Feathers and Fins

4th from the right needs culling its neck is deformed or its wounded see the red blood around it.. SORRY couldnt pass it up... Yes lots of shite fronts still around this year and I know what lake that is lol... Is the Ross goose that stayed all summer still there?

I still do not like the idea of a computer doing anything. Needs to be a simple system each conferance plays for their champion, each champion then plays in the playoffs till you are left with two teams they play for all the marbles. Then its settled we have #1.

Very interesting and thought out article. Alot to think about there and a lot of potentials could happen. Heck this might be far reaching but if schools managed to get the BCS dropped and then decided to drop the NCAA and come up with a reality based set of rules and penalties the possibilities could be very interesting. Just thinking out loud mind you

oh now this is interesting keep us informed please

Iordered 1 dozen Bluebills, 1 dozen redheads and 1/2 dozen Canvas backs Mondayand paid for express next day air. So I take today off so as to be sure the delivery driver doesn’t just leavethem on the front porch or take them back to the warehouse. Well 5pm comesalong and I call Gander to find out where my shipment is. I received a confirmation of request and cost. No tracking number or any othere-mail. So I get a guy at gander and find out the cancelled the order saying problemswith the Credit Card. No phone call. No email and no reason other than CCproblems. Funny I know what’s in the account as that’s my hunting fund card and keep aminimum 2500.00 in the account. So I checked online and the account has substantiallymore than that in it. So no way a NSF and as I used it earlier today I know it’s working just fine. Also Billing address was correct. Is this typical of their customer service to not even make a simple phone call “Iverified they had my number" and asked why I was not called, all the guycould say is I’m sorry. Sorry is no excuse they have my e-mail they have myCell number and My House number. Well guess they will never get my business again. Why did I bother not juststicking to Rogers, Never had a problem with them! Sorry had to vent

lol ya i know about Reggie. Man it just chaps me, I love college football and wish it had simple rules and all teams had the ability to go to a bowl or if we did get a playoff ever a right to be there... Under the Bowl World 1 through 10 NO MATTER who they are should go or why have bowls. Under Playoffs then 1 Bowl and its for all the Marbles. I would love to see a NFL style playoff where the matchings could put any conferance against any other one. It would be nice to see say Alabama Play USC and if USC won the could play Notre D and so on. ok i need to stop dreaming of Saturdays where teams who would never meet might.

This year... And im an AR fan and hate LSU lol but i dont think anyone could beat LSU. Maybe one of the NFL teams. Dam that hurts admitting that but they are just on fire this year.

Like i said before BCS minus C = What it is. Only a Playoff system can answer the questions. not even a Plus one will give you a true NC. That is why all other sports have the playoff system. In the pro's a team can and has lost to another only to beat them in the playoff's. What i will really enjoy is if Bama beats LSU in the NC game, that should stir the hornets nest even more. Ill go on to say I even dislike the rules that disqualify a team from bowl potential like violations for recruiting OR such. I dont like seeing the Players penalized for what a school or even a few players did. I wish they would Fine the school or suspend th players immidiately but give the team who worked hard all year the oppertunity to play. I guess its just me but if a team works their butts off and has a winning record they should not be penalized for the actions of the School or coaches or a couple players. Just me but it just dont seem right somehow. heh off topic sorry

