16 Feb Traveling First Year MemberDear John & MAHA Staff........just a note to let you know my 11/2 yr. old German Wirehair (Pete) & I enjoyed immensely our 1st hunt with MAHA. It took a while to figure out where the birds were hiding but we took home 2 birds in only a day + of hunting so we were VERY pleased & Pete got some much needed experience on crafty, older, wild birds. There was LOTS of land to hunt, no other hunters & the bird habitat was better than anything I ever hunted growing up in Illinois. Thanks much & this transplanted bird hunter looks forward to a long & enjoyable relationship......!!! All the best & happy 2007, Sincerely, John
For the rest of us John joined in late November 2006 on what we will all agree was a down year for pheasants. He is a hard bird hunter as is evident of his woods grouse picture below where those that have hunted such birds and habitat know a bird a day is a good day. And, in spite of being a first year member, joining late, traveling long distance, on his first hunt, on a down year he did enjoy his hunt probably more than many of us locals who complain when we do not limit out by noon! Thank you John for the proper perspective, we needed the reminder. Good looking Wirehair also.
14 Feb Waterfowl
This past December I scouted and located a small farm pond out of sight from the road. The pond had cover on three sides with cattle pasture outsides the levee. Since we jumped a couple of ducks and found a dead goose on the pond (we assumed it was wounded and died there), my younger brother and I decided we were going to duck and goose hunt the pond. We put one dozen full body goose decoys on the land and about eight goose floaters in the water. We arrived one half hour before shooting time and there was about thirty honkers roosted on the pond. After setting up we waited for the sun to rise over the hill hoping for the geese to come back. The geese never came back, but we ended up having three flocks of ducks work us. Surprisingly, the birds were not call shy, so we had some good action. We ended up with four green heads and two divers. I am proud to say as of today, my brother and I have yet to shoot a hen mallard this year and we have had many opportunities.
Many of my old spots close to home have not been producing this year, so I decided to scout some new areas with lakes and crop stubble near by. I located a lake with crop next to it and loaded my mother's blazer with a dozen full-bodies, a dozen goose floaters, mallard decoys and laydown blinds. As I arrived to set up my decoys the night before, I noticed numerous large groups of Canada's flying over the lake looking for a place to go. The three of us had the decoys set up in about a half hour. We decided to not use laydown blinds because the edge of the lake had a nice patch of rippy grass to hide in. The next morning we woke up at 5 AM to get there just prior to shooting time. As we arrived to our small spread we noticed heads bobbing up and down around the decoys. It was a flock that had landed in the decoys before shooting time. The action started off fast in the morning with groups of singles, doubles and triples working our decoys in close range. We blew a couple golden opportunities, but it turned out great in the end. It took until noon to get our last bird and headed home telling "what we should have done stories" all the way. It was a long drive to the farm, but it was something that needed to be done in order to be where the geese were. JJ
|
|
|
|
