BilletHead

OK,ok I busting a gut here. I cant stand it. You guys and your big geese. I had to con Birdwatcher into doing this. It wasn't hard but I am the instigator in this. He is a accessory to the crime though. We weighed the four bird stringer,

It was going to be pretty warm last night and while discussing maybe going Monday morning with Mrs. BilletHead yesterday and kind of whining not wanting to go by myself she suggested I call Birdwatcher and see if he wanted to go. I did and told him of the place where the Mrs. and I had hunted Saturday Afternoon. I thought it would be a whack and stack hunt for geese with maybe a bonus duck or two. I was hoping he had MLK off but nope he would have to burn another day of vacation. No problem and a plan was made. We met at the pond, actually a place he has had permission to hunt for years that I have kind of wormed in the last couple of years. We loaded up the trailer and looked for a place to land for the morning, us and the birds. Place was half frozen with a skim of ice. We changed sides to a thawed portion and got set up. Sun made an appearance which felt nice. Soon a lone mallard drake started circling getting lower and lower when Chris said you shoot him, he got low enough but did not finish. Chris said you should of shot him,, Yes I should of took the shot but got a bit gun shy and failed to pull the trigger. Seen a few geese in the distance but going to other places. Then another pair of mallards worked with BirdWatchers excellent calling and dumped on my side. Two shots and a pair down. A good start. More geese but none wanting our spread, the ones that did come over going to one place. Crap I thought this isn't good. Soon we had the layout doors wide open as we shot the breeze about life, hunting and fishing. A good visit. Should of visited with the doors closed as we missed seeing ducks in time and had chances to work ducks but goofed up. We then closed the blind doors again. More geese up from a large roost and down again where all birds had went all morning. We were discussing the big geese that had been shot this year and what might be the reasons that might be causing there sizes. Genetics, food a freak or a combo of all? All of the sudden I heard a roar of cupped wings on Birdwatchers side and this huge mallard drake with a hen in tow dumped in, two shots and two more mallards. The drake hit with a bid splash, it looked like a dead goose in the water. We hunted and shot the bull until noon. The birds had floated with the ice when the wind picked up to the South end of the pond. Not to accessible from the bank so as we picked up I launched the kayak to get the birds. Picked them up and when reaching out for the rather large mallard I could not believe its size. I hollered to him about how big it was. Got back to him and he exclaimed that is one big bird! We headed to the house for a couple of pictures, BilletHead

Your welcome spoondog.

Thanks fellows, Spoondog you said you still shoot film? Process your own? Have you any need for a cannon AE1 program with I think three different lenses? I have been trying to give it away for some time. Thanks Duane for the bike info, guess the writing on the back is pretty accurate. Here is a couple with bikes. Give me your feed back bud. My dad on one of his bikes, his mom another grandma for me on his side. I guess I was lucky to have two grandmas on his side. They moved to California and that is where he got into bikes. Both of these were his. He told me if it went over at a stop sign he would have to get help to get it back up. Then he moved back to Missouri and met my Mom while they both worked at the Snow White drive in in St Joseph. Right after they got married he contracted polio and his biking days were gone. BilletHead

Thanks Njardar, Going to post a few more. One of Grandma and great grandma with there catch. Check out the wood boats, Another one of one of their speed boats Grandma told me there was a bunch of guys grandpa included that built boas for speed and put outboards on them. Every week that would meet to race them and drink beer. No one wore lifejackets. Grandma said she got thrown overboard and could not swim. She said she sank to the bottom of the lake and crawled out on her hands and knees She was known to drink with the best of them also. Wish I could of witnessed the real story, Grandpa with a Minnesota deer in 73 (I have the horns from it) Grandma with her sunflowers, BilletHead

Hum Scott sounds like it may be good. We had good old tenderized chicken fried goose today with mashed taters and goose gravy with sweet corn we put up this last summer. Man my belly is so happy right now. Enough left for a tenderloin type sandwich with miracle whip and lettuce for lunch tomorrow. I really like eating from natures pantry in the outdoors. Doesn't hurt Mrs. BilletHead can cook anything we grab from that Pantry, BilletHead

Me too John, I would need a 20 to 30 percent handicap to add to the fatties weight that or I need a pet to feed out. Feed lot goose, yea that is what I need, BilletHead

One thing I know for sure is I get my outdoor activities honestly, First one dated 1955, the rest Grandparents. A couple with notes on the back "Canada" BilletHead

Goof Grief boys! What are you feeding them down South? Steroids? Think this could be from genetically modified crops? I want a fatty. BilletHead

Some of these produced some tears. First one I was told were my great grand parents. Grandpa said his father had taken a Indian wife (Chippewa). He lived with them for a time until he found out why they had so many dogs. Food for lean times. Now to grandpa and grandma BilletHead. They did some travels, This was grandpas bike. It had written on the back 1940's Someone who knows about motor bikes could confirm the date or not? Whatever you do people is date your old photos of you can. We ran onto so many with out dates and names. I have been guilty of this. BilletHead

Looks like it worked, Those that have posted some retro photos got me digging into our photo archives. Thanks for the memories ! My question is how retro do you want to go? I got some good ones to share, BilletHead

Test of a retro photo. Man I am computer confused. Scanned one of grandpa and grandma BilletHead. Trying to resize on paint. A 1959 photo test BilletHead

