Playing Catch

New Blind

I am playing a little catch up here, in fact I have some reading to do from the looks of it.

As Fred and Bob were settling in for breakfast I was hard at work setting up in a fancy new blind at Cave, or Medicine Lake.   Mallards came in a few minutes before shooting light, in fact it was down right busy before shooting time.  Once it was legal however things slowed right down.

After a miss or two I finally got my chance, a pair caught me off guard but a nice fat greenie came in as a straggler.  I got him on the first shot, but he immediately righted himself and started swimming off.  I shot a few more rounds but he was under full steam.  At this point I did what any self respecting hunter without a boat would do, I waded across the lake to the other side and chased him around in two feet of boot sucking mud.  If anyone saw Peat and I in the reeds on the other side, they probably got a good laugh out of it.  As a bonus I now know that you can wade across that whole section of the lake.   

After retrieving my first solo greenie of the season, Peat and I packed up and headed home to recover from the previous three days of wiki.

You can wade across this..

Thanksgiving

I try and hunt every Thanksgiving, and since Mo is out of town I had no reason not to.  Otis had shotten a limit of birds for the first time yesterday and was going to show me the ropes today.  We made plans at a ski movie showing the night before and he assured me a limit of greenies.  I got out of there and finished packing around midnight, Otis apparently kept the party going.

I woke up and established that the boat wasn't going to start, but since it was packed I figured we could push it to the channel a Killarney, Otis' killing hole.  I couldn't get Otis to answer the phone, and since he had to peel out early and drive to the coast after hunting, he was taking his own truck. So I swung by and knocked as I walked into his living room.

Otis was still fully clothed and wearing shoes from the night before, he was also face down in his dog beds.  He figured out how to keep his balance after a few minutes, and grabbed his pile of gear and jumped in his truck.  We arrived at the ramp to an inch of ice, which was really fun to push the boat through.  Especially for Otis who was starting to sober up at this point.  Bob D would have loved this.

We left the boat in the channel and set 10 blocks and a spinner on the main lake.  As we were walking into the reeds to load our guns a flock of greenies came in and hovered over the beach.  After they left and we loaded up a few different sets of teal came in and landed in the spread.  We were waiting for greenie.

After a bit of a quiet spell a small flock came in and committed.  I dropped a juvy greenie with splotchy coloring, Otis was content to sit there and deal with his hangover.  Peat made the retrieve in frigid conditions and we settled in  for a bit of a slow morning.  After passing on a few more teal, I decided to take a shot and was two for two with a nice little drake.  That was followed by one of the best setups that I have ever missed.  A nice fat greenie landed 20 feet in front of me while I was fumbling with my safety.  As I turned off my safety he jumped and I missed by a mile, for some reason my bicep and cheek were sore after that shot.

After that we headed back in, with a running motor this time.  Otis headed for the coast and Peat and I walked the channel near Medimont.  On the way out we scored a hen ringneck, Peat managed to make the retrieve which included jumping up a four foot bank with the duck.  After a few tries he grabbed onto more than just feathers and brought it in.  Good dog.