Thanks For Joining In This Season

[Feathers and Fins]

I get it bad when snipe hunting... I sit there and swear i know my pattern is good my lead is good and no way that i could miss that bird... Some of the funnest shooting there is

[Bird Watcher]

I haven't dug a hole for a blind in 5 years. The last time I did, I had 6 guys hunting and we tried to hunt a cut soybean field. NEVER AGAIN! I know it's effective, I'm just sworn off of it. I might dig a little depression every once in a while for my headreast to reduce my profile, but I won't dig full size holes anymore. The other thing, I wouldn't dare dig a hole of any size on this farmer. If you saw how much time he spends on a dozer building levees and terraces you would understand. Heck, I get embarassed if I drive through a wet spot in one of his fields and leave ruts, even if they are small ones.

I really try to keep it simple. I live by three cardinal rules when I waterfowl hunt. The first two are paramount.

1. Be where the birds want to be...Scout, find the X, find the X within the X, Find where the birds are landing, not necessarily where they are walking or swimming into.

2. Hide....I mean hide....If I can see you from 20 feet away, the geese can see you from 200 feet away. Big geese have every bit as good of eyesight as turkeys in my opinion, definitely better than humans.

3. Realistic decoy set. If you saw 25 birds, don't put out 200 decoys. If they were all standing in a low spot, put the decoys there, not up around the blinds or whatever else is convenient. Sometimes I want to look like the refuge and sometimes I want to look like the first birds to arrive at the party. It just depends on the circumstance.

If I follow these three rules without compromise, I will never be skunked. That's easier said than done though. Sometimes you have to emphasize one rule if the circumstances dictate you are weak on one of the other two.

I don't do a lot of traffic hunting. I will if there are numbers of birds to support it, in other words, a lot of birds in the area but most of the time I scout for the X. Some may call that gimme hunting, but that's how I like it:)

Marty,

I was suprised he was leaving that red gate unlocked. Every other year, he's always had that one locked and you had to come in from the North. Tomorrow morning sounds good. What time do you think? About 6? at the North Gate? I'll bring my entire trailer and we can use whatever we want or we can use none of it and leave it all in there. Sound good?

[BilletHead]

About 6 will be great Chris. Sounds good to me. Yes the gate thing.. It was locked early in season and then not locked for a couple of weeks. Locked again and then unlocked yesterday. They have been terracing to the West the past few days and going in there. I am looking forward to tomorrow so you can show an old dog a new trick or two. Excited enough I was awake at 4:30 this morning and Pat said get out of bed and go out. I hunted a half mile from home, story to follow. i am at least 8 miles from where we will be in the morning and I made a drive and birds are there

Marty

[Bird Watcher]

Sorry, I just saw this and asked you if we were good to go on your other thread. It will be a good time. I am looking forward to meeting you and hanging out in the blind tomorrow. See you at 6