The Mrs. and I had a fun hunt this afternoon and Evening. Hunted over water in the roaring wind. Lots of birds in the air, mostly snows working the field right behind us. Some came pretty close heading into the field but no shots but we did decoy some mallards and canadas. Four mallards and they just happened to be all green. Three geese. Pat wished we had weighed her big goose on top of the pile. She said it must of weighed 18 lbs. She wants to get one bigger than Fins and feathers A couple of pictures to share with you all, BilletHead

Ha, John. I be there was a lot of laughing going on with you all. I know it made me laugh. Thanks, BilletHead

Good grief that is a big goose. What kind of beans? Brown, pinto, green, kidney, butter, black eyed peas? Maybe soy? Nice one Scott. BilletHead

Good question Chris, Boy oh boy this could really open a can of worms. First of all I learn from watching, asking questions and taught myself through hard knocks. Trial and error. mostly we only see reports and photos when we all have success. Sometimes not like John P. He can find success in just a photos of his dog. Kudos friend I love it. Do I post and brag some? You bet to share and sometimes I give a blow by blow account so maybe it can help others. Not just a look what I did to show off. Maybe I should post of my failures on what not to do? You would all soon get tired of that! I think the trend has gone to a competition to see who is the best. I have learned a bunch from you all. On yesterdays hunt especially from one and what he told me about weather effects on bird groups. It worked well. Do I have to kill "All Green"? I am a meat eater and if it is a legal hen it may go into the pot if things are slow. Do any of you sex a goose before you shoot it? A teal in early season when they are all in plain brown wrappers? No you don't. A little friendly competition is healthy but the attitude of I am the best or I'm better than you just plain sucks In my book. What crap is out there now is hurting young folks because they see it as the "norm" We should all go about thing like when we got that first deer, duck, rabbit, squirrel etc. and be happy. Fame in my book is not what you do it is how you do it and why you did it. BilletHead

Excellent hunt choices. The bare bottom wipes work well for removing that stubborn waterfowl blood from our hands. My brand of pickled eggs to munch on when during down time when the birds aren't flying. BilletHead

Oh Chief there are so many birds around, just got to find them. Feast or famine. I would imagine there are tens of thousands between where you are and I am. Scott this is 12 miles from where we talked about. BilletHead

Things are thawing out spreading the birds around and giving more opportunities to hunt. I made my rounds and found two good places. One is a large irrigation lake packed with mallards and geese. Not sure if they were roosting there or not. Other place a very small pond/drain for drainage tile from a large field surrounded by corn stubble and winter wheat where I had witnessed ducks and geese dumping in yesterday. First place would take a bunch of decoys and work, second place just what I could haul on the four wheeler atv. First of all it would be a solo hunt without Mrs. BilletHead my workhorse partner. So an easy decision plan "B". I took in six duck and three goose floaters. A pulsator duck butt and my layout. Got set up. Pretty still winds at daylight changing to West and then North West soon afterword. No ducks early but two geese not even circling pitched in. I took one out and missed the other, no excuse just a flat out miss. Then ducks and geese flying in the distance going down in fields. Lots of geese going down but only one big group of ducks.. Had one group of two mallards with gadwall work up high but no drop in. Then a group of mallards in the distance going by and I called and they turned. But one drake from who knows where dumps in and I took him, replaced the one shell to see more coming, no calling needed and in they come. Three more shots and three more down. Lost one in deep fescue. I hate that. Got up five times and looked. Then a single goose came in sailing without a honk. Down he went. A bit later a pair committed. Picked one out and dumped him. His or her mate circled for forty five minutes very noisy. I felt a little bad for it. This was in your face shooting. It took ten shells. The extra shots one for a cripple and the two misses and the lost bird. Photos, First a couple of the set up, you can see my layout with birds on it in the background. You would of never pick it out without the birds, My birds, This photo is for the Kyle boys. Do you guys have barrel stickers on your guns? Oh yea three more geese from yesterday too, I don't know about you all but I am about worn to a frazzle. Might have to go more if Mrs. BilletHead insists The BilletHead

Outstanding John! Similar to what Ducky said it looks like a fine oil painting to me, BilletHead

The more I read this the more I enjoy it. I had to teach myself and had no one to show me the ropes. Heck I am still learning and will be until the day I die. Kudos to all involved in the hunt. That poor kid will never be the same. Awsome and thanks for posting, BilletHead

Oh no I can see it raining green BilletHead

Well you got out and got one. Good for you Duane. I did a little drive and all I seen was some geese on city water. Maybe this rain coming will melt some ice and spread what we have left around. It is about as bleak as I have seen it around here right now. Glad we did what we did when we could. Should of known we were in for something when we had bookoos mallards early over three weeks before South zone even opened. Not complaining at all. It is what it is and we got to field hunt within a stones throw of the house. Doesn't get any better than that, BilletHead

Thanks Chris. Nice fish. Boy your pretty tricky loosing your head and blending into the background. I need to be more Tec savvy, BilletHead

Oh my this is nice to see. Thanks fellows for posting and Mitch for starting this thread. Makes me thirst for the fishing to start again. For some of you it didn't stop but we take a break here to hunt some. Here are a coupe of fish I am truly happy with. Fly rod Hybrids. The Mrs. BilletHead and her first on the fly. Caught on a BilletHead made popper. One I landed on a half and half Clouser. Come on Birdwatcher I know you smashed them on the lake too. Post up Brother, Billethead