Bird Watcher

Spot Burner.

Personally, I just shift gears into a 'trout park' mentality. I usually fish on up close enough to them that we can each smell what the other had for lunch and keep fishing. Make small talk, start passing gas, cuss, throw fits if I miss a bite. Usually you can make yourself rude enough even the most oblivious will move on. You wanna fish close? Let's fish close then. I mean real close.

Ha, good deal. when he said he needed an expert on Taney and Table Rock waterfowl hunting, I thought, there's really only one. He needs to talk to Duane.

So, All this duck naming on the other thread has me thinking about another project. Duck Names. I've tried to gather what I could from the other thread and added some I've heard over the years. Fill it in if you have more. Mallards=Greenheads, Green, Straight Green, Mallets, Skyrats, Cornbuzzards, Green Beans Goldeneyes = Whistlers, Black and Whites Gadwall = Greys, Gads, Gaddies, Griswold, Beepers Teal = Rockets, Teal, Fatties, Buzzbombers Canada Geese = Heavies, Fatties, Blackheads, Chinstraps, Honks, Honkers, Blackfeet, Darks, 747 Snow geese = Snows, light geese, Sky carp, White Devils, Never, Whitefronts = Hee Haws, Barbellies, Tarbellies, Specks, Specklebellies Widgeon = Robbers, Cottontops, Baldpate Scaup = Bluebills, Blackjacks, Blackheads Redheads = Big Ducks, Reds Pintails = Pinnies, Sprig,Stillettos Woodduck = Woodies, Woodrow Hooded Merganser = Hoodies Common Merganser = Lawn Dart, Lizards, Dinosaurs Canvasback = Cans Ringnecks = Jets Shovelers = Smilin Mallards, Hollywoods, Smallards, Bootlips, Shoe horns, Grinners, Spoonbill Buffleheads = Butterballs What did I miss?

My Grandpa always called those "blackjacks"

I made a couple guys really upset one afternoon this year because I wouldn't call the shot. We probably had 3-4 thousand ducks in a Tornado over the top of us in corn field and I just couldn't make myself shoot the singles that kept dropping in. I was just so mesmerized watching the flock spin, dive, and wheel that I didn't want it to be over. Finally after 10-15 minutes, a large group of about 40 did us right and so it was all good. They forgave me, but if we never would have shot a single time at that flock I honestly wouldn't have cared.

I did encounter a soft gun case that was listed on the shelf for 11, but at the register it rang up for 15. Whatever. I'm made of money like that so 4 dollars didn't kill me and I was putting 600 dollars worth of gun in it. Other than that, I've never had a problem with them. I'm glad they are in the area of Joplin since Southtown didn't rebuild after the Tornado. Most of my specialty stuff still comes off the WWW, but Academy will suprise you with some of the stuff they have tucked away on their shelves at times.

I can't believe my name hasn't been thrown in this discussion.

So what happens if you shoot a limit of Gadwalls? Are those straight Grey? What about Wood ducks? Straight Rainbow?

Hey Duane, Did a guy named Jeff Churan ever contact you back in the summer? He was writing a book and looking for an expert on hunting Table Rock and Taneycomo. I forwarded him your information from your Trout runners website.

I guess I just don't get a lot of the self glamorization I see a lot of waterfowlers display these days. Let's face it. Ducks and geese are kind of stupid when you think about their relative intelligence compared to other species of game that we pursue. They have a brain the size of my thumbnail. Do they get conditioned to pressure? Absolutely, but they aren't smart. You aren't outsmarting much when you shoot a pile of them. Waterfowling is about everything else except the pile, right? Sounds, smells, conversation, comraderie, sights, even the extreme cold or snow often makes a memory. The pile is somewhat anti-climatic, no? So why is so much of the sport these days become about the "pile of straight green"?

I'm thinking you are on the right trail. It's somewhere in the commercialization of the industry and the resource or the Facebook-look at me generation of hunters that have come into the sport in the last 5-10 years.

Here's something I've been pondering lately. When did it become passe' to refer to the most common duck in North America as "mallards" and at what point did the term "straight green" or "green" become the en vogue way to indicate that species of duck? To a lesser extent, when did divers all become "black and whites"? I get the designation "greenheads", that's pretty self explanatory if referring to the male mallard, but I'm pretty sure the only "straight green" duck I've ever seen is one of these.

Nice Hunt Marty. Alright, well, I wasn't going to put any pile pics up until after season but I've recently started taking pictures of dead birds with all my favorite merchandise in them as well. I'm kinda hoping if I keep putting these on the internet maybe some of these companies will contact me about prostaffing for them. Maybe I should put it on their Facebook page?

Good job to all involved. Sounds like a great time.

You are talking about a completely different Tohatsu that isn't made anymore. the "mega". It was a 3 cylinder 25hp motor that could be re worked to a 40-50 hp motor by changing some parts because it used the same block. It is the famous "mega" of Bayou Meto lore. What they would have when finished is a motor that looks like a 25hp, so it's legal in the areas with HP restrictions, but when they could actually get them started and keep them running, would have 40-50hp pushing a 15-16' john boat. They really just got out of hand with that stuff down there. I have heard good and bad things about the new Tohatsus. The Boat Dealer here in town is a big fan and swears by them.

I've seen 3 pictures of Bighead. Have not seen a picture or heard a report of Silvers.

Went and surveyed the Tundra myself this afternoon. Too bad I'm not a snow goose hunter. That looks like it would be on fire. Very few Canadas, but a few. Ducks, I saw a few. I can' believe how many have left since Saturday evening. There's just stragglers left.

Chief, I had a mohawk that started to get like that underneath my seat. I just shaved the warped jagged pieces down smooth and put a fiberglass patch on it. I usually had to redo it once a year, or once every two years, but it was still a lot cheaper than buying a new one.

About half of these fish were caught in skinny water and the other half were caught in some of the biggest water around. Really looking forward to getting back up to Harry's Lake this summer and catching some more. It's the Hybrid shangri-la

This is what I'm talking about...what do you mean "survive this storm"? I'm saying, live it. Gosh dang feller, are we all so city-fied that we don't know how to be in the woods unless it's 75 degrees daytime and 55 degrees overnight, partly sunny? Thanks Gavin for letting everyone know that it's not just a matter of survival, eek! There's actually recreation taking place. Believe it or not. I'm walking off to bed shaking my head.

I'll put them back on later. I forgot that there were faces in some of them. I need to doctor them up.

Until someone has a traumatic injury, this isn't a critical situation. This is just a duck hunting trip at this point. We used to float 10 miles a day shooting ducks off the creek every time it was like this. Float to the truck, go home.

Pretty dog.

Pretty much what Chief said, but I have caught them before North of Galena on Spring River so I guess anything is possible. Most of them come up from the lake and are blocked at Baxter unless we are completely flooded out, then I could see maybe catching some at Riverton. I've never seen water level with the top of the dam at Riverton though.