Almost over already.

Had Jafet and Tom out this weekend. First day was at the beach. Birds are there but didn't come close. Got 1 drake Pintail and Tom got a drake Teal. On the second day Jafet and I checked out the Willapa spot. At first light Mallards were dropping in. At shoot time we had a group that we shot at but only fell one drake Mallard. Had 1 other group drop in and took a hen Mallard. Jafet shot 2 buffies.

I just had to go and hunt after picking out Maggie from the litter. Birds are still around at the beach but not quite cooperative today. Manage to knock down 4. 3 Widgeon and 1 Gadwall hen.

Maggie! Duck Dog in the Making

We finally decided to get a duck dog. While on a business trip recently, a colleague alerted me that a mutual friend just had a litter of Labrador puppies. When I got home, I contacted Evelyn and sure enough they have the kind of Lab I'm looking for; female, black, and not the big block head style. A few email exchanges later and we learned that the lineage is very good and coming from hunting parents and grandparents.

A private litter, hunting lineage, and from a family of serious hunters - we had to do it! It's too good to pass up. So things were set, Kandi and I drove to Colville, WA and picked out our Maggie. She's not quite ready to come home yet at 4.5 weeks. We will go back and bring her home Jan 21 when she will be 8 weeks old.

It was cold today!

Went back out this weekend to the same spot since last week was pretty decent. Jafet joined me. Sure enough we ambushed a bunch of birds transitioning from the far pond to the main pond. Got my seven fairly quick.

Gads, Gads, Gads

Tom and I went to the coast for a little shooting action. Er, except the birds didn't quite cooperate at shoot time. So without any signs of life, I took a walk towards the river and set-up for an ambush. Turns out a bunch of birds were sitting in the far pond. I shot my first triple ever. I followed it up with a double. After the skirmish, I was only able to retrieve 4 of the 6 birds that fell. 2 were Gadwalls; a drake and a hen. Interesting. I also shot 2 hen mallards and a another drake Gadwall at the end of the day.