Looking ahead...

[Rick]

Not many of them...yet.

[Rick]

Haven't updated young master Marsh Fire's progress for a while, as it's not been too exciting just building on the foundations we've laid with baby steps. Since he's shown an early liking for wing-locked birds, "helped" the coyote teach our young homers about ground predators and even brought me a couple deceased ones I'm certain the big dog caught too hard and let him swipe, then took a couple turns at retrieving the corpses, we've not been in a hurry to introduce clipped birds. But the time seemed right this morning, so I plucked most, though not all, of the primaries from one wing of a bird, leaving it enough to carry a fair but not daunting distance, and packed it and the now 15wk old pup off to a big mowed piece for the meeting.

Juggling the bird, a pup still needing physical restraint before being sent and a camera didn't bode well for the later, but I was able to catch the "Whoa!" moment when Marsh's first live bird tried escaping:


But it's reprieve was brief:


After that, it was all bungholes and elbows:


Prompt retrieves:


And maybe just a touch of camera ham:


(Pigeon's looking a little rough in that last one but survived the ordeal and may be telling its loft mates war stories as I type.)

[DixieDawg]

I always enjoyed watching a new pup come along something magical about when that little light comes on and they realize just what they're meant to do

[DComeaux]

Looking good Rick.

[Rick]

Dave, there's been some good progress at your place. Whole farm's been buffaloed, and it was being ditched when I last saw it Friday - though your end may still be too mushed for that... Same fellow is supposed to break levees and make the first plow pass with a tractor built for it, too. So there's hope. Kinda, sorta, unless Doug goes back to thinking we'll do all the bog...er, plowing.

[ohioduck]

That's really awesome Rick.

[DComeaux]

Dave, there's been some good progress at your place. Whole farm's been buffaloed, and it was being ditched when I last saw it Friday - though your end may still be too mushed for that... Same fellow is supposed to break levees and make the first plow pass with a tractor built for it, too. So there's hope. Kinda, sorta, unless Doug goes back to thinking we'll do all the bog...er, plowing.

Good to hear. ......Break levees? East side? They all do need reworking. I've been really busy with work and some home projects, and haven't had the time to do much else. Blake and I may run out that way this weekend to look around. I'll holler at you if I do. Thanks for the update.

[Rick]

Took a hike around the outside edges of the farm after cranking the pump this morning, and it has now all been ditched and levees are cut, only missed one drain pipe, and it's on the center ridge and insignificant. Your end and everything east of the center road are apt to still take a good while to dry, even without more rain. Outside "road" was a cane and blackberry jungle again, complete with a fresh compliment of deer flies. And don'tcha know that when I stepped back out onto the hard road I could hear a tractor on the south end and found when I got to the Toyomobile (truck jumped timing yesterday - I hope) by the pump that, wonder of wonders, the jungle I'd just fought was being bush-hogged. Called Doug to see if it was he, and he didn't even know it was being done. But it is.

[Rick]

That's really awesome Rick.

That it's looking like Dave may eventually get to keep his lease or that Marsh may eventually make a retriever?

I try hard not to compare little Marsh to the coyote at his age, but still do, and he's not been the super predatory little cuss that earned Peake his registration as Coyote In The Woodpile and nick name. So it probably tickles me more than it did with Peake to see him light up over birds. (And that I've yet to have to break him of trying to eat live snakes, as was Peake's want, is probably a good thing, too.)

The 9,000 acre farm where Peake was largely brought on just changed hands, so we're scrambling for new training turf and, especially, alligator safe water and doing our best to bring Marsh up in as close to what will be his working environment as we safely can. Happily, he's becoming a watery soul, though he doesn't appear to share nonc Peake's natural bouyancy. Maybe just swims low in the water because what we're able to safely do has mostly allowed him to touch bottom and he's trying to push off with his hind legs. We'll see...

[ohioduck]

That's really awesome Rick.

That it's looking like Dave may eventually get to keep his lease or that Marsh may eventually make a retriever?

