First hunt with my new thin blood

[C.O.B.]

Jack good to hear your back in the field. Don't over due it just enjoy each hour your there. Better to take it slow and steady and be able to do it again.

I pushed the bad foot Friday, gimped around for two and half hours this am and am paying for it now in a big way

[TARNATION !!!]

Good advice. Sure hope that foot heals up for you. Tough when one is addicted to the hunt. I think many here can relate to "gimping" around and paying for it later. The older we get the more we can succumb to something or other that lets us know we aren't kids any more. I was indeed taking it easy yesterday, right up until I had a dead rooster in a bad spot for retrieval. Not sure the Doc knew what my lifestyle included when he said I need not change anything. A dunk in the creek when all around is snow and thin ice is not quite the norm but I do believe in the game laws and had to make every effort to retrieve dead game.

Cheers,
Jack

[C.O.B.]

Your retrieval efforts are to be applauded. A dunk in the frozen creek is no fun and at least you had warm cloths back at the car. Many many years ago when I was in college I hunted waterfowl a lot. One day we broke ice to get out on Saginaw Bay. This is a draw type hunt so we were there at 5am.

Being 25 and bullet proof we had closed the bar the night befor and after a greasy breakfast decided we could make the draw so off we went. We were in a flodded corn field and after the decoys were set that undeniable urge came upon me. As I couldn't find the canoe and couldn't wait any longer I got up as far as I could on a mound and made do. The mound gave way and down I went along with my gun a Browning A5. After I found the canoe I stripped down and rung as much water out of my cloths as I could but it was useless and I couldn't stop chivering. I made my way back to the truck where I sat naked with the heat turned up full blast and kept it that way all the way back home a ride of over an hour

[TARNATION !!!]

I take along complete change and then some, including extra footwear and lots of socks and gloves. I have even started taking comfy slippers along for the drive home, whether or not my boots get wet. When we look back, we certainly felt invincible as young guys. When I was in my late teens, Dad and I were hunting the Bow River, south of Calgary, AB. We got lots of ducks in that spot. I dumped one near the river bank but in the water. I had waders on, so headed out to get it. I had the right angle on making my retrieve; however, the current shifted the bird a little further out. As it came by, I took an extra step and grabbed it but lost my footing. So.......... duck, Jack and the Savage 755A got dunked and the current caught me. The river is fairly shallow with boulders and gravel bottom and a current around 12mph. I played in the river as a little kid and kind of knew how to handle myself, but I had never been in at this spot, nor in the winter. I ended up bumping my way down stream and made it to the opposite bank about 150 yards across. I was drenched head to toe. I had read that a good response in such a situation is to strip and wring out the clothes and get back into them as quick as you can. So I did that. Dad thought I was a goner and all I thought was I'm just gonna get wet. He had to drive about 15 miles to be able to retrieve me, my duck and his auto loader. I kept walking and shivered a bit but, all in all, wringing out the clothes and continually moving warded off hypothermia. I still have that old autoloader. Dad mounted the duck for me but, over the years, it disappeared. The only specimen I still have is my first rooster taken on the wing. Would sure like another day afield with Dad but........so I take out his guns every once in a while and shoot a rooster for him and remember good times.
Cheers,
Jack

[TARNATION !!!]

Originally Posted by Jack Cronkhite

Would sure like another day afield with Dad but........so I take out his guns every once in a while and shoot a rooster for him and remember good times.
Cheers,
Jack

Not often one quotes oneself. Today was a bright, sunny day but cold (-20 Celsius). Decided to try a "tribute to Dad" day. It was short, left home with Kay at 1:30pm and arrived at a favorite spot around 2:45. Left around 6:00pm and back home by 7:30.

I took Dad's SKB XL900 12ga semi-auto (I did take the GHE but as back-up this time). CHARLIE and KYRA hopped out and had little patience for me fumbling with mittens to load three Winchester Super X long range 1 1/4 oz. #6 shot. (Apparently antique or vintage, but to me sort of new - purchased a case in the late 70's or early 80's and still have three boxes so how can they be antique). We wandered through some weeds and along a couple hedge rows. It was tough going. The snow wasn't particularly deep but it had a hard crust that broke through with every step. The other problem with snow is the bird tracks everywhere. I kept expecting birds to flush but canine noses kept telling me that I needn't be tensed and at the ready. We finished that spot without seeing a bird. Next was to drop onto the creek right at the bridge as the snow was not deep there, like it was at most other access points. Today, I was able to walk on water with the creek being frozen solid. CHARLIE was getting birdy through the cat tails. I could see the air fill with fluff from time to time and I picked up my pace, as best I could without ice skates. The ice maker for a hockey rink could not have done better than mother nature had. The creek was like glass and the co-efficient of friction for my boot soles was zero I'd guess. CHARLIE was about 15 yards ahead of me and KYRA was beside me and decided she better join CHARLIE. As she raced to catch up with her pack mate, the rooster flushed. SKB shouldered, trigger pulled, rooster down, CHARLIE right on it and KYRA closing fast. CHARLIE told KYRA in no uncertain terms that she had no claim to this one. CHARLIE then picked up the rooster and for the first time did not just drop it to say here it is, come and get it if you want it. Nope, this time CHARLIE and rooster were putting distance between us. I called her. She stopped and looked at me and then almost came back to me. She dropped the rooster about ten feet away and made sure once again that KYRA knew to keep her distance - nothing fierce, just one of those "get your attention" growls. I guess that's progress. Maybe she'll eventually do a full retrieve but I really don't care, as long as the birds are not lost and she has definitely taken care of that. Now, if one could read the future, even the next couple hours, I would have headed to the car, loaded up and come home around 4:00pm as all that happened for the next two hours was a lot of hiking and two hens spotted. But hey, it was a fine time anyway.
So, this was Dad's rooster and the next time out will be back to Parkers as both starter and back-up.

UPDATE: On the eat heartily front this rooster cubed and fast fried in the wok. A few veggies and some quinoa boiled in pheasant broth made for a meal. Dessert? Banana/chocolate/nut muffins - a team effort between Kay and I.
Cheers,
Jack

[Old and Reliable]

When I was about 14 we had a "dropper" a Brit-Setter mix. Specks was a bird finding magnet as long as you were hitting birds- but if you missed a few, she shut down. My boyhood pal and I went out on the opener, all day drizzle- we were soaked. About 4:00 PM she locked up on a huge rooster and I went in over her point and it got airborne- wingspan like a B-29, water spraying from its feathers-and I pumped out two hurried shots from my 20 M12 and never cut a feather- she turned and gave me a look like I'll never forget-

First week of our duck season, on the river near home and early Oct- I had the 12 M12 and steel No 4's- took two hen woodies (we are allowed 3 wood ducks/day( and then my first pintail ever in our flyway. I hope to shoot as they are flying upriver so they will (in theory) float back down to me. This one got by me in the current, I went after it and tripped over a rock I guess- Boom right face down into the drink- water inside my chest waders and the M12 got a bath-but i GOT THE DUCK.

Jack, we both know we owe it to the game we shoot to retrieve and try to shoot for a clean kill-best wishes for the new(er) VH 12..

[David Hamilton]

Jack, Those shots in the belly, There was an amusing moment-- I had to take those shots several times a day and just before going into the hospital I was invited for a "last meal" at an asian joint. On arriving at the shopping center where the restaurant was located I remembered that I needed one of those bruising shots. So- I reclined my car seat and asked my wife to administer it. We parked under a streetlight for better visibility. Me with my belt undone and fly open, shirt pulled up and wife leaning over when one of our friends walked by. Glad it wasn't a policeman. David