BilletHead

Monday through this morning, The BilletHead went with his Cajun friend. Hit the duck park. We have big water with the low lying areas around the river flooded. Not real sure if birds are spread out or we lost a bunch but there was not much going on. Three of us took out six. Then yesterday The Mrs. and I went again with the Cajun. More exploring than anything. Did see a few birds here and there but did not even set up. Fun boat ride none the less. In the Afternoon the Mrs. and I scouted one place and the Cajun another. He called about a place he had never hunted but I had before in low water. It isn't low now he said lets give it a try in the AM. Meeting him at the ramp we had lightning, thunder and a hard rain. We visited until it stopped then launched the boat. Puttered out there flushing birds out of the flooded mixed grasses. Picked a spot and got set up way after LST. Birds buzzed us as we were doing that set up. Hid the boat and hunkered down on either side of a button brush bush. I would say our first shot was close to seven thirty and the last just after eight. It was good, real good. All I had today was the phone camera. So not a good photo but there are a dozen here. One green wing and the rest bluewings. Good day and good company! Public ground, BilletHead

Good luck Marcus buddy! Johnsfolly, My buddy up your way says yes hard antler now. Try scoutlook. I think you will be pleased with it. I don't have it on my phone but do on my PC.

The Billethead for once is having a hard tie finding words, Glad you came out of this as well as you did, Could of been an eye instead of the nose. Things can happen in an instant with out warning. I am going to tell you what I tell my grandson when he gets cut. "Chicks Dig Scars" . I figure you Smalliebigs are like most of us on being just a big kid. Wear your badge of honor and tell tall tails about your scar. Can you use your imagination and tell about fighting off a ninja wielding a sharp sword? BilletHead

Well done and great pictures too, BiletHead

Nice shooting with gun and go pro John, I can't get my retriever to run like that through the water . Yes I run two dove MOJO and a teal MOJO. Teal seem to link the faster spinning wings as opposed to the standard big MOJO. BilletHead

You know John we have a calculator on our phones in case we run out of fingers and toes, BilletHead

http://www.magma.ca/~syatabe/water_brains/water_brains.html BilletHead

Since John P. is making this a math lesson I guess the Mrs. and I should do our part, Set up where yesterdays birds wanted to be during the opener. No birds had roosted there last night. A nice hide where we backed up under some willows. Sat on marsh stools with our feet in the water. Sun to our backs it was easy on the eyes looking towards the West. A little fog on the water. Did not see any birds at all before LST. Kind of a bummer as teal are the early birds. Now to the math lesson. At 7:07 we had a group of 7 come in out of nowhere. They did not even do a pass over to check things out. We let them have it as they dropped in and only 2 left. So this equals 5 birds floating on the water. Had to dispatch a couple of cripples quickly. My retriever at work. She does pretty good now that she has some age on her. Takes commands well and very rarely do I have to light her up with the shock collar. She likes to play kissy face now and again though. I can put up with that habit. She does get a reward for a job well done. Pretty good shot too . It will be teal for dinner this afternoon. There is nothing like the hunter gatherer lifestyle. Kill, clean,cook and consume. Giving thanks for what we are provided. BilletHead

I just hope the yellow dog gives you a little tongue and some slobber too. Tell the dog there may be a face full of geese in his future. BilletHead

Way to go John P. Buddy! Great pictures as always and give the yellow dog a kiss from us, BilletHead

Well done! BilletHead

Yes she says two, We did see many birds but they were booking it South with the north wind blowing up their tails. Hunted a big pond/ irrigation lake. Geese were roosting there and when they left a big bunch of teal got up and swarmed but went back to the same spot. I guess the teal had the "X" and that is where it was. I figured if anything came by they would land over there and small groups did just that. I had had enough and told the Mrs. To get ready I would circle the pond and see what happens. I got them up and there was sixty or more. Round and round they went doing precision turns in unison. Man I like seeing that. Soon the group got too close and I picked one. One shot and one bird. The mass of birds did an exit. I finished my walk checking out the "X". By the time I got back my bird had floated to the bank. As I entered the small cove I heard one shot and I could hear the pellets hi the water. I peeked around the corner to see the Mrs. wading out from the bank. Got back to see a big grin and her dead bird. Well what happened. She said had to shoot in self defense. What? See that closest decoy? Yep, well A single bird came in, made a turn and just as it dropped it's feet to land I let it have it. The decoy was five steps away . Let me see that bird I asked. Figured it would be tenderized for sure. Get this there were five hits in the head and beak plus two in the neck. I told her that she was lucky anything was left. Just the way I planned it was her response! Hers was a tiny bird too. Mine had a good fat layer and was big. They both are now in our bellies. Tomorrow morning we may sit on the "X". BilletHead

Now wrench calm down buddy, The fly over was top secret. Since you brought this up the powers to be declassified it for public knowledge. You know like Hillery's E-mail stuff, BilletHead

