" The last picture was in Michigan this past fall at the Motel...Ruby staked her claim! SXS ohio "

Kenny is that in the hotel on the hunt that I missed.........

I just re-read my previous post and I think I depressed myself!! Tomorrow's quarry, however, will be deer with the muzzleloader.Will be below zero, so doesn't look like a good day to stay on stand, will have to sneak around alittle.
Growing up, deer were almost unheard of in our area--I'd trade every dam deer in Ohio to have our grouse back.

I am a duck hunter first and foremost, nothing in my outdoor life is better than 30 mallards making the final approach, lab quivering with a vintage SxS in my hands. One lonely mallard hen quack on the call and in they come feet down--addictive in the extreme!. I never get tired of that experience and will smile about it until I leave mother earth. I am lucky and have a great spot to hunt waterfowl in the Finger Lakes of NY state. I do love wild bird hunting and have been fortunate to be able to travel to Ontario , Alberta, Saskatchewan, Quebec, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Maryland, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Maine and Argentina to hunt birds both waterfowl and upland. My home area in NY was a pheasant hot spot until the middle 70's, I was lucky to experience wild pheasants out my back door. In today's world you need to travel and not sit home and think about how things were they will never return. Stay positive guys.

2018

1. Doves
2. Spring Gobblers
3. Deer
4. Canada Geese

Was brought up a Bobwhite quail hunter. That's it. Killed my only limit of 125 in the '81-'82 season. Hunted just as much the next year, and killed half that, the next season, half of that. Gave up. Now extinct here. Never killed a deer until my late 20s, and that was right after we put the bird dogs in the box and hounds ran a big buck by me right at dark, shooting my I.C. bird gun with 2 3/4" buckshot. Never saw a Canada Goose when I was a kid. Now they are everywhere. Deer were non-existent also back then. Some years there are herds. Quarry that can fly is my favorite though.

While Grouse are a favorite I can warm up to any bird that can be pointed and shot at with a small bore SXS. In just over three weeks it's Quail in south Georgia and hopefully some warmer weather.

Good friends, good guns and good bird dogs make bird hunting, loose one of the three and it's just not the same.

Opening day...Yes that's the one...Wooden shoe. We had a good time in MI. It was warm and we did not see many birds but our time there was great....nice folks, good food. We plan to hit Michigan again this October...(-:

Grouse....I let the Woodcock fly as there are too few around and takes a lot of them to make a meal. I have good grouse country out the back door but I find myself heading north for day trips to find new covers. Finding good covers is more thrilling to me than shooting grouse. I have found many over the years but find myself always searching for the next and rarely going back to the already found. Hunting has to be an adventure to me. In my travels I have found many beaver ponds and marshes with good populations of ducks. I will renew my jump shooting of ducks this year. I was at a huge beaver pond way back in the mountains this year. Must be a half mile long and had 5 beaver houses although not all were active. There were many different types of ducks and some I did not recognize. Standing beside the pond and the slashing sounds of duck wings overhead really fired up the duck hunting fever. Lacie our border collie often accompanies me. She is good at jumping grouse but extremely gun shy. I never shoot when she is along and somehow it is more fun than when I can shoot. All in all though deer hunting is the main passion...rabbit hunting behind dogs with a 22 pistol is a close second though...oh the sound of a beagles voice turning and coming back your way!

Hope you enjoy your South Jawja Romp. It will probably be nice by then. Btw if its in the 50's or better consider some sort of snake protection. Those rascals will come out and sun themselves. Its pretty rare and I used to never even think about wearing snake boots when quail hunting since the area I used to hunt did not have many bad snakes and it was always cold enough, never a thought. South Georgia and Florida its almost anytime when weather is 50+. Once in early February hunting in South Georgia dogs were on point and shooters walked in to flush. Thick bramble cover about waist high and hard to see where your feet were going, though walking in at the ready was not looking at the ground but looking for shooting lanes and anticipating the flush. Covey breaks as I am still on the move and I get a pair, actually was hunting with Parker and one of few times I ever doubled with it. Guide looks at me and says he missed. I said no way I got both birds, and he said he lost track and he was looking down at the ground and when he let me know "lucky for you that fellow right there on the ground missed you".

I look down at just the right time to see rattles of a big snake slinking back down into a hole under an old pine stump. It freaked me and the guide out since neither of us even thought about snake boots. Guide knew the area and even assumed it was too cold and did not wear snake protection, that changed his mind since it was sunny and low 50's out. Seems, according to guide that caught the action out corner of his eye, as I walked, hesitated, then took another step forward to shoot the snake whiffed right as I moved my step forward.

I am not afraid of snakes but respect the hell out of them. Odds are greatly in your favor to never get bit much less die from a bite and more likely to be killed by a lightening strike, but I try and avoid getting struck by lightening and snakes more so now then I ever did. My rule is that in deep south if its high 40's and know its warming then snake gear comes out. I have some heavy Orvis leather snake boots and wearing them and walking alot is a work out but I guess worth it. Just read were someone got knicked in florida this fall by rattler and about $100k later and pretty long hospital stay they were in the clear.

BTW I like the cache of your trilogy and it has a little more air of prestige but it reminds me of some of the same components for a successful weekend based on the Redneck Trilogy.

1. Burning Gas
2. Shooting Guns
3. Drinking Beer

Hopefully it safely goes off in that order, but more times than not, the order gets reversed some. However, as a rule of thumb shooting guns is always in the middle.

Seasons over???
 

Wild roosters and wild chukars are the staple for me, I love them both. Growing up in the west we hunted almost all game birds. I'm getting ready to go to Arizona next week on a three species quail hunt.The season is still going and the temperatures are nice. I shot several quail when I lived there, but I want to mount a pair of each this time.

You know Rich, you laughed at me last year with me wearing my Filson chaps (after being told they killed to over four foot rattlers in the previous two weeks) so this year I think I may wear them again.............:shock: