All Hail the New "Expert"

It's me, Bob D.  I shotten a duck yesterday morning and now I will decide everything there is to decide, and I'm great at that. 


Clider and I headed out to Anderson Lake bright and early for morning number 2 of the hunting season.  The Oregon chapters season has also started but Fred G and Cliffy are off to float some river for 6 days so they have little chance of matching my "Expertness".  I even gave Clider a chance to retain his expert title by letting him use my .410 over under to shoot.  (It's got the recoil of a BB gun so it won't even hurt his shattered clavicle if he shoots lefty).  I can only assume that by the time I get back from my vacation I will no longer be the "Expert" but for the time being, it's all me!

Overcast skies greeted us and there were all kinds of ducks and geese out on the lake talking their talk as we set up and waited for the first sunlight of the day to greet us.  We were also surprised at the number of ducks flying this early in the season.  I had a couple greenies land outside my spread and finally a lone duck came in for a landing to my right.  My first shot thankfully missed.  My slow reaction time this early in the season caused me to almost shoot the duck after it had landed, a cardinal sin in the H7HT, but it headed off and the second shot was true.  Peat's reaction times are slow too and as he sauntered out to retrieve, bunches of ducks that were scared up by our first shot of the day swarmed around and thought about landing.  He brought me this fine Henny.  As Mitch would say with a disappointed lilt to his voice "Oh, just a hen mallard."

Clider was able to sneak up on some mallards along the lakeshore but missed with 2 shots from the diminutive .410.  I believe his good eye, bad shoulder and incorrect trigger finger had some kind of effect on his shooting.  Perhaps when Cliffy shows up he can be of some help.  As you remember, Cliffy is this years BB gun champ and displayed amazing skills shooting left handed.  We shall see.

A good way to start the season but now I'm off to spend some time with my family back in the great state of Connecticut.  I hope they remember what I look like when I get off the plane even with my inflated sense of "Expertness" and my huge brain.  Stay tuned to see what Clider has up his sleeve while I'm gone, he may surprise everyone, especially his surgeon who recommended a few more weeks before shooting a shotgun.  GBCH.