Been out three more times, Made it out on the second to try again. Same field of cut silage. I thought a much better location in the field from the first day I went. Not the best of days but I did manage seven. Our 11 year old grandson was in surgery to take out his appendix that morning and I was on the phone talking and texting most of the time. There were birds I let go by just because more important things going on. When I got the call everything went well and while on the phone to BilletHead JR. I had some fly in. So twice I asked him to hang on a minute. Shot the birds and got right back to the conversation at hand. He was laughing at me when I got back on the line . We were gone for three days and then yesterday I finally got to take the Mrs. out. Same silage field. I don't know what happened but everything was gone, still waste grain on the ground too ? We just sat there for a spell and never fired a shot. I finally said we need to look around some. Driving roads we finally hit the mother load of doves. They were picking gravel on the road, power lines full and a cut corn field that had been drilled with wheat. By this time it was eight thirty and most of the feeding had happened. We set up and got six before it got real hot and most of the birds were gone anyway. Told the Mrs. guess where your worthless husband will be in the morning when you go to work? Well I was there this morning. We will call this 15 by 9 . Birds dead and on my way home at nine this morning. Can call it 15 for 28 also. A little less than three shells per bird shot. Billethead

Well neat nuts JohnsFolly . Yep. Mine are still in that color phase. I am so excited for my nuts to turn brown, crack open and begin to fall off THE TREE LIMBS, BilletHead

I want to agree with you RPS on the coon scat but cannot. Just like coon scat you can learn a lot about the crap that is spread by some people on this site . Cook on people but don't deposit and stir crap, BilletHead

Three was my limit on pigeons today but that is because no more showed up:) . The only limit on them would be set by the shooter. Farmers detest them and want them shot as some of them roost in their machine sheds and out buildings. We think they taste like doves , fix them like we do doves. BilletHead

Couldn't of asked for a nicer dove opener, A nice north east wind with overcast skies. Made sunrise like in John's photo pretty plus easier on my eyes staring towards the east at times. I had been watching a cut silage field for the last couple of weeks. Each time I checked it there was more birds gathered. It is owned by a local dairy so I found the head honcho last week and asked permission. Got that! A good solid field with a grass waterway that run along a tree row. Drove up that row and waltzed into the field off the point of the row and sat on my cooler. Did put out a couple of mojo doves. Sometimes they help, sometimes the birds are indifferent to them. Today they helped as this is a very large field with no one stirring up the birds. The decoys spinning made some of the distant birds swing by for a look. Even had a trio of pigeons come in. Pigeons are memorized buy the spinning wings and will hover. I took two out with the first shot and their buddy with the next shot. Pretty steady shooting early and then it slowed. I lacked four birds. Soon great groups were up and like a switch made them all leave the field? Curtstice and I had been texting each other seeing who would finish first. I was beginning to think I would have to come back in the afternoon/evening to finish out. Then I got a little help . Tractor came down the road making all kinds of racket. I could see bookoos birds come out of the trees and off the power lines along the road. Swarms of ten to twenty came back to the field. Four of these swarms later I had my four last birds. I would only shoot one out of each bunch as detest loosing a bird. As I drop a bird I do not take my eye off of it. Get up and go right to it. It can get pretty intense though seeing birds close in the corner of my vision though. So here is the bag for today. Yes I know tailgate shots of dead stuff is not in favor much anymore but I am not in vogue and tend to sing a different tune than most . Did not have the shell to bird ratio that John P. did but thirty shots for eighteen birds isn't too bad,

Good shooting John, I was done with my fifteen plus three bonus pigeons at 9:05. Will get a photo a bit later, BilletHead

Hey that will work David, That looks real nice and you are very talented. Well done, BilletHead

Actually John this will be my first nut crop. I will keep posting the results. Plus I will ask my buddy up by St. Louis when he gets his. BilletHead

I give them the right of way wrench. Just circle around them a couple of times. I go my way and they go theirs. I like it when they pose for a picture or two. Remind me someday when we visit one on one and I will tell you the story many moons ago when I did mess with one . BilletHead

Well fishing was not too good this morning. One lousy slimy large mouth bass on the French Fry. My bad he wasn't so lousy as he made me not be skunked . The Cottonmouth finding went well though. Spotted three different ones this morning. First one on the rocky bank and could not get very close, Next three shots a bit better. He decided he needed to swim over and rest on the jet foot of the motor. I hit the tilt and he wanted nothing to do with lifting him out of the water and slid off. Last one was heading for shore mot even slowing down for a Nikon moment. BilletHead

Ronnie the Pinball Wizard. Ever watch the movie Tommy? Well back to cooking here in BilletHeadVille. Made them on Naan flatbread. Finished them off on the charcoal grill. His and hers pies. Our tomato sauce,basil from the garden, last of the tomatoes, sausage in more of the tomato sauce that was added wild roasted garlic, pepperoni, mushrooms and onions. Mrs. skipped the onions. Then the cheese. Char grilled little mounds of goodness. This was Saturday. Sunday we had the last of the doves from last season. Getting ready to see if i can get a few Thursday. Seasoned flour with just some S&P. Then pan fried. Fried potatoes in goose grease then some smoked sharp cheddar melted in. A helping of green beans to make the plate a bit more healthy, BilletHead

There are some teal around. Seen some off and on for a couple of weeks . BilletHead