I try hard not to compare little Marsh to the coyote at his age, but still do, and he's not been the super predatory little cuss that earned Peake his registration as Coyote In The Woodpile and nick name. So it probably tickles me more than it did with Peake to see him light up over birds. (And that I've yet to have to break him of trying to eat live snakes, as was Peake's want, is probably a good thing, too.)

The 9,000 acre farm where Peake was largely brought on just changed hands, so we're scrambling for new training turf and, especially, alligator safe water and doing our best to bring Marsh up in as close to what will be his working environment as we safely can. Happily, he's becoming a watery soul, though he doesn't appear to share nonc Peake's natural bouyancy. Maybe just swims low in the water because what we're able to safely do has mostly allowed him to touch bottom and he's trying to push off with his hind legs. We'll see...

Both really.

[Rick]

Super sweet duck show on the piece across from Dave's this evening. They'd just planted and dropped the water off when today's rain opened the buffet. Not many teal but scads of squealers and summer mallards having a big time. Was surprised not to see more ducks driving over at prime time and in the rain, but it might have been 'cause everything was there.

[DComeaux]

I like ducks and wish the squealers would hang around for big duck season.

[Rick]

There had been a three year USFWS moratorium on new early season proposals while they studied the Atlantic Flyway's bluewing season, but that should be about up, and something for early whistling ducks may get proposed. Know Larry had been working on it, but haven't heard anything in some time.

[SpinnerMan]

I saw a bunch of whistling ducks when I was down in Florida. They are certainly an odd duck.

I'd love if we got an early wood duck season up here like they do in a few states. That would be awesome.

[Rick]

Surprised you don't have that option, but states that do and decide to shoot woodies have to give up days from what would have been their teal-only season. Which would never fly down here.

When I looked in on the pump at DC's this morning, the sheet water had already drained from the newly planted fields across the road, and the show was over. Guess I was lucky to have caught it yesterday evening, but the farmer has to be relieved.

[SpinnerMan]

Surprised you don't have that option, but states that do and decide to shoot woodies have to give up days from what would have been their teal-only season. Which would never fly down here.

Since I have never shot a teal in early teal season and few people do, for this part of the state it would be a no-brainer. However, in other parts of the state, it may be an issue.

[Ducaholic]

Rick clearly you don't adhere to "The Book" on retriever training but what you do sure does work!

[Bruce Yerkes]

The 9,000 acre farm where Peake was largely brought on just changed hands, so we're scrambling for new training turf and, especially, alligator safe water and doing our best to bring Marsh up in as close to what will be his working environment as we safely can. Happily, he's becoming a watery soul, though he doesn't appear to share nonc Peake's natural bouyancy. Maybe just swims low in the water because what we're able to safely do has mostly allowed him to touch bottom and he's trying to push off with his hind legs. We'll see...
Rick Posts: 3472Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 8:38 pm

Looking forward to meeting the new member of your team. But the post above about alligator safe water is why I don't come down there until January each year, as I don't do well with reptiles.

Bruce.

[Rick]

Rick clearly you don't adhere to "The Book" on retriever training but what you do sure does work!

I'm just too lazy to force-fetch and too cheap to buy an e-collar, pinch collar, heeling stick, check cord, wingers and all the other "necessities".

[Rick]

Looking forward to meeting the new member of your team. But the post above about alligator safe water is why I don't come down there until January each year, as I don't do well with reptiles.

Bruce.

So you'll not be thrilled to hear that I spent my morning restocking the area with alligators? Strikes me as an incredibly stupid thing to do, but the bureaucrats know what's best for us. Still stink of them and believe I'll hit the shower before they spoil the rest of my day, too.

[SpinnerMan]

Going out with my bow and shooting an alligator is high on my to do list. I think they are a cool animal.

[Rick]

Hunting them the way we do is more like an Easter egg than dinosaur hunt:


Not too exciting unless you screw up badly. Swamp People is a sad joke.

[ohioduck]

Question Rick.

