BilletHead

Icelandic Venison with blueberry sauce. This one is a keeper! Had potatoes oven roasted in Goose fat as the side, BilletHead

The last three hunts and we are done with early teal, Took Wednesday off. I got too hot on Tuesdays hunt I think. Back to the X on Thursday for a limit. Then Friday morning there was a group on the X and I had to paddle in a bit further to another place. I was slightly off X number two but I finished up by eight fifteen. I was bushed after these two hunts but knew I needed to ask the Mrs. if she wanted to go Saturday (today). Heck yes she said . I told her it will be the weekend crowd and we would need to be there early and go back a long ways to get away from everyone. One would paddle and the other would walk the levee gravel road back. No problem she said I am game and need the exercise. We got to the gate an hour and a hale before LST and there was already three rigs there. I knew it was the party that got the X the day before but not to worry I had found a better newer super X. We loaded the kayak and I paddled in and the Mrs. Walked in in her crocks as I had her hip boots with me. At the place we would meet she put on her hip boots and we had planned on pushing the kayak from one person to the other across the deep channel for a shuttle across. I askes if she thought she could get in with me to go across. She did, it was a bit scary and tippy but we managed to cross! In the dark I was not too sure as we pulled the kayak through the flooded grasses if we were even close to the new X. int e distance we could see more head lights coming in. We set up and waited. There was one head lamp heading back our way. I flashed our light his way with him not even slowing down. Keep in mind we were a mile approx back from the parking area. This guy sets up a hundred yards away next to the deep channel. Turns out it did not matter but I was a bit burned with all this great large marsh this was where he landed. So now the long wait until sunrise. Tick tick tick. All this time hundreds of birds coming in and out. Buzzing our heads. Unnerving to say the least. This was the Mrs. first time having this many birds around. LST arrived and it was game on. WE WERE ON THE BIG X. LST arrived at 7:06 and out last bird hit the water at 7:40. We picked out shots and actually took our time too. We picked up and headed out the way we came, right by the close guy. Just before we got to him he shot his last bird. I asked him did you see out light out there? Yes I thought you were one of my friends until I heard two people shooting. By then it was too late to relocate. Again it really did not matter. He did not have a dog and I asked him how did you cross the channel? Well I did but it went way over my waders . He had carried in a bag of decoys, gun and a telescoping retrieving pole. Then had to walk out in full waders. The Mrs. Visited with him as I paddled out. She and I were the farthest ones in and the first ones to limit and leave. Fun morning and I leave you all with this happy face, There were seven rigs at the parking area when we got back. Passed groups on the way out. One bunch on the original now I call it the mini X had seven mojos running. Had grilled teal this afternoon, BilletHead

Way to go Russ buddy! Pat says she is jealous . Me too, BilletHead

Cool guys HA! it wasn't so cool yesterday morning. Three years ago the Mrs. and I was hunting the same spot. Cool that morning. We dropped a teal across the channel. I crossed with waders to find the teal had crashed in a patch of frost! Wish it was like that now. Took the day off today. I think I got too hot yesterday so Johnsfolly your cool theory just got burnt up in the furnace . BilletHead

Neat Johnsfolly, We like them but just can eat so much before growing tired of the taste. Let me know how the planting goes. I planted some we bought from the conservation department. There are eight still growing. Been in the ground five years. Damp spot in the yard like they favor in the wild. Very slow growing. The tallest maybe three feet. BilletHead

Ruined a good thing? How does food enter your body Snagged? . He got what he asked for! BilletHead has food go in one end and out the other.

Yes oysters! Good to go on eating but the poison ivy I don't know, BilletHead

I want to be there to throw it out for you and then watch, BilletHead

A couple more hunts. One word Mosquitoville. That and the heat made it miserable. That sums up teal season though. Monday paddled in a place that we (I) hunted last year. Yes more public duck park. Had it to myself yesterday and today. It is one of the type of places where you could loose cripples easy. Yesterday one bird but I found the fabled "X" for today's hunt. First picture is the hide. A levy with high brush, weeds mostly ragweed. From my hide I could not see the marsh on the other side. Birds out the wazoo. The Set up. There is only eight yards of open water between the levy and the flooded grass which is seed heavy. It was already 73 when I set up and in the mid eighties when I got back to the truck at nine. First two birds downed as singles and they crashed on the levy. CRAP I thought but found them. My third bird did drop in the open water but alive and swimming hard away. Had to give a second shot. Whew half way done. Now to the finale. To John P. When does one equal three ? Can you see it coming? A rather large group came in , I shot and three fell into the thick grass across the open water. I walked to the weed that shook when they hit. Two dead and one trying to escape. I don't chase birds, I can't but I took it's head off real quickly before it got too far! I could give a pretty good story and it was but I am too tired to type any more. Skeeters were going right through my deep woods off 45% deet. Thank goodness for the thermacell it saved my life. Wouldn't of had enough blood left to paddle back to the truck. Got to be tough when your stupid! BilletHead

Can I tie one of these? I think I could incorporate some deer hair?

