BilletHead

You ought to be hunting ducks. Talk about high priced meat🤗.

Well done Seth!, Yessiree nature has provided us with great healthy groceries, BilletHead

We use them at times, Ham and our friend who passed are the ones I blame . For me it is a fun addition to trips. When Pat and I fish for white bass the catching can get frantic and we use them for friendly competition we gig each other constantly during the blitz. Same when forum member @curtise and I get on the whites. The rubbing it in gets more serious then! BilletHead

Mallards there are and with the next few days we should be loaded with more. I have no excuse for not limiting out yesterday. You no the deal, one more pass. I should of called my shot the pass before one more pass , I know of limits coming out of the draw units for sure and I am sure there are limits coming out of the open units too. Here we are with birds and now the split hits tomorrow. BilletHead

Nice Ham! I can see that you already have one click on that one. I suppose you went into the pet department and did some micro fishing in the fish tanks. What size hook and what type of bait for a neon tetra ? That would be a life list fish for sure! BilletHead

Hey Anthony, Try to start going out. Green is showing up and overnight snows showed up. The marsh was full of them this morning as well as specks. BilletHead

Just a couple short hunts, Yesterday I went solo. Running late by the time I picked a spot it was shooting time. Threw out the decoys and sat for a couple hours and was gifted a wood duck. This is by far the nicest one I have ever shot. The blues were vivid and bright, This morning the Mrs. was off work. I asked do you want to go and there was a quick yes. Went back to same area this time we were running time wise perfect. Sky was beginning to brighten up behind Pat as she was waiting, This morning we scored on three ducks. Two blue wings and another wood duck. Big ducks were working some and there were some near misses. One of those deals when you hunt public ground. Get birds working and there was a party set up pretty close, close enough we could hear them hollering at the dog. They would shoot and our working birds would flare. Not complaining it is what it is. Left out around nineish and headed to the house. Grilled the woodies and had salad from the fall garden. Big weather change coming. We will see what it brings. To me the split sucks but again I cannot complain. Did not voice my opinion. With three archery deer between the Mrs. and I would not be deer hunting anyway. Much rather be duck hunting next week, The BilletHeads

Nice and yes very tasty! Way to go, BilletHead

Great report Ham! BilletHead

Most Excellent Jeff! BilletHead

Closest thing to a mountain stream in Ohio onethousandfivehundredandfortynine feet above sea level. , BilletHead

No, Our little pond in the river bottoms not far from one of the duck parks was nothing but a small mud hole. Seen lots of birds but no interest in us. Last three years we have done good there. BilletHead

I am getting infatuated with this pellet rifle(s). The accuracy is phenomenal. As you know the grays don't stand still very long. If I can find and follow with the scope and if it pauses very long it will be mine. I could kill more with the shotgun for sure. I am gaining penitence for sure. Yea man I have done them that way too. Other than the tail this is just case skinning like you would do for most fur. My first learning method was to make a cut across the back through the skin. Work fingers into cut and pull both ways. I may still be able to do a baby one that way but don't have the strength anymore for an old one. Yes and depending on the way you are going to cook it I have been known to leave the back legs, saddle and trimmed rib section on one piece. I really would like to leave one spread eagle and pin down like a suckling pig and put in the smoker. Afraid it would dry out and be like jerky . Pat ripped out the pot pie recipe from our Missouri ruralist magazine. Will try that one too, BilletHead

