3 Devils Dilemma My 16 ga. PHE and a Black
 

Flight birds are starting to come down. Here is a nice black we took on Tuesday last. My 16 ga PHE with 1 1/8 oz. Kent Matrix. Lights on Lights off.

mighty nice....what type of retreiver is your dog...sounds like the 16 and that 1 1/8 ounce load done the trick on the duck...i ve yet to kill a black duck or a red head... i m bad behind you looks like....charlie

a black makes a nice day out,

i am seeing few waterfowl in the area, saw some mallards dumping into a corn field around Batavia while on the thruway last week, and finally a few geese in the cut corn in the Rush area.

Haven't chased ducks for years but still pay attention to their movement, and just not seeing them yet this year.

Charlie - she is a Duetsch drathaar - a German wirehaired pointer out of 3 Devils Kennel in Idaho. 5 years old. Not the best retriever in our club but a wonderful dog. I am lucky to have her and I wouldn't trade her for the world.

I just hope the warm, sunny weather down here blows over, and we get some good old cold, stormy weather. It was looking good last week, but then the rain and cold front moved on

Here she is with an Adirondack mountain woodcock this summer - My DH 20 sits next to both of them.

looks a dog for all seasons....my dad used german short hair pointer for quail for many years...charlie

At 68 years old, I am too damned old to have a lesser pup than a Wirehair attempt to break me in. My present Wirehair, Eva, is a wild and crazy breath of fresh air after a life of Irish Setters, English Pointers, English Setters, and wonderful Springers brought into my family by The Lovely Linda. In our later years, Linda and I may have to share our home with Springers and Wirehairs, but after Eva, my house will never be without a Drat or a German Wirehair. You guys don't know what you are missing.

Mark: Great looking dog you have. What is the weight range of a Drat female. Thanks Thomas

Thomas - She weighs 55lbs at hunting season. gets up to 58 or 59 in march - Her hunting partner goes through a similar change that time of year!!

Yes a good black duck can definitely make the day. To me it is the most majestic of all the ducks. Last year I was sitting in the swamp grass at twilight with my back to the setting sun.
I was looking out over the decoys in a shallow bay near the Missisquoi where there was a tree line on the other side. A lone dusky drake flew down the length of the tree line out of range across from me. The sunlight hit his purple speculum and that small two inches of color reflected and seemed to throw a purple light over the whole landscape. It's an image that is burned into my mind still.
I have had three separate conversations in the past week on how all people ever shot around here were blacks in years back. It's scary what can happen.
We did see more than usual this year and there was a bumper duck crop with the early high water. The ducks we shot were big and healthy. We did shoot three hybrids on the Connecticut river. Not a good sign.