For Joe D., Eggs are good and we are enjoying them. Note Mr. BilletHead is the one with the gray whiskers. Mrs. BilletHead said her photo is OK. We had to do a booger check and a black whisker check before I could post. BilletHead

So mine today were flying fajitas. It is still all well. Yours just happened to be grounded and pen fed . Were your peppers from your garden? Ours was. Now the onions were not though. . They were hold over vidalias . BilletHead

Man you got to get it right John, It is #22 metal flake purple. Sheesh ! Should been a shade of teal this week ya think ? BilletHead

Well just two this morning, One group in and two down. Another bunch flew over and did not even give us a glance. We are going to eat more teal today! Are you all ready? Today it will be teal fajitas. The ones that had been shot up or thin skinned with no fat were sliced up in strips. Put KC steak seasoning and some cumin seeds into the coffee grinder and spun it all into a fine grind. Teal and seasoning into a bowl. Mixed well then into a bag for overnight. Again fire up the grill and when coals turn white on goes some of the last of the peach wood I had left. A little olive oil into the meat and into the holy wok, Work the meat until the pink on the outside is gone but still pink on the inside. Meat out and onions, cubanell and plabano peppers into the wok. Work and stir the veggies until hot but still crunchy. Add teal meat back work some more until you can't handle waiting to eat. Does not take long I will tell you, Some cheese into warm tortillas, then the goods from the holy wok. Yes there as a margarita involved too, Man I like eating what we can harvest. The BilletHeads are sprouting feathers again this season. 31 Teal have fell so far and we have just two now in possession . Not sure if much more will be taken in the remainder of the early season. Reports from my sources say not much flying in the duck parks this morning, BilletHead

Well my spiky nut husks are starting to crack open revealing the chestnuts that have been growing inside all summer! Man I feel like a new dad with my first child being born. If some critter doesn't get them before me I will have many offspring . Got to make contact with my buddy who provided my seeds to start these trees for his opinion. Should I snip off all of these and bring them in before the nuts fall out? BilletHeaad

Got the Mrs. out this morning, From the last three days I had my possession limit so she was the shooter today. No way for us to hunt where I have been going so we picked a pond and rolled the dice. Two groups showed up. Six in the first and she dropped two and then four more and two of them down. I walked and the Mrs. Paddled the gear in and out, Got to do some teal eating. Our favorite way is to pluck the breast and singe the fine feathers with a propane torch, Fillet off the breast sides keeping the precious skin. You can see we keep the skin beyond and forward of the breast too. Try this you will thank me later, For heavens sake people don't soak your duck in water, you wouldn't soak a pork chop or steak would you? Fish soaking is another pet peeve with us too. Just clean out the blood under some running water. Pat dry. Vacuum seal is the best way to freeze but we will be eating ours fresh. Filling the grill basket and some sea salt on both sides of the breast. A nice charcoal fire and the flames are from some peach wood chunks with duck fat dripping off the searing breasts, Crisp up the skin and if too much flare up throw the lid on. Do the same to the other side, Finished and resting, Plated up and sliced. Remember just a sear. You want it red/pink and juicy, Tomorrow it will be teal fajitas. Again on the charcoal grill. Now if there is still any around maybe there will be a bit more killing? Another note in the unit and pool I had been in the past three days there was twenty parties hunting. My friend and the boys that limited out yesterday only took five before giving it up. BilletHead

Good job Lmt out, 48 your just a kid . BilletHead

Nice fish Russ Buddy! The BilletHead's

I'm with you chief on the soft shell crab sammich. I think I could be all over that. Happy birthday RPS, BilletHead

Ollie seems like a good problem to have, Chief is going to take Mrs. BilletHead and I sometime when we can make it work. We will be throwing flys though. Don't know if he can put up with two of us doing that . BilletHead