How do they really hunt gators down there? I read that there is a lot of extra drama on Swamp people

[SpinnerMan]

Hunting them the way we do is more like an Easter egg than dinosaur hunt:


Not too exciting unless you screw up badly. Swamp People is a sad joke.

Not too exciting for someone that is around them all the time. Even if I ease up and whack 'em perfectly, it will still be exciting for me. Probably just do it once, but I really want to get a decent sized gator. Caribou, elk, black bear, pig, and every species of waterfowl probably round out my hunting to do list with a cackling goose, speck, and a mature drake pintail probably being on the top of that list. Know anybody that might be able to help me out with some of that?

I don't see gator hunting to be dangerous game hunting. I actually have no interest in hunting dangerous game. It obviously is not risk free, but that's not what interests me.

I like Swamp People, but I know it is very much over dramatized.

[Rick]

...a cackling goose, speck, and a mature drake pintail probably being on the top of that list. Know anybody that might be able to help me out with some of that?

If it were mine to give the last two should be easy enough, but our little Richardson's Canada, which some call cacklers but shouldn't be confused with the tiny guys on the West Coast, must of heard they raised our limits and lengthened our season on them, as they quit showing in numbers about the time they did. Alas, I'm a peon at a commercial camp and have next to no control over who hunts what where.

[SpinnerMan]

...a cackling goose, speck, and a mature drake pintail probably being on the top of that list. Know anybody that might be able to help me out with some of that?

If it were mine to give the last two should be easy enough, but our little Richardson's Canada, which some call cacklers but shouldn't be confused with the tiny guys on the West Coast, must of heard they raised our limits and lengthened our season on them, as they quit showing in numbers about the time they did. Alas, I'm a peon at a commercial camp and have next to no control over who hunts what where.

We get cacklers through here. Not a lot, but I see them every year. We had a split goose season maybe 5 or so years back. Fucking cacklers all over the place

Those three are tops because the cacklers have thwarted me and I see tons of specks and pintails when I go snow goose hunting, but there is nothing I can do about it. We get a few pintails through here (I shot one hen), but specks are exceptionally rare.

That's one thing that is interesting on a site like this. Birds that are common for one person are a trophy for another.

[Rick]

Yep, last youth day's trophy bufflehead:


First and only taken by my parties in the 32 years I've been down here.

[SpinnerMan]

Yep, last youth day's trophy bufflehead:


First and only taken by my parties in the 32 years I've been down here.

Yep, I see them quite a bit. Never have gotten one yet, but that's because I've chosen not to hunt those places. Too many fucking people in the Chicagoland area, so I avoid the public areas which I could only hunt on the weekends when the crowds are the worst. I've been planning to take some vacation days and hunt midweek to add some variety, but last season the hunting sucked, the season before life sucked (dog died, wife had thyroid cancer (she's fine), and I traveled a lot for work), and the season before that I sucked (I was a dumbass and fell and dislocated my elbow the second day of the season). So like the Cubs, wait until next season

[Bad17]

Yep, last youth day's trophy bufflehead:


First and only taken by my parties in the 32 years I've been down here.

Yep, I see them quite a bit. Never have gotten one yet, but that's because I've chosen not to hunt those places. Too many fucking people in the Chicagoland area, so I avoid the public areas which I could only hunt on the weekends when the crowds are the worst. I've been planning to take some vacation days and hunt midweek to add some variety, but last season the hunting sucked, the season before life sucked (dog died, wife had thyroid cancer (she's fine), and I traveled a lot for work), and the season before that I sucked (I was a dumbass and fell and dislocated my elbow the second day of the season). So like the Cubs, wait until next season

Hey but this is the year of the Cubbies.

[Darren]

.....and just a couple hours drive from Rick to the east, we see buffleheads routinely, though typically only shoot a few. If you actually set up for them along the big waters you could easily take a few per day in most seasons.

Two nice ones from last season:

IMG_0838.JPG

Spinnerman, come on down, Rick knows where a few pins and specks might be. Then again, with a little work, you could most definitely get your pin on public grounds (and more likely the ability to cull one for the wall if in certain well-known locations) and may also luck out on a speck or two.