Love that GBE quote...it's so true. Wonderful day!

Good on you Daniel for taking your boy out for shooting like that. What I would have given for that at his age. I started hunting birds when the wild pheasants were rapidly disappearing from Michigan, right after they took the bounty off foxes. You could hunt hard all season on good ground and be lucky to spot 1-2 roosters.

That GBE quote really is a classic and so spot on. Excellent. Needs to be sharpied across every young shooters forehead!!

Back from our bird hunt. ( must learn to post pictures ) Breakfast was outstanding as always. Weather was wonderful. Cool with a slight wind from the southeast and the father and son company was outstanding.This was Daniel's third time to try a side by side and he shot well on about the best flying non wild birds that I have encountered. Started with 16 GH and was awful. returned to the truck for the DHE 16 and things got better in a hurry. A most enjoyable morning. The German Shorthair did a nice job finding and pointing. My Boykin Bay flushed and picked up 30 of 31. This was just one of the many fun times that makes life worth while. Must stop to go deer hunting while I have someone at home to help drag the damn thing out.

Holiday Season Hunting
 

Today was the first day of our second half of our waterfowl season....for the last couple of weeks we have watched rafts of Scaup and Canvasback along with many groups of Whistlers....We were geared and hoping for a spectacular day...With plenty of shells, fresh cut ham slices, rolls and cinnamon rolls....we started out at 5:30 to find flat water, zero wind and little moving....My son brought along his hunting buddy and we had 3 retrievers with us,... My sons 5 year old Black Lab "Wynie" who really is the perfect combination of English conformation, calm temperament but with a deep desire to retrieve...what we all try to find...my younger 2 year old yellow has desire but I am still in the process of getting her to settle down and be steady to shot and for this reason I left the double in the car and deferred to others to do the shooting... Although the Scaup and Canvasbacks we where hoping for didn't materialise we still enjoyed working the whistler decoys to try and have them land right where we wanted them...We were able to fool a few and all 3 retrievers got work as they took their turn....a worthwhile training session and fun shoot...we had an early lunch on shore by heating up clam chowder to go with the Christmas ham ..... always a new experience to get out and be with young developing hunters as they continue to learn how to set and tweak their decoy spead......and then back home in front of the fire by 2 o'clock for me....satisfied and again rewarded by mother nature.....

Daniel,

Thanks so much for the follow-up report. I'm glad your son was successful and that you had good flying birds. So, it sounds like your DHE fits you better than the GH. I know the feeling of having a gun that you love but don't always shoot all that well...and the wonder of getting out the one that fits you on that given day. I'd sure like to see some photos. If you can send me some via email I can probably post them for you here. My email is g.g2@aol.com. I really enjoy seeing pictures.

Shoot a deer before your "help" leaves! :rotf:

Marty,

A great account of your hunt, and I especially liked the fact that you included something about the food you brought along. It reminds me of the Nash Buckingham stories that often include descriptions of food (and that always make me hungry). Funny how hunting and eating go so well together! (BTW, a great photo!) I also enjoyed reading your assessment of the idiosyncratic nature of the dogs. I'll bet you enjoyed the hunt as much without the gun, handling the dogs, as you would have taking a limit. Thanks very much for letting us go along on this hunt (including lunch!).

I was hoping to get in a little deer hunting but spent the morning in the ER with a broken rib:banghead:

I hope you are OK! Sounds like a story in there somewhere. My best to you for a quick recovery.

Thanks Gary. The story is almost as bad as the rib:shock: I had gone deer hunting and didn't see a thing and was back at my buddies having a beer and visiting with friends, playing Polish horse shoes etc. Well seeing as it's Christmas eve an all I head home early. Went to bed fairly early and started coughing and I knew exactly when it happened, I felt it go:eek:

The Doc said it's not an uncommon occurrence. It's going to sideline me a bit however.

Garry...I very much enjoyed your story and philosophy....well written..... thanks for taking the time to share...you did inspire me I must admit....my best to you this holiday season...
Marty