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Richard Flanders
11-21-2010, 09:58 PM
Well, it was a very slow weekend in Mitchells Bay but we had a grand time nonetheless. A dry field goose hunt was nearly a bust with only 3 taken from the two groups that happened to fly over us; had we shot better it would be a different story, of course. We didn't have enough shooting to 'get in tune' with our parkers I'd say. Lake hunting was slow also but it's always a thrill to see the seemingly endless rafts of lake ducks rise up in clouds; the trip is worth it just for that. Shown below is Destry and a friend Randy Eisenhower who was there alone and nice enough to take us out twice putting out decoys yesterday afternoon and Destry holding a headless bufflehead who landed in the decoys and made the grave and ultimately foolish mistake of demonstrating a clear 'intent to fly'.... 6-8 expensive shots later he was proudly brought to the boat and is now in my brothers freezer in a ziploc with a similar companion harvested in a similar manner awaiting a certain cremation in my sisters oven. A good time was had by all..... Destry shot his hammerless 10ga for the geese and his gorgeous 34" #3-frame 12ga D-grade for ducks; I shot my 32" 1883 0-grade 12ga hammer gun for it all.....I should add that Destry has proudly lost 60# and is looking relatively svelte I must say. Let's all wish him luck with this continuing project. He would have a chicken Caesar salad for lunch while I would have a greasy cheesy burger; had to be tough on him....Now it's time for some pheasants....

charlie cleveland
11-22-2010, 07:54 AM
looks like destrey was happy but he does make a good retreiver...hope you fellas more good hunting....charlie

Harry Collins
11-22-2010, 08:00 AM
Richard,

It's always great to be out even if the pick'ns are slim. Destry is a mear shadow of his former self!

Harry

Richard Flanders
11-22-2010, 08:07 AM
Roger that Harry, on both accounts. Randy and I considered tying him off to an anchor to prevent his blowing away yesterday around mid day.... And I have to tell you that the 10min he spent chasing that diving bufflehead was most entertaining from where we sat.

Harry Collins
11-22-2010, 09:42 AM
I would have given anything to have seen it......

Eric Eis
11-22-2010, 12:28 PM
Roger that Harry, on both accounts. Randy and I considered tying him off to an anchor to prevent his blowing away yesterday around mid day.... And I have to tell you that the 10min he spent chasing that diving bufflehead was most entertaining from where we sat.

What no video....:rotf:

Bill Murphy
11-22-2010, 01:53 PM
What is it about Buffs? I remember one day on the Potomac using about a half a box of shells and a couple of gallons of gas putting two Buffs in the bag after putting them on the water with one shot out of a 32" L.C. Smith Ideal grade.

John Dallas
11-22-2010, 03:00 PM
During my first hunt on the Chester River (I was about 13) We had a few grebes and coots in the decoys. The adults called them "Blue Peters" and "Helldivers" - not sure which was which, but during a really slow period, I watched my dad demonstrate that you could shoot at them from the blind, and they could dive before the shot reached them. Not sure how that is possible, but I saw it repeated a number of times.

Destry L. Hoffard
11-22-2010, 03:53 PM
I didn't want to waste another $3 shell on the cripple after I'd already blown off three Kent TM and Randy two of his BlackClouds. The duck was just barely diving at first and I figured I could catch it in the shallow water. But without running my arm in to the elbow and taking a soaking on a chilly day I just couldn't get it done. Finally I let it dive a couple times to get some distance and removed it's head neatly with a shot from the big gun. Not the most noble end for a duck but it gave Flanders one more to take home at least. We normally don't even shoot buffleheads but when pickings is slim you take what you can get.


Destry


P.S. to John: Ask my Dad sometime to tell you the story about the day I shot the helldiver. He'll still laugh till he can barely get his breath to this day and it was nearly 25 years ago.

John Dallas
11-22-2010, 04:01 PM
I used to keep some lead trap loads for cripples - Now I'm using steel 7 1/2's. A lot cheaper than the special stuff, and denser patterns.

Destry L. Hoffard
11-22-2010, 04:13 PM
I used to do the same, but I just can't make myself shoot steel in a Parker even if it's small size. I normally don't use anything over a #5 over decoys so usually have pretty decent luck on cripples.

Destry

John Dallas
11-22-2010, 05:00 PM
I dunno. No one has ever been able to confirm to me a barrel bulge occuring as a result of any steel shot of size 5 or smaller. Can anyone verify an incident?

Bill Murphy
11-22-2010, 05:26 PM
The sound of crickets again.

Trigg Davis
11-22-2010, 11:35 PM
Destry,

Congratulations on taking off allthat weight; that is a major accomplishment. Hopefully it adds quality to your life and made it easier to chase that duck.

Trigg

Richard Flanders
11-23-2010, 07:39 AM
Did someone mention coots?!.... I guess I'll keep THAT story under wraps for now...:whistle:

charlie cleveland
11-23-2010, 11:32 AM
you know destre that losing all that weight will cause them big guns to really kick..i may have to trade you a 410 or 20 to shoot them ducks with...you also get out of cleaning so many ducks using a 410....ha my congratulations on losing the weight i know how hard it is to push the plate back... keep after them ducks..... charlie

Rich Anderson
11-26-2010, 01:40 PM
Destry my congrats on the weight loss. Perhaps you'll be up for some upland bird hunting...I'll even lend you a 20ga Parker:p