Let the duck games begin!

[Richard Flanders]

Made it out for the duck opener this weekend. Shooting was incredibly slow but I had the cherry spot with my hunting partner Nancy, an 84 yr old retired doctor from Anchorage and a serious hunter he entire life who was taught to hunt and fish by her mother. She has flown her Cessna 185 all over Alaska and finally sold her nice Super Cub, which she used on floats primarily for pothole duck hunting and running her trap line in south central Ak, to my neighbor when she quit flying it at 75 yrs old. This lady has lived the life I tell you. It was an honor to help her shoot ducks for her aged dog to retrieve. She wore the barrel out on her vintage Ithaca 37 and got it replaced somehow with one with screw in chokes. It's a deluxe model with stunning wood and a vent rib. We hunted together for 2.5 days and had the best shooting of the bunch. We got more ducks each day than the other 4 hunters combined. We got mostly spoonbills, but also got teal, pintails, a widgeon, and a ring bill. My dux are shown hanging in camp yesterday. I used my 32" 1883 hammer gun and my nice 2-frame 30" VH12 and have to confess to breaking the butt plate on the boat seat. Two large pcs about 1.5" total length broke off the side. Broke my heart to do that! I'll take any advice on how to get the pcs glued back in that folks have. It's a nice thick plate with a spur and is in excellent condition otherwise. If the pcs will glue back in there will be nothing missing. That hammer gun will sure kill ducks a long ways out!

[Craig Larter]

WOW I love the intensity in that old Lab---they never lose that intensity even when they get stiff, deaf and half blind---that's why I love them so much---great dog owned by great lady.

[Rick Losey]

Richard

I would think Accuglass would be the best choice to glue the pieces back together.

it comes with a black dye to match the color

[Paul Plager]

Way to go Richard. Looks like a great hunt with a great partner. I would love to listen to the stories she could tell. I'll bet she has some tales to tell.

[Richard Flanders]

The lab is 11yrs old as of Sunday so we HAD to get her a retrieve, which we did. I could NOT get her to look at me for one second when trying for that shot. She sits there quivering and whimpering every minute she's on station, which for a trial dog, is not good, but she has no loss of drive to retrieve. She did a very nice 125 yd attempt on a widgeon that was diving. Two dogs chased it all over and couldn't catch it so we had to motor out run it down and swat it. I can get accuglass here. Am hoping it's very thin so the parts come together completely. Some birds fall across a channel in grass and you can't find them.... so you just wait until the local ruff legged hawk cruises over, does a double take and drops on them so you can run over and take it away from him. Another time a raven let me know that a wounded spoony that got away had finally floated up around the corner 24hrs after Nancy shot it. Nancy does have stories and just wrote a book on her years of setting up clinics in the Aleutians after retirement.

[Mills Morrison]

Great story. I am looking forward to duck season myself. Have a trip to Arkansas arranged later in the season which I am really looking forward to.

[Richard Flanders]

I hunted this same spot with Nancy two years ago. She was pretty unstable back then and upon her first shot from that very stool and spot, which was wetter at the time, I looked over and she was flat on her back in the water, feet in the air and laughing like hell. The recoil knocked over. She just got up, went into camp to get some dry clothes, and kept right on shooting, wet waders and all. She takes Tai Chi twice a week now and is much better on her feet. I would not want to be the one to tell her she should not be trying to do something...... very bad idea.

[Thomas L. Benson Sr.]

Richard: You should consider yourself quite honored to hunt with a Alaskan pioneer Lady and a duck hunter to boot. It was always my dream to go on a Duck hunt of a lifetime by starting in the Minto Flats of Alaska and follow the migration all the way through Canada and then the Dakotos and end up in Stuttgart Arkansas. That to me would be the ultimate Duck hunt. Thomas

[Richard Flanders]

I absolutely did feel honored Thomas. We are hunting the Minto Flats here and do so every year.

[Dennis V. Nix]

Richard,
Those are great photos of a wonderful time spent between you, your friend and the dog. She does sound like a great lady. That kind of woman is few and far between these days. Sorry to hear about the Parker but the Acraglas Gel or any other type of epoxy should work great for the repair.

Dennis

[Destry L. Hoffard]

Hollywood Mallards!

Sounds like you all had a fair shoot, good work.


Destry

[Richard Flanders]

It was good for Nancy and I Destry. The other 4 hunters totaled only about 6-8 ducks over 2.5 days. Nancy and I did better in one morning than they totaled in the 2.5 days. If I could shoot straight I'd have had a limit every day... easily. I may have changed the earths rotation with amount of shot I sprinkled out there... I'm going to roast a nice fresh pintail for dinner tonite and have sauteed duck parts for the next couple of nights. I gave Nancy everything but two Ptails and a ringbill. She especially likes the teal.

[charlie cleveland]

richard you certainly live the life that only few get to do and to get to hunt with such a great lady and her companion the lab is iceing on the cake for you..i can see the lab is gray around the muzzle but the gleam in her eyes is far from being old.. i wish nancy could be my doctor and hunting partner...thanks for a great storey and photo s of this living legend and her friend...tell nancy she can go hunting with us parker guys anytime... charlie

[ron belanger]

God bless that woman!:bowdown:
There should be more like her!
Nice shootin"!

[Brian Stucker]

Great story, great adventure, great pictures. Amazing woman. Not many like her.