Couldn't resist and it wasn't raining when I got started, Ok I said I wasn't going if it was raining this morning. Woke up a couple times last night to see flashes of lightning out the window. Alarm was set for four AM. Three AM arrived and I was fully awake. Flipped on the computer to see nothing in the area. Mrs. BilletHead got up and made me a pot of coffee bless her heart I love that gal even if she doesn't get to go and retrieve. See she has a job and must go to work four days a week. Decision was made and I was flying/paddling solo today. I knew where I wanted to go. There was two places where the Cajun and I seen birds working other than where we had hunted yesterday. I knew he had his Son and four of his son's friends going today. He picked a spot and I made the choice of the other. It was a long paddle to my place, over a half mile I would guess. So I loaded the kayak and my gear and hit the road. To the North was lightning, big lightning but between the clouds I seen stars and the moon off and on. Public ground again and I knew I should gt there early. Filled out my daily report card and slid one part into the drop box, other half into my pants pocket. Soon all the stars disappeared. Checked the radar on the phone, still good to go everything tracking to the North East. Kayak loaded another party showed up. They were launching a rather large sea ark with big outboard. Humm I thought? As I paddled by in my tiny rig I gave him the heads up where I would be. I knew he would not be able to go where I was going but He would be running through some grass on his way and I did not want to be run over . I do not have a light on my rig but do use my headlamp while paddling in the dark. As I went out I seen more rigs coming down the road including the Cajun. Got turned around once going out but got back on track. My destination was a field that had a disc run over it. River being out there was sheet water on this field. I took a deep channel to it and then through a short brush row into the field. I knew there would be some dragging of the kayak. I can't carry a load but can drag some. Well I had to stop several times to take a break. Not from loosing my breath but just hurting in the lumbar region. Humid and I was wringing wet from sweat. At my set up I took my time as I had 45 minuted to LST. I could hear other boats with mud motors moving about. Before LST I had close to a hundred birds come in and land all over my mud sheet water field. More buzzing over going to other places. Then thunder and lightning closer to the North and some to the West. Now what the heck am I going to do over here if it hits. I get back onto the phone radar. Still not showing anything? Well I know for sure it is doing something not too far away. Then the phone rings and it is my bride checking on me. TV shows small cells West and North. Well I am already wet from sweat I guess I will sit it out. If it hits as fast as it was moving I would not make it out anyway. I had a rain jacket and could put it on so as to not fill my waders. Light enough now to see a squall line in the distance getting closer. I did hear one boat fire up and roar back to the launch to beat the impending weather. That is a no no as it is no wake idle speed only there unless you have a ten Hp or under. This was no small craft I herd. When it hit a sprinkle or two but the cells split and one went south of me and the other tracked north and East. I was out of the woods for now. In the distance I heard first shots fired. Looked at the phone, yep good to go and just then I had twenty of so come from behind over me and before I could react they were gone and landed out of range. A group circled and swung by one shot I took one down. The little field I was in erupted in flushing birds. I knew there was a bunch out there but not that many. I had pretty constant groups swing by and I shot good. I would only shoot at one bird. Drop him and go right to the place he crashed to pick him up. I hate to loose a bird. If I take a life I am going to utilize it. No dog can make it hard. Enough flying I am not going to be greedy. I shot four for four, the fifth bird I hit but had to follow up with two more to put him down for good. Everyone was shooting and I could see giant flocks in the distance. I could tell when the Cajun group fired. That group of six did some shooting for sure. I knew they were having some fun. My last bird came out of a group of twenty incoming tight I waited until one peeled off and I let him have it. DONE by 7:45. . I was the first shooter in and the first rig out. Seen more greenwings today and two of my birds were that variety. It sprinkled as I picked up. Loaded everything up and paddled my way back to the truck. As I hit more open water I could see mojo spinners all over. Paddled by two parties. I was very glad to see the truck when I got there. Getting black in the West, really black. Rained again as I loaded up. Four rigs with trailers and two other trucks besides mine. I drove to the lot where the Cajun was parked. Scanned the distance until I could see them standing in the grass and brush. They too were hunting another sheet water field. It was raining pretty hard then. He called my phone and we compared notes. They lacked seven birds. I could hear on the phone laughing, hooting and hollering. Seems as one of the boys chairs had collapsed and he ended up in the mud. Then Cajun said I got to go as I seen a group swing in on them. Shots fired and I counted five crash down. I could see they were working two dogs today. Quit raining I got out into the bed of the truck to watch pointing directions and heard whistles for guidance. Some day I may have a working dog I thought to myself. Rain again and back into the truck I got. Seen four more birds go over them with two going down. They picked up and idled back to the ramp. Laughing all the way. See the Cajun is my age and the boys were all his sons age. The Cajun's son is getting married soon and this hunt was his bachelor party. The group had six stringers with six birds each, add my six and that is 42 that was taken this morning. Not sure if the others out there had any luck but there was other shooting going on. There will be some grilling going on here in BilletHeadville this weekend. My six, The BilletHead beat himself up pretty bad this morning and right now cannot stand up very straight. As one of my good friends tells me "You got to be tough when you are stupid" I am not very tough for sure but a bit dumb at times. Not sure If I would paddle that far again, well maybe? I will pay for this in the next few days. The Mrs will not be too happy if I don't try to get her out tomorrow. If so it will be a pond hunt close to home.

Chief Buddy, I filleted the sides off the dove and put the breast pieces in a grill basket. Then of course it went on a charcoal grill with some peach wood chunks. A flip now and again until done. Brought in and the Mrs. Diced it up. BilletHead

My Blackfoot experience was in Montana but Western trout are western trout about everywhere out there and act the same. HK I am looking forward to your report! BilletHead

And again today. Actually seen quite a few big ducks. Pintail,shovler and mallards. No joke. If it is raining in the morning I will not be going but bet the Cajun will. BilletHead

Dove enchiladas , BilletHead