We were returning from a morning hunt walking down the old red dirt road as we had many times in the past. The corn fileds on both sides of this road had turned brown with the autum season change, the wind was cool against our face and the sky was blue with a few puffy marshmellow white clouds in it. Our labs were walking in front of us from time to time darting in to the corn fields as the scent of something interesting caught their attention. As we came close to the familiar old cabin the old man was sitting on his porch sipping a glass of ice tea. As we had done for so many seasons before we smiled and waved at him, normally he would just nod his head and smile back. But this time he signaled us over. Never had he done this or even attempted to talk to us, so we walked toward him. The cabin was made of old barn wood with a covered porch. on it was some saws hanging on the wall a old wood stove in a corner and his rocking chair he was always in. His face told the story of many years working the corn fields and of many hard seasons on him. His beard was not neat or kept well but that of a true hard working man. His eyes were narrow and seemed to look in to you with an inteligance only age and the season could give you. We walked up to the foot of his porch and said hello he said hello back and asked us how we did. Proudly we showed him the two mallards and woodie we shot and he smiled at us and said have a seat on the steps boys while i get ya some tea and bring ya out something i want to show ya. There were sounds of russling comming from inside the old cabin and sounds of ice hitting the bottom of glass, Whe he walked out he handed us both a glass of ice tea. Sweet and cold you could tell it was home made brewwed hours in sun with just the right amount of sugar that it brought a smile to your face. He then reached back in the cabin and pulled out an old and tattered leather bound photo book and sat between us. flipping the book open you could see black n white pictures of waterfowl pictures. Ducks and geese filled the picture with young men and old men smiles ear to ear. The old man explained to each of the pictures in turn. As he did you could see a tear from time to time appear on his wrinkled hard face and a quiver in his breath. One picture stood out toward the end of the book, you could tell it was this old man and a beautiful chessie with a goose in its mouth. He didnt say a word but gently took the picture from the book and held it looking, tears poored from his eyes on sight of the picture and his hands trimbled while holding it. He said this was the best dog ever loyal and loving. I asked him if he still hunted as we never had seen him at the little farm pond. He smiled and just said no. When my buddy asked him why not he explained. I hunted all my life but had lost all his friends, He told us how Jim and Mike were killed at Normandy and Jerry in Korea. How others had died from cancer and a couple from old age. He was the last and without hi friends to go with he just couldnt do it anymore as age and strength had left him. We invited him along with us on our next hunt, A smile as wide as the ole mississippi river is long came across his face. He told us how every time he saw us walking back he was reminded of his youth and his friends, Then he said he had to chuckle at us youngsters as the old pond we hunted hardly ever had birds in it. He was right if we managed 4 birds between us we were lucky. I told him it wasnt about the birds it was about being with my friend. He laughed such an laugh that ole Saint Nick would be proud of and said that is what its all about, BUT it sure is nice to get birds too. He told us wait there and he would be back. We heard the russling again from inside the house and when he appeared he was wearring brown on brown camo and had a pair of old canvas hip waders on. A old Model 12 was in his hands and a hunting vest made of leather around his chest. He said leave your birds on the porch and let me show you something. Our eyes were as big as dinner plates at this site of an old time hunter memories of our great grandfathers surged in both of us. We started to walk down the old road back to the pond when he said where ya going. We stopped and looked back he said this way boys.. we went out the back of his house and through an old gate. We were walking single file through a corn row. He walked faster than us with a spring in his step not even us two younsters had. We must have walked for 30 minutes when we came to a rise above us he said get down and come here. As we came to the top of this crest beforeour eyes were thousands of ducks and geese and all types of fowl deer and a couple coons. There before us was a crop drainage pond about 10 acres and full of life. He said boys this is where all those pictures came from and where since his great grandfather hunted has always been the birds. Duckweed filled the pond circled by corn. We loaded our guns and slowly crep to a log. He looked over at both of us and said take um. We started shooting as they got up our dogs were retreiving birds. When all was done for the day my friend and i had limits field as did the old man. Ducks and Geese what a shoot! When we returned to his house we thanked him for the hunt and sat around talking about it with him for awhile. We asked if we could hunt the pond again. He said yes if we would take him... We both gratefully said yes and we would call him. He said he had no phone but to just knock on his door and he would get up and go... For years after we would knock on his door and he would always get up and make a pot of coffee and the best home cooked breakfast for us Fresh eggs from his hen house and bacon from a fresh slaughtered hog. The hunts were always good because of good company and the stories in the blind we made could never be replaced as Old man Smith would tell them and us two youngsters would listen. But nothing beat those home cooked breakfast he always made for us or the smiles seeing an ole hunter smiling at the site of a greenhead fresh in from Canada.

Alabama played 2 teams in the top 25? Not sure where you getyour Stats from but Bama played #1 LSU #6 Arkansas # 23 Penn State #25 Auburn OS played # 24 Texas # 12 Baylor # 8 Kansas State #14 Oklahoma http://www.bcsfootball.org/

Well they are at it again tonight. I checked my logs and never have I had it down them flying 4 straight days and nights in a row in the numbers they are this year. But man the sound of geese in the nights air is sure peaceful

Drop the "C" from BCS and you have what it really is!! Seriously think about this. --Rose Bowl presented by VIZIO, Jan. 2, Pasadena, Calif., 5 p.m.: #5 Oregon vs #10 Wisconsin --Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Jan. 2, Glendale, Ariz., 8:30 p.m.: # 3 Oklahoma State vs. #4 Stanford --Allstate Sugar Bowl, Jan. 3, New Orleans, La., 8:30 p.m.: # 13 Michigan vs. #11 Virginia Tech --Discover Orange Bowl, Jan. 4, Miami, Fla., 8:30 p.m.: # 15 Clemson vs. #23 West Virginia --Allstate BCS National Championship Game, Jan. 9, New Orleans, La., 8:30 p.m.: #2 Alabama vs.#1 Louisiana State 10 bowl games should go to the top 10 teams. There are 4 teams in the top 10 who do not get a BCS Bowl game. Kinda makes it stupid to play for a BCS bowl be in the top 10 and be denied a Game because of a stupid rule. Arkansas, Boise State, Kansas State and South Carolina all got screwed. Loose the BCS and go to a play-off. Computers and Voters should never decide anything and a Bowl Series that disallows any top 10 team in it when there are 5 games is BS which remove the C from BCS and you got what it is. Seriously #23 gets in! What a fricken joke. I love College football but hate the BCS. Just think what a mess we would have had, had USC been able to be elligable for a bowl. And even worse. When you look at the records we have Alabama 11- 1 Stanford 11 -1 Boise 11- 1 Houston 12 -1 Oklahoma 11-1 Tell me which of those teams really is #2 and should face the Undefeated LSU team? Polls and computers aside I see 5 teams with records on the field of wins that all have a good reason to be facing LSU. I am an SEC fan and question who really is the most worthy to go. I hate the BCS because it doesn’t give us a true Champion. Show me another major sport where there is no playoff to decide who is #1, I cant think of any off my head.

