2012-2013 duck season

[Tech77]

Ross, you have the soul of an outdoor writer in you. I enjoyed reading that.

I had the day off and decided to sleep in before trying an afternoon duck hunt. 1st day to TRY to sleep in in a long while and it was pretty friggin fantastic. I had the house to myself as I cooked a huge breakfast (at 10:30) and afterwards I busied myself with the mental list of all the stuff I needed to load to go duck hunting this afternoon: 4 wheeler, waders, decoys, duck and goose calls, motion decoys, ect ect.... Being the seasoned veteran I went to the ammo closet first and put the shells in the vehicle. Then I sauntered over to the gun safe and punched in the combo and swung the handle...and it happened...

For some reason my father-in-law's lever action .22 with iron sights caught my eye. I never met him as he had already passed away when I was lucky enough to snag my wife but I can attest to a couple of things: 1)He bought good guns 2)He toook great care of them. I swear I wasn't even thinking about it but it just happened. It didn't make any sense as the weather today was terrible for squirrels. Windy, 34 degrees, just plain wrong. But I started thinking about it.

Duck hunting takes a lot of materials and labor. Deer hunting with my muzzleloader this time of year is also a pain in the ass. I had the day off and I wanted to enjoy the outdoors-plain and simple. If any of you other outdoorsmen were brought-up like me then you know what I mean. I put any idea of ducks and deer aside and headed to the oak bottoms (and maybe a deer stand where I had been watching squirrels get fat on my corn all season). It was a great idea. I've got three squirrels quartered and simmering in white wine, chicken broth, tomatoes, garlic, bell peppers and onions. The shots were true, the woods were blustery, windy and cold as they should be. I was shivering as I cleaned my game in the lamplight. The house smells like a pot of goodness and heartiness is simmering. I think sometimes you have to go back to the basics to get back to happy.

[ddgravy]

Ross, you have the soul of an outdoor writer in you. I enjoyed reading that.

YES he does.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

Loved it.

[marketdawg]

Not about duck hunting..again; but thought I'd put this here as there isn't any better place for it:

Rabbit Tastes Good:
For most of the folks these days they wouldn't know if this is true. I'm here to tell you that it is so. The rabbit was my first kill/clean/and cook all by myself animal. I shot it in the woods behind our house with a Daisy pump air rifle and cleaned (butchered) it behind our garage while sitting on a 5-gallon bucket. Then I stewed it with a bunch of stuff from my mom's pantry. This made it a very large milestone in my outdoorsman life. Come to think of it the rabbit is a large milestone in my professional life as well. I own a butcher shop/prepared food store. Without the rabbit I might be selling insurance or saving lives as a physician! Okay..I'm much better suited for my current gig but you get the point.

Rabbit is one of the most utilized wild game species in rural American history. It filled many a stew pot and saved many a farmer's/frontiersman's family from starvation yet somehow it has fallen from grace. Duck hunting is the new "cool" thing to do and deer hunting is big these days as well. You hardly hear of people going out rabbit hunting anymore. I think it is because most of the good rabbit hunting is found on expensive deer/duck leases and the folks that hunt these properties just don't know a good thing when they see it.

I sell rabbit at my upscale grocery store. It is farm-raised but rabbit nonetheless. The folks that buy them wrapped in shrink wrapped freezer packaging wouldn't; for the most part, know which end of a rabbit quacks and which end farts. These folks that do buy the rabbit know good food, however.

It has been some time since I shot a rabbit. I think the last time was when my brother, Brett Barclay and I were pheasant hunting in Kansas and all these darn rabbits kept running around as the bird dogs were working. The guides asked us not to shoot the rabbits as it "might ruin the dogs" as they were trained for pheasant only. If we shot rabbits over those dogs they might just chase rabbits instead. Rabbits are fun and those dogs knew it. I explained to him that we were from Louisiana and if we weren't going to shoot these rabbits now he better put the dogs up after we were done shooting these birds and let us get after some rabbits. My brother and I shot rabbits, without the dogs, and we shot a lot of them. Ruin a dog? I thought dogs were meant for rabbits?

Tonight I purposely sat with a .22 rifle on the edge of a clearing and waited for a rabbit to show itself at dark so I could shoot it. It did, a squirrel did, and I did. I wondered as I drove into town this evening: if I dropped by my parents house, unannounced, and barged into the kitchen waving a dead, bloody rabbit around if my mom would still show the same sort of "enthusiasm" she showed back when I was 9 or 10 yrs old? I also wondered if my dad would sit on a 5 gallon bucket behind the garage and help me clean it...the same spot where we've cleaned countless squirrels, doves, ducks, deer and a few rabbits. I bet they both would. I've got good parents and a rabbit just might prove it again- but I'm not gonna test it tonight.

[PawDawg]

Yeah, you need to be sending these in to be published. This is the kind of stuff folks love to read.

[Tech77]

How about posting the pix from our duck hunt Saturday?

[marketdawg]

They didn't come out very clear as the sun was shining on my camera but I'll post them later on today. We did end the season on a good note though and Tech77 had a nice bag of ducks including a beautiful Bull Pintail. I did have to buy a new pair of tennis shoes, however, as the farm dog ate my other pair that I set by my truck when we went out hunting that day. That's what happens when you work in a butcher shop..dogs really like your shoes.

[marketdawg]

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[Tech77]

I should have moved that sprig over into the sunlight. Thanks, Ross.

[Tech77]

I charged my mojo duck in our bedroom the night before the last hunt. I accidentally left an orange foot off the decoy lying on my sink counter. When my wife got up she saw it and was startled, thinking it might be real. "You know how you are," she said. LOL

[marketdawg]

My wife is used to fur/fin/feathers in our fridge but I think even I would be pushing it if a random "part" was left in or near the bathroom sink.

[marketdawg]

Fwied Wabbit, Wima Beans, Mahshy Taters wif Sauteed Mushroom Gwavy....Heeheeheehee (in my best Elmer Fudd waff). It was Deewicious!
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[Tech77]

Fwied Wabbit, Wima Beans, Mahshy Taters wif Sauteed Mushroom Gwavy....Heeheeheehee (in my best Elmer Fudd waff). It was Deewicious!
Attachment 10373

Like they said on Hee Haw... "YUM, YUM!"

[marketdawg]

Here's one from a "while" back. Cutest duck hunter EVER and she'll still go with me with the following prerequisites: 1)It's a nice, sunny afternoon and she can read books (or her Kindle) in the blind and 2) I pack a nice lunch that will a make nice, sunny afternoon more enjoyable AND there had better be plenty of ducks for her to shoot at...shoot AT being the keyword..she doesn't share well when they are flying and if your wife is as cute as mine AND duck hunts then I bet you'd do the same as me..accommodate!

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