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......