Snipe Plogging

Duck season is over, but snipe season
lasted a little longer and we tried to
end the season with style with two
back to back hunts.

Friday was an off day at work for me
and Jim got off early from college.
He met me at the launching ramp
at Hwy 50.  I had his waders, gun,
ammo, waters, and Sweet 'n Salties.

We headed upriver to some of my
favorite and most productive spots.
If only they had been productive.
We only saw 5 snipe in all the miles
that we walked and only shot one.

Even more annoying was our
visit to Snipe City.  I told Jim that
I had scouted the spot for ducks
right before that season opened.
A flock of blue wing teal had
flown directly over and landed
at the far end of the pond 60
yds in front of me.  Even as I
spoke to him, a flock of green
wing teal flew over us and
landed at the very same spot.
Where were they when we
hunted the area?  We even ran
up a flock of 16 mottle ducks
from one tiny pond.  Who knew
mottles ever group up like
that?

To add insult to injury, I
had forgotten that I needed
to wear booties with my
hip waders and my left
heal had a blister the size
of Montana on it.

Here's a picture from the
boat ramp of the river.

Hwy 50 Boat Ramp looking south.  Note all the free range cattle.

The next day I didn't think would be
much better, but I had agreed to join
my co-worker Rich R. at the WMA
and try our hand there.  He, Jim, and
I had tried it last year, but struck out.
Turns out I'm glad we came back this
year.

Snipe hunt days at the WMA are first
come first serve.  We were 5th in
line by 5AM.  That too did not bode
well.  Better hunting conditions are
directly proportional to the number
of people who show up.  Rich pulled
up directly behind me.  He's in BD,
so he's always upbeat and optimistic.
I don't suffer from that affliction.

At the check in station, I saw
Chuck McK.  I hadn't seen him
the few times I got to TMG during
duck season and he said he had not
been able to get draws.  We
chatted a bit and when our turn
came he recommended a spot
for us.  Now, he is an awesome
shot and I took his advice
seriously.  Eddie H. confirmed
it and we headed off.

Leaving the Check Station.  On duck days, there can be a 100 guys right here.

  It was just sunrise by the time we got
to our draw.  We were greeted by
hundreds and hundreds of ducks
taking off.  It was heart stopping.
I must reassess my hunting
decisions for next year.  I think I
spent too much time trying to hunt
with the boat.  I need to not bind
myself so tightly to that.

Our draw was 3S.  Normally, it's
a bit deeper of a spot, but the
water had been drawn down
quite a bit.  there were long,
muddy strips at the crowns that
were easily huntable.  The
lateral (hidden) ditches weren't
all that hidden, but they still
could top our hip waders (as
Jim and I found to our chagrin).

We made several passes down
one side of strip and back up
the other since we didn't want
to try crossing the laterals if
we didn't have to.  I dropped
one on the wrong side and that's
how I got water in the waders.

I had to take the waders off and drain
them out.  My booties (remembered
this time) were soaked.  Rich
had also hit a bird and I came
over to help him find it.  Belly
down, a snipe may be the most
camouflaged bird in the world.

I discovered that much of the
new plant growth in the mud was
thistles.  My stocking feet felt
every spine.  We found Rich's
bird and by then, all of us had
at least one.

 We went back to the truck for
water and snacks.  Although the
day was cool and very windy, I
was sweating out my hydration
in buckets.  I quickly peeled off
my jacket and gloves and only
hunted in a pair of long sleeve
shirts.  My waders kept my cold,
wet pants from bothering me too
much.

We decided to make a pass down
some of the closer mud flats.  Now,
these mud flats were - as far as we
could tell - identical.  But, the one
I chose was the mother load.  I
got 4 birds and brought my total
to 6.  Jim got 2 to bring his total
to 3.  I don't think Rich had a decent
shot at any.  There were tons of
shore birds - coots, rosette spoonbills,
curlews, plovers, dowitchers, yellowlegs,
godwits, killdeer, ibises, etc. - all around
us.  I held off on one shot for fear
of killing a lot of background birds.

Turned out I made the right choice.
The game warden was cruising
down the levee.  When I finished
my pass huffing and puffing like
a train, he came down to see how
we were doing.  I had to ask him
how his CPR was.  There's nothing
like wading to test the blood
pressure medicine.  He checked
my gun to make sure my limiter
was installed.  He also checked
Jim's shells for steel and gave
Rich a complete check.  I think
the officer recognized Jim and I
from repeated checks during the
season, but didn't know Rich.

We made a couple more passes,
but the day was done.  We ended up
with a pretty nice haul.

Rich heading in

I yelled, "Strike a pose!"

 

Jim calling it quits

Jim and ofs in the marsh.  Gotta get the orange hat off quickly and back to a real hunting hat.

Our snipe

Rich with his first kill in 20 some years.  He's hooked now.

What Boy Scouts get when they hunt snipe

What the ofs Clan gets

ofs

Soloing and Full of Fulvous

{This post is out of sequence -
I'm finally finishing it some weeks
late.}

Jim got bold and tried for a solo walk on
at the local WMA.  It was his first time
hunting without me.  We got him all
fixed up the night before and he was
up and gone by 1:30.  He ended up
8th in line and got a spot in one of
the good wading impoundments.  He
partied up with Pepi from the UWF
list.

