Well it's over.....

[Patrick Devlin]

Ah I can just imagine sitting on the ice and smelling the deer steaks sizzling on the old Colman, not a bad way to spend a winters day.

Pat

[MarketHunter]

Kurt,

If you get into some crow shooting give me a call. I haven't been in ages but am a pretty decent crow caller still.

Destry

[Don Kaas]

NJ regular waterfowl season ends on Tuesday. The warmer weather has opened Barnegat Bay and the old Sandy Island Gun Club...I have my invitation. We have 2 days scheduled in MD at the end of the week but I fear the dreaded "business conflict" may raise its evil head on both counts...it may be over for me as well...

[peter holden]

Destry.
You might want to shoot Eider, but have you ever tasted one. i dont think you will cook a second one.
i hope this note finds you in good health.
Peter.

[MarketHunter]

Peter,

Good to see you posting again. How was your season on the foreshore?

I've not ever eaten eider but I have eaten long tailed duck which they say is the roughest of all the ocean going waterfowl. We shot them on Monday and it took till Thursday for the lady to make them palatable through various operations and soakings.

The man to ask would be King Brown, they shoot a ton of sea ducks up his way in Nova Scotia and I'm sure he's eaten them all.


Destry

[Patrick Devlin]

I have an old chessie, Cider, that has eaten everything from large rocks to my wife's underwear but will turn her nose up at a well cooked eider. I have found that marinating in butter milk for 24 hours does improve the taste substantially.

Pat

[peter holden]

Destry.
Still 3 weeks of the season to go. I have had an average season so far, approximately 270 widgoen, 35 mallard,40 teal, 80 geese, plus snipe, golden plover, pheasants and grouse.
Health issues have stopped me going out as much as i would have liked. I have had to give up work due to ongoing arthritus problems, but you gotta keep going.
best wishes pete.

[MarketHunter]

Peter,

That's average???!!! I usually kill around 80-100 ducks and 25-40 geese a year, to me that's average. This year I didn't quite hit 100 on the ducks and the geese came up wayyyy short of normal. If you've taken that much game you've had quite a year by my standards.

Do you ever do any decoying for plover? I had the opportunity to do that on one of my trips over your way and it was one of the most memorable experiences of my sporting life.

I've still not killed a red grouse or a gray partridge, I need to get back over there and do that one of these days.


Regards,
Destry

[peter holden]

Destry.
I decoy the goldies when there are big tides, this pushes them of the mud flats and onto the fields next to the marshes. they decoy well, its a technique that the old victorian gunners used. They make fantastic sport and are definately one of the best eating birds taken on the foreshore. It makes it even more memorable when shooting them with my old higham 16g muzzleloader, though the VH20 sorts them out with just as much satifaction.

As for partridge, i prefer to shoot partridge than pheasant i personally think partridge are a lot more testing to shoot than pheasant, though not as testing as grouse, but grouse shooting is very expensive. as a result its not often i get the oportunity to shoot grouse.

Peter.

[bruce willis]

Wow Mr. holden thats a lot of ducks and geese! Do you eat all those ducks and geese? That's 345 ducks and 80 geese plus other birds. I agree with Mr. hoffard that my total amount of ducks is much more humble.