How we spent our day...

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by Marty Kohler

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.....

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!).