They would have had a real long
walk down the levee to get to
their draw, but Pepi had a kayak
and they were able to easily cross
a canal and then wade a short bit
into the impoundment.

Jim was a bit nervous hunting with
someone he didn't know and only
managed a couple teal.  Pepi got
several birds and a black-bellied
whistling duck.  He had to leave
and get to work.  Once totally on
his own, Jim got two more teal.
Considering that only one bird
decoyed, they did pretty good.

Pepi had glowing things to say
about Jim later in an email.  That
makes this old, fat guy proud.

The next Saturday, Jim volunteered to
get in the walk in line early and spend the
night.  It was so crowded that he was
the 7th car in line by 4PM in the
afternoon.  By midnight, there were
18 cars.  When Eddie came passing out
tickets, we ended up in the reservoir.  We
partied up with Dan P. and returned
the favor (he'd let me on his draw
earlier in the season). 

Joe R. gave me some good guidence
but I didn't quite find his spot.  Still,
we had a good day of teal, ringers,
wood duck, and fulvous.  Jim's nice,
drake woody floated away somewhat
at an angle to the wind.  It seemed
strange, but we couldn't figure out why
until we picked up and found that
a turtle had gnawed the butt off the
duck.  Since it didn't ruin any of the
meat, we were cool.

It was an okay day.


ofs

For the Children

Saturday was the Youth Waterfowl Hunt

at TMG WMA.  As always, it is my favorite

hunt of the year.  

I was quite fortunate this year.  Stu got

a draw for the Goodwin side, but was the

14th pick of 16 groups.  I wasn't sure

we would get the spot we wanted in

the reservoir.  Out of the blue earlier

in the week, I got an email from Mike U.

I had worked with him years before

at Controls.  He had been scanning

the Internet for info on the Youth

Hunt, found oldfatslow, recognized

me from a picture, and wrote to see

if I was hunting.  He and a friend were

each taking a son and his boy had

the fifth pick.  He asked if I wanted

to have Stu and Tommy party up

with them.  I dithered at first because

I didn't have waders for Tommy.  But,

Tom found an old pair that he could

fit and the bathtub proved didn't leak,

and we were ready.

I got there early and found the gate open

and drove on in.  There had been no

hunters in line and no one else at

the check in stand.   Jason "Kansas" the

intern was working the desk and gave

me good G2 on where he had seen 

birds.  It was the same impoundment

where Craig had had his great YWfH

nine years before. 

Mike and his buddy Dave showed up

with their sons, Josh and Kody and

reissued their invitation.  I was only

too greedy eager to agree.  Jamie F.,

the local Professional Wildlife 

Biologist confirmed the G2 and we

got the spot we wanted.

Kansas wasn't going to run the "hay

wagon" and gave us permission to

drive up by the observation tower

next to our draw.  

It wasn't a big pond and we set up

on the north reed line.  With the south 

wind we weren't in the best spot,

but it wasn't a strong wind and 

teal will fly however they want to.

We were on the bank, high and dry.

The decoys were in two wads in

front of us and we had a lot of

time (an hour) to enjoy morning on

the marsh.  I had hoped for fog and

ended up not being disappointed.

The fog rolled in and slowly blotted

out all the distant lights.  We could

hear lots of hen and drake teal around

us and (I thought) some pintail.  A 

group of black bellied tree ducks came

over, but never came back.

When shooting time came, we had

one duck land and get nipped, but

it landed a ways out and disappeared

before we could make a retrieve.

I realized that we weren't right where

the ducks wanted to be and we picked

up and quickly moved to the only

other spot with cover.  We were still

facing south into the wind, but the

decoys were in much shallower 

water.  We covered up with palmetto

fans that Mike and Dave had brought

with them as best we could.  The

four boys were in front and the

dads behind.  We were exposed,

but it didn't seem to bother the

birds.  Fog helps.

Tommy in the Blind

Wide Open on Our Little Island

Stu fell in a hole and got most everything

wet but his gun.  He was miserable, but

still hunting.  Tommy managed the first

duck - a hen blue wing - that landed to

the right of his position.  We were on 

the board and the rest of the day was

gravy.

We never had big opportunities after that

and most of the shots were passing shots.

Mike's son Josh had the hot hand making

many really hard over the left shoulder 

shots.  He finished the day with his first

four ducks - 3 bwt and 1 gwt.  Kody was

wedged in the middle and didn't have

as many chances, but as soon as he

moved to the end seat, he dropped a

nice drake bwt - his first duck.  

Tommy got one more duck when

a small group of gwt flew through.

It happened so fast that he didn't

have time to really pick them up.

He fired instinctually and hit his

drake with most of the 3" #4 20 ga.

steel pellets.  That was about as 

dead a duck as I've ever seen.

Stu got a nice drake bwt and

crippled a drake ringer.  Mike

and I made a two lab tough 

retrieve on that bird in some

thick mud and para grass.  I

again tested my blood pressure

medicine to the max and it

came through.

A UWF buddy - Naustin -

was on shore and took these

pictures of us on the wade in:

We hit IHOP for a late

breakfast/early lunch and

had then sent some tired boys

and proud-and-tired dads

home.

It was the best hunt of the season!

Four Happy Hunters

Stuart and Tommy with (l to r) Drake BWT, Drake Ringer, Drake GWT, Hen BWT

Duck Hunting is Serious Business