Yep

@Quillback and anyone else, We discussed how to clean a squirrel. So many different ways to do it and all work fine. I find this easy for me and really clean keeping hair off the meat. Sure you may get a hair or two but easy to wash off. I hang my squirrel by one foot. Use a real, real sharp knife. Spay blade. I have my grandpas buck pocket knife. As a family in the mid to early 70's we gave it to grandpa for Christmas. When he passed it went to my dad and when dad passed to me. This knife has been sharpened many times and has a lot of mileage, First of all get you a squirrel . I took a walk after the rain and this gray took a .25 to the cheek and out the opposite side of the head. A nice one to clean, Hang and cut through the skin around each leg and then from foot to foot through the vent. Try not to cut into the muscle just the skin, Cut off tail and I use fish skinning plyers to grab skin getting it started. Pull the skin down right to the head and front feet. Use plyers to pull skin back over the back feet some. This will let you cut off at the ankle joint later. At front legs pull way down to foot joints. You will also see a few strands of long hair. A good time to grab with your knife and pull off, Before gutting this is a good time to cut off front legs. Under each leg there is a gland. Again take knife and scrape this off then disconnect leg at joint, I take kitchen shears and split the pelvis bone then open the body cavity exposing the innards. You can either pull them out or leave them hanging. I yank them out. Now i take my knife and go to last set of ribs and make a slice behind them to the meat over ribs like this leaving the side meat on the saddle, I then take my kitchen shears and cut down ribs saving the back part of them. A bit of meat on the back and not much on the sides, Shear off at other end of ribs and drop head and skin off. Then cut off rib section from saddle section. Cut off side meat from saddle. Then I take out the little kernel gland from back leg on each side. It is small and I know I have eaten them before but when I found out they were in there I started cutting them out. They are little guys shorter than a grain of rice surrounded by a bit of fat, While still hanging I cut off one back leg then separate the other from the saddle. Into the house to do a quick rinse off. Back and front legs, top rib section, saddle and side meat. Good eats, Again not the only way but the way I do it, BilletHead

I posted that above also Gvin and warned Wrench of the same thing. It does work very well. BilletHead

There is often confusion between desiccant crystals and powder crystaline floatant. Desiccant crystals are silica gel, just like the crystals in electronic gear and shoes. Powders like Frogs Fanny and Loon Blue Ribbon are hydrophobic fumed silica. Both silica gel (the desiccant) and the fumed silica are made of silicon dioxide (silica). Hence the confusion. Same chemical in different forms. Combination products like Shimazaki Dry Shake and Loon Top Ride have both silica gel and floatant powder. They are called “Shake and Bake” products and will dry and waterproof the fly with a single treatment. After the powder floatant in the shake and back products is used up, the remaining drying crystals cna be renewed bey putting the crystals in a glass dish and microwaving the crystals on high for 15 seconds X 2. The water will escape as steam and the pooping noises are the crystals exploding. Put the crystals back in the original container and use them to dry flies. Above Copied and paste for you Ness Also I bought some stuff called feather dry that I used when treating wild turkey feathers I dyed for fletching hunting arrows. A fine powder worked great and I am sure it is like frogs fanny. I use that for filling my "shake and bake" type bottles of drying powder, BilletHead

Here you go Wrench. I can tell you when I first started I found this available on the market in a small bottle. http://www.drlogik.com/flyfloatants.html BiletHead PS Please don't light one up and torch yourself. Would hate to loose a good boat motor mechanic .

Just tie you up a couple three dozen buzzballs and keep changing them out. Presto your problem is solved. I too use the silicone jell but sparingly. Doesn't matter what you use a fly needs to be dried. BilletHead

Best cover scent available! BilletHead

Way to go John! BilletHead

An artificial chamois cut up in a bunch of little squares. Carry a few and keep swapping for drying. BilletHead

And i bet a few of you other tiers can too. Jump on the ATV and drive to closest pond or better yet test in Mrs. BilletHeads garden pond BilletHead

Some of my favorite things in this meal, I know some of you get tired of my wild game but hey we do what we like. We have hunted mallard breast, foraged hen of the woods mushroom, gardened lettuce, and cooking with Mrs. BilletHead. @Terrierman for turning me on to Don's chuck wagon for batter on shrooms, Thanks buddy! Sure glad we had duck left from last season because our hunt sucked big time yesterday in the middle zone opener . We both made mention we were glad we only fried a few hens. So good I could of ate them until I was foundered. Ate early enough it will be a hard decision if it will be another salad or a bowl of ice cream later! BilletHead

I envy you my young friend. Good going and keep at it as long as you are able. Enjoy your enthusiasm and reports. DJ, BilletHead