BilletHead

Well after a long wait it has made it back from the taxidermist. Left Colorado Tuesday and here this afternoon. Beautiful mount. My first mounted duck and it was a can to boot. Fins and Feathers suggested I go with Todd Huffman, good call and thanks Scott for place to sent it to. Took the bird on the last day of the South zone last season. This has me fired up for the opener on Thanksgiving morning south zone opener. So far I have some gadwall hanging around and hope they will stay for a while. Grey ducks eat just fine, Seared just so. Nice and rare. BilletHead

I and Mrs. BilletHead stopped by the new shop today. Like you all have said it is a nice place. We have bought stuff there from the last two owners and will deal here when we need things. We all need a shop like this. Support and use this place. BilletHead

Nice Moody, beautiful bird for sure. I am close to the midde zone and did make a drive up there to see if there were any hunters around four rivers. Just around unit # 4. Just a bit of water up there in pools as the marsh is not flooded. Seen about twenty rigs parked in lots. They all had to hike in a ways to find a place to hunt. Scouted a few ponds and small lakes in my zone. A few ducks around. smaller places had gadwall and bigger waters had scalp. i will be ready for the 22nd. BilletHead

I have known of this sport for some time now but had no want to try. After this topic got started here a want to kind of started. I asked the Mrs. if she would like to try, a quick yes was the answer. I then joined http://www.geocaching.com/ " The offical site". Then linked my Delorme PN-60 to the laptop. Put in my zipcode and a list popped up. Picked a few. We did find 4 out of 5 first try last weekend one morning. Kind of neat. the one we did not find had been muggled. Sent a message to the owner, we had found where the ammo box had been in the grass. He said he would get it back out there. Had more loaded from last week but did more this morning. We hit the road, Found 9 out of 10. Another one I am sure was missing. The county brush cutter has been busy this summer and I think that one got took out by that machinery. Will try to find out. Pretty cool going to places close to home I have never been. 2 of todays were micro. Teeny-tiny little ones as big around as my pinky finger and about half it's length. Might not of found them except they were attached to a tiny wire that looked out of place. We have been bit by the bug and will be doing more of it. BilletHead

Chris, 10-6 to 10-14 Saved you again my friend Really I was getting excited to think there might of been another day or two until I looked it up, BilletHead

Good going and welcome back Duane. Mrs. BilletHead and I went out three times and I did a Solo once. We ended up with seven for the early season. Lots of birds around but tougher to work this year as opposed to last early season. We did really good for early teal though. How was hunting in the land of the midnite sun? Looking forward to your reports, maybe a visit or a hunt, BilletHead

Thanks rps, On this nice cool damp day we had a big bowl of hen soup. Tasty! Then this evening I grilled some. Yum-o. We have happy fungus filled bellies. BilletHead

Good finds Gavin.. I also found two really small goats beards. They are so close to the ground they may get into the dirt and not be any good. We have cooked and pickled some of the hens. First time to pickle any. Will give a report in a week or so. Did three batches of soup. And five hen casseroles. The soup and casserole freeze well for later pigging out. This evening I think I will grill some too. What will be left Will go into the dehydrator.. BilletHead

While dumping the waste trimmings from yesterdays hens on a possable tree for future a mushroom patch I came across another young hen, I will keep a close eye on this one daily for growth progress. I may just OD on hens this year, Billethead

Red oaks are where we generally found ours but like Gavin said all oaks work. Yes I have found some where the mower has nicked a tree or two in the yard! Had to be when the wife was mowing Billethead

Scott, glad you are still mending well! Duane, have a good trip home, BilletHead

Look under older mature oaks, closer to dying to dead. A couple of these came from an oak you could not reach around. BilletHead

I had checked a couple of my spots last week, nothing. Checked today and they were up. Out of three spots checked two produced. Picked these three hen of the woods mushrooms. There are still two small ones started that will make more big ones in a few days. Had some sauteed with dinner. There will be hen of the woods casserole and hearty hen soup in the upcoming days. The fungus is among us so get out and look, BilletHead

Maybe a general wild food forage forum. We found some hens a bit ago. BilletHead

Got to watch out for my friends. Wouldn't want to hang out with a criminal. Good to talk to you Saturday morrning and I will let you know what I find looking around next week, Billethead

Yes when that goose was found it had tears running down its flocked head. I told that goose it would find its owner again. Ah yes you shoud of seen that big foot smile when it seen its daddy Chris the Bird Watcher. Moody, welcome to the Circus. BilletHead

Heaven for sure. I love Fall, Swatted skeeters at daylight yesterday. This morning drove through a patch of 36 degree temps. When retreiving one of the wifes birds it had landed in a big patch of frost in the field. We do wish we had a cup of Scott's coffee Billethead

Did it again this morning on the last day of early teal.. Same plan as yesterday, same place. Less birds flying but it worked out fine. We had other hunters in our area and had to paddle out and through their decoys on the way to the truck. Seriously right through them. Only one channel flooded. Kinda cool paddling through a teal decoy slalom kayak course. I gave myself a 9.9 because of poor execution. Today two of the eight were greenwings and the balance bluewings. BilletHead

One at Four Rivers conservation area. A young one, I like seeing them especially when you can get this close. Took the photo during the tropical depression from hurricane Isaac, BilletHead

Yes Scott it has been a good season so far. Like you brought up in the other post it is a strange start of season also. Three weeks ago we has pintails and shovelers here. Still really dry as far as pond water but now the soil is pretty wet. Every rain has been slow and steady. We need a fast downpour to fill things. BilletHead

Been teal hunting off and on finding birds here and there. Finally got word on a bunch of birds and one of the duck parks. Did some recon and found where they were at. Had a good hunt solo yesterday. I wanted to get away from the crowd so the native kayak got broke out. I cannot carry a load so the ride did the hauling to the hot spot. Yesterdays birds So much fun I got Mrs. BilletHead out of bed this morning at 4 AM and off we went. The Mrs. walked in and I paddled again with the gear. She carried the GPS and it was a mile to the hot spot. Got set up and had a hey day! Lots of birds zooming around. We did the deed and back to the truck we went. Paddling away A couple of the load Going again in the morning if all goes well but to do that we needed to eat some. We filleted the breast meat and the wife did the bacon wrap. I put them in the smoker with alder wood for about and hour and a half, pulled them out and finished them on the grill until the bacon was a bit crispy. We then proceeded to eat with sides of green beans and mack and cheese. BilletHead

I have a Native 12 ' Ultimate. Very stable. I have stood up in it but it is a bit wobbly. When I fish I like to stand up so my Diablo Adios is the choice. The Native is a faster paddle so I used it this morning for transportation while teal hunting to move my decreped carcass, guns and decoys a mile to the hot spot. Mrs. BilletHead walked to the spot.

Mr. and Mrs. BilletHead did not go in the rain yesterday morning but we did get nine dove in the afternoon. This morning five teal met there maker and will end up in out bellies.

Good job young man, BilletHead

Nice report, My, how we wish we were still out there fishing. You got to love those aggressive cutt's. Thanks Nortrad, Mr. and Mrs. BilletHead