to Cabo too.

Thought?

This being the case, I saw nothing.  Literally nothing.  No ducks flying, no ducks sitting on the water, no ducks anywhere.  I took a walk to the other side of the channel and looked for them in the puddle where The Expert has slayed before, and nothing.  Even when I pulled up just a couple hours later no ducks buzzed my spread or taunted me with their presence, an occurrence that seems to always happen.  Form this I can only believe that it may be over, just like when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

Now, before you think that I didn't have a good time today, just remember why I went out today.  I had a good 4 hours of time sitting in nature listening to the creatures of the lake wake up on one of the shortest days of the year.  I saw a white tailed hawk hunting for things for a solid 15 min before I moved and scared him off and a hen pheasant took off and landed twice during my walk.  The weather changed from rain to calm to rain again and the light of the day switched at least 3 times from start to finish.  The semi warm temps and rain made me think of my days in Oregon hunting the Mighty Columbia and made me excited for the possibility of Clider and I heading West for the ever popular 'Killing for the King' weekend.  All in all a great day.
Then I came home and took a nap.
GBCH

Idaho 12-18-13

Otherwise known as 'The day I realized I was never going to be the "Expert" ever again.'

Holy Heston.  Today Clider and I went out to Anderson Lake to get the boat ready for winterization.  He had planned to take us out to Anderson from the parking lot boat ramp, and maybe later, down to lake CdA for some shooting of the elusive bastard, Greenie.  It's been a while since we have seen that fat punk in our spread of ducks and geese and we thought that today would be a good time to trick him into the spit of water that has formed over the point of Anderson.  The river was iced over from the ramp and we realized that the boat would have to wait for another day.  We had to make the short walk out and decided on 'The Tip' rather than 'The Point' because of the water level and the chances of good shooting lanes.  When we got there the water was open and Clider went about setting the blocks while I made up a couple small blinds on the grassy bank along the river.  Of course while we were working, the only flying ducks of the morning spun overhead.

We settled in and after what seemed like a non duck forever Clider decided to take a walk to keep Peat from shivering into a seizure.  (Remember that whenever Clider takes a walk on Anderson he seems to shoot ducks.)  I stayed tucked away in the blind to take advantage of the dozens of mallards he would surely scare up in the process of walking the channel. I had mentioned that should he see some ducks to blow his call to let me know that there were ducks in the air and then I could shoot them.  He did not have his calls.  Soon after I heard a very human "quack quack" and looked up to see a lone henny rocketing down the channel.  I didn't shoot and she spun off towards the big waters of lake CdA.  Not long after I saw a lone henny, perhaps the same one, coming back from the direction of the big lake.  Not wanting another repeat of minutes before I took my fist shot with a solid lead that was too far.  The next shot was errant as well and the third and final shot was over my shoulder and too far away to make a difference.  She was gone. 

At that point I drank for missing and figured that my best chance for a duck was gone.  I was correct.

Minutes later I see Clider walking along the near-side river bank back to the blind.  As he gets closer I first see the smile on his face and then realize he's got something in his hands.  Turns out that he's got a pair, greenie AND henny, of mallards in his clutch.  Both alive and both HAND CAUGHT by Clider.  They were hiding in a hole in the river bank that he had been walking. He reached into the hole and pulled out the henny and then saw the drake behind her, pulling him out as well. (this picture is them feeling secure and happy)  I marveled at his ability as he released them into the air after wishing them well. He figured that they deserved to live and set them free.  The greenie went first and flew only feet before landing in the channel and swimming away towards the river.  The henny flew even less and made a ruckus as she, and he, obviously wounded, swam away.  We conferred and Peat was dispatched to retrieve.

Again.

Peat was away and into the icy water swimming after her and after a stellar retrieve, including being beat in the face and head by henny wings, brought her in. (Here's where the shit goes down by the way.)  When Clider gets the henny in hand he realizes that it's a banded bird!  Yup, another banded bird!  Hand caught!  He goes after the drake and Peat brings him in too.  So now Clider has just added to his totals another greenie and a banded henny.......all without firing a single shot.

How do you compete with that?

Ladies and Gentleman I give you "The Expert"
Damn straight!

Idaho Founders Tour Day 1 & 2

It has been a long week since the days of the Idaho Founders Tour and the time is right to reflect on what happened to the two founding members of the H7HT.  I, Bob DaFolder,  picked up the legendary Fred G. at the airport in Spocompton for what could only be considered the next great week of hunting in my home state.  He had traveled later in the year than usual to take advantage of the colder temps and better hunting that comes with them.  A massive front of arctic air had been pushing down from Canada for the last two days and it always brings with it mucho patos and the chance for perfect slaying conditions.  We left the airport and headed to, where else, Anderson for some late day action.

When we arrived there was a light sheen of ice to the left of 'The Point' and open water as far as the eye could see in front.  We set a fairly minimal spread of decoys and waited for the fat banded mallards to drop in, it was in the 20's.  No ducks came close but we did have a chance to witness a light storm of grapple pass over our heads and in the course of minutes, change the landscape of clear ice to the left into a white blanket of purity.  We pulled up soon after and headed back to the cabin with good thoughts about the coming days hunt.  That night we ate and drank and talked of the stellar slaying that was to come in the following days.

Day 2:  we woke to fresh snow on the ground and temps in the high teens, in a word, perfect.  The Swedish truck took us unflinchingly to 'The Blind' at Anderson.  After a short walk out we realized that the sub-zero temperatures the past few days had created an icy layer on the lake this far down but that didn't worry us a bit.  We broke up a nice couple holes in the water and set out the spinner and a couple geese in addition to the mallard blocks we had in tow.  Almost immediately a fat lone goose, coming straight in and locked up, settled in a scant 10 yards away.  I questioned Fred G's logic in not shooting him but he explained that he would have many more chances to shoot a fat goose and did not want to spend his first day cleaning the chunky bastard.  I agreed to not ever talking about the missed chance to shoot a goose that perfectly set up and coming in.  Apparently it's not binding.

At some point, and this is where it gets hazy, we both shot a greenie.  I do remember that I shot one first, thereby winning a bet, and we headed home to clean our first of what would be many greenies of the trip.  We were a little concerned about the weather that seemed to be getting colder as the day wore on but figured that the 'Arctic Blast' would be nothing but a good thing.  The following day we were to hunt with current "Expert" and boat owner Clider, and no doubt he would be putting us on some ducks.
More to come.  Stay tuned......

Le Chucker

Le Chucker filmed this on Halloween while
dressed as Michael from the movie Halloween.
The man refers to him as "you should  hate this man."
 Enjoy!

Dear Idaho Chapter......

With you now is Co-Founder, former Expert, the One and Only......Fred G.  With the unfortunate circumstances, I could not join you this week as my honey and I are closing on our first home.  Though this home has come between us all, I hope its roof will someday cover us for hunting adventures and drying our waders in Oregon in the future.  I hope this move will be swift as I could also be using my time off to try and put a dent in Cliders lead and bring hope to Oregons validity as a duck slaying destination.

Idaho Chapter- Please take care of Fred and don't shoot over his head (he hates that).  If he doesn't shoot a duck, please shoot a duck so he can remember what it's like to see one drop.  Please take video of Peat retrieving a duck so Waylon knows that this is what he's meant to do instead of getting into it with other dogs and knocking my gun in a muddy river.  And most importantly, don't forget to tilt the whikey to the dead homeys.  Heston be with you.