BilletHead

Nice , me like, BilletHead

Yowza! I like. John P. I want to borrow your dog next season for some photo ops. Well done fellows, BilletHead

Neat photo for sure. I remember the big one that hit around here and did a real mess in Springfield I think in 2007. It was when Mrs. BilletHead was doing her radiation treatments. Big ice hit and we called St. Johns that Sunday night to see if they were up and running for her treatment. Yes that said don't miss any treatments the generator is running radiation oncology. We left home (North West 90 miles from Springfield at 5 AM so Pat could be the first one in line (she worked during her treatment)and wanted to be first daily so she could return back to work. On the way down there was no lights for miles. Erie feeling when every day drive like that you were used to seeing towns, yard lights, etc. Closer to town the darker it was. Had to wind our way through town with downed lines and power poles. Like a bomb had went off! We made it there by 7 AM to open doors and hardy any workers. Finally about 9 AM she got her treatment. BilletHead

Chris that was the four rivers muddy walk in debacle. Neither one of us had much of a smile when we finally made it out. Nothing to drink at the truck either. We both look back and smile now. The next time we went in I paddled everything in with the kayak and she cut across country with just herself. Made the hunt more manageable. Fins and Feathers knows the drill to that place. BilletHead

BilletHead has more, It has been a good season, This isn't all but it was our best days. BilletHead

Excellent photos everyone, BilletHead stuff. Keep in mind most of these are solo hunts by me or with Mrs. BilletHead. Three of the photos were with me and a friend. Birdwatcher and a friend from St. Louis. BilletHead

Nice, I may have to get into this, BilltHead

hahahahahha

Good deal. Eight months until teal season

Good going Scott! Gongrads, BilletHead

Thanks fellows, Like I said it's been great. Chris soon it will be time to chase those crazy broken striped speed demons. Should not have to wait until they run. Maybe we can hit those big bug eyed slabs sometime in between. Besides I have a nice flashlight hostage this season BilletHead

Well we got out to hunt this morning. We are calling it our last for the season. It went well and was a good end to our best season so far. Really froze up here but knew of a place holding many birds, mostly Canada geese and they were keeping a small place thawed out. A roost and loafing place. Since we are almost at the end of season I figured it was time to hunt here and try to go out with a bang. Got there at dark thirty this morning. As we parked on the road we could hear birds on the pond. I knew that and as we peeked in the stars and moonlight the place was covered. Birds on the water and covering the ice. Off they went in a roar! We hauled in our gear and proceeded to set up. Not a god place to hide as birds had trampled and eaten the grass. The Mrs. did her best to grass up the blinds. I pitched out six floaters and scattered some full bodies on the ice as close as I could to where the ice and water met. Ice was pretty thick and formed six to eight foot from the bank edge. The open part of the pond was not too big and we figured we could shoot birds anywhere over that open water. All the time we were setting up geese were trying to land but it was before legal shooting time. Soon it was on and ducks started coming in. Mallards. We shot seven of them. Five drakes and two hens. Geese were seeing faults in out set up, our blinds most likely but we did fool two of them. All the time we were hunting snows were coming over hitting a field across the road. We even seen two flocks of speckle bellies going into the field of snows. One group right over us close enough to see the barring on their breasts but too far to try a shot. A great morning with the best hunting partner I have had. Now to some pictures. So how to fetch birds? Kayak! What a hoot. I slid it over the bank onto the ice. In I got. Now what? A shove off by Mrs. BilletHead across the ice and into the water. I hope this doesn't go like the titanic and iceberg Fetching birds, Fetching decoys, A partial picture of the set up, Now how do I get out? Well is was a speed paddle towards the bank and ice, a hit straight on and right up on the ice and slide to the bank where the Mrs. Grabbed the front of the kayak and pulled me up enough for me to get out. We were laughing so hard it hurt out sides. A photo of our take, Time to haul out. Did you know I was married to an angel? Yes I am and her wings are a pair of layout blinds! Yes our last hunt was a good one. Still some days left but we are done. We thank you for letting us share some of out hunts with you all. Thanks too for all that have shared with us, The BilletHeads

Well done Scott, We are done here. Our report on next thread, BilletHead

I predict you will get that freeze and it will be raining ducks thick on you again Birdwatcher. Mrs. BilletHead seen some landing with geese on her way home. In a bare field? BilletHead

Life is good in the Water fowl world. Darned cold here and froze up again! BilletHead

We will

Got to have fun Duane. Ness you have no idea literally. Scott what size flicker shad would we need for such a beast of a walleye? Maybe a striper, big trout or a smallmouth for bait? You find the monster and I will come help you catch it BilletHead

Thanks all, I will share four more for grins. Not antiques like the previous but retro for sure. These are from the early eighties. BilletHead Jr. with one of my trapped bobcats. Oh yes I had my trapping days in the past. A couple with fox. I really liked greys as they were frisky and they wanted to fight you like bobcats. The reds were timid and you could grab and hold them like a dog, carefully though. I have taken greys out of traps alive but it did include a wrestling match of sorts. Another day with a couple of grays and a coyote, 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