Same here all night and still flying this morning. Reports from the family in SE AR says they have been loading up on Papa's Farm for the last 3 days now. My wifes comment was GO BUY MORE SHELLS WE DONT HAVE ENOUGH I THINK. I love my wife lol, but she hates geese they kept her awake as a child and when she discovered how good they taste she has made it her mission to take her revenge out on them and the lady knows how to kill geese.

Thats the problem I have JD they come through to early for good mounters on the cans, ringers seem to be gone by mid December also. Thats whats so cool about setting the goals,it makes it a challenge, im looking for high quality birds for the shelf. I love to diver they decoy well and when they do decide to come its in your face at warp 8. So many people dont like to shoot them because they think they taste hoirrible and the fact we are in an area where greenhead is king and people are taught if it isnt a mallard its trash. Kinda like people give Snows a bad rap. If you know how to cook them they are all excelllant table fair. I remember a time pintail were called trash ducks and you were allowed 10 of them. Now they are a trophy in many areas and no one passes up on them. Funny how things change. Appreciate the input guys.

Guess im going to need to plan a trip over there, Looks like a potential spot to get a couple of the birds. I love setting goals for the season like this forces me to move around and try new areas and just experiance them. The Diver Goal is a fun one as we are not in the perfect flyway for them. Got my Golden Eye, Scaulp and Buffle last year and now to try for the rest. I passed up a lot of cans last year hoping for the one good looking bird but never came through but made it sweet because that goal just keeps carrying over.

Interesting, How were they colored and about when in the season? I have a large diver spread so getting them to come in isnt the issue thats covered lol. Never hunted lower taney where is a good place to launch that is safe to put in a bass boat? Thanks

Im on a quest for a full set of divers for the shelf. So im looking for a place people think or know will produce the following species. Canvasback, Ringneck and Redhead it needs to me in SWMO or NWAR area within 3 hours drive of Bentonville AR. This season so far has been less than optimal for getting those species so any options would be appreciated.

Prepared right I can line Speck, Snow, Ross and Honker out on a table and no one can tell the differance. Skin on though Specks are best of the goose but NOTHING beats Sandhills for the table.

I will have to pass this one on to some friends who's wives are not as understanding as mine.. Heck mine brings a book when we go to Taney and sits along side outlet 1 and reads and when she is done with that tells me she is heading to Bass pro then to the malls.

Whitey made me mad today so I shot the General and a couple ringers that had a lady dressed in teal clothing with them. All in all lots of movements seen and a lot of hair pulling at whitey but excellant work by the dog on a young mans first diver ever and that made the day awesome to me.

They are snows NO DOUBT the call is diffrent and Honkers are not white.. I sat under thousands of them today and none wanted to come into gunning range. The ducks on the other hand were very nice. Im supprised to see the numbers of ringers and teal still around. Honkers were in the area but locked on to a corn field pretty heavy. Some specks even seen and one that wont be making it to my grandfathers farm in sear

Congrats, I am very happy you got her finally I know how hard you have worked at it.

Snows moving all day here as well. saw some cotton tops on a pond today first ive seen this year.

Inshore: My biggest fear about over restricting tournament anglers is they would go to a Catch and Keep. Think about it, The law has size limits and bag limits and regulating how they handle fish or require them to prove non-kill could easily push them to the KEEP side. 20 boats with semi or pro anglers could do alot of damage when there is a tournament or 3 each weekend. There are a lot of clubs around here, I have seen 3 on Beaver at one time. Where i would support Voluntary efforts and better handling efforts it would have to be just that voluntary. Perhaps Marinas can get involved and get a LARGE tank to place the fish in for 48 hours after the tournament this could be a boom to them for spectators to see the BIG BASS as the recover. I dont know the answers but we do need to be very careful as to not make it where tournaments decide to go with the laws and just say we will keep all fish. Skeeter had some good points for sure.

I just ate dinner and that make me hungry.. looks awesome.