Still some around

[Nitro 750]

Looks very good, you are making me hungry!!!!!  Thanks for the report, sounds like some good hunts.

[Johnsfolly]

BH

Those duck look delicious! Keep telling and showing guys to cook duck medium rare/rare on high heat. No more than that or else just give them away to someone that will cook them properly.

Always gets me mad to hear about folks disliking venison because its too tough or gamey. You have to prep and cook it properly.

[BilletHead]

     Well just two this morning,

One group in and two down. Another bunch flew over and did not even give us a glance. We are going to eat more teal today! Are you all ready? Today it will be teal fajitas. The ones that had been shot up or thin skinned with no fat were sliced up in strips. Put KC steak seasoning and some cumin seeds into the coffee grinder and spun it all into a fine grind. Teal and seasoning into a bowl. Mixed well then into a bag for overnight.  Again fire up the grill and when coals turn white on goes some of the last of the peach wood I had left. A little olive oil into the meat and into the holy wok,

Work the meat until the pink on the outside is gone but still pink on the inside. Meat out and onions, cubanell and plabano peppers into the wok.

Work and stir the veggies until hot but still crunchy. Add teal meat back work some more until you can't handle waiting to eat. Does not take long I will tell you,

Some cheese into warm tortillas, then the goods from the holy wok. Yes there as a margarita involved too,

   Man I like eating what we can harvest. The BilletHeads are sprouting feathers again this season. 31 Teal have fell so far and we have just two now in possession . Not sure if much more will be taken in the remainder of the early season. Reports from my sources say not much flying in the duck parks this morning,

BilletHead

 

[Johnsfolly]

BH

Sounds great. I love your blue toe nail polish. That color would work with any camo pattern. Great job on teal this year. What shells do you shoot? I need to get some stock with the number you have been using.

[BilletHead]

Man you got to get it right John,

It is #22 metal flake purple. Sheesh !   Should been a shade of teal this week ya think ?

BilletHead

[BilletHead]

      A couple more hunts. One word Mosquitoville. That and the heat made it miserable. That sums up teal season though. Monday paddled in a place that we (I) hunted last year. Yes more public duck park. Had it to myself yesterday and today. It is one of the type of places where you could loose cripples easy. Yesterday one bird but I found the fabled "X" for today's hunt. First picture is the hide. A levy with high brush, weeds mostly ragweed. From my hide I could not see the marsh on the other side. Birds out the wazoo.

   The Set up. There is only eight yards of open water between the levy and the flooded grass which is seed heavy.

   It was already 73 when I set up and in the mid eighties when I got back to the truck at nine. First two birds downed as singles and they crashed on the levy. CRAP I thought but found them. My third bird did drop in the open water but alive and swimming hard away. Had to give a second shot. Whew half way done.

  Now to the finale. To John P. When does one equal three ? Can you see it coming? A rather large group came in , I shot and three fell into the thick grass across the open water. I walked to the weed that shook when they hit. Two dead and one trying to escape. I don't chase birds, I can't but I took it's head off real quickly before it got too far!

 I could give a pretty good story and it was but I am too tired to type any more. Skeeters were going right through my deep woods off 45% deet.  Thank goodness for the thermacell it saved my life. Wouldn't of had enough blood left to paddle back to the truck. Got to be tough when your stupid!

BilletHead

[JohnP]

2 hours ago, BilletHead said:

      A couple more hunts. One word Mosquitoville. That and the heat made it miserable. That sums up teal season though. Monday paddled in a place that we (I) hunted last year. Yes more public duck park. Had it to myself yesterday and today. It is one of the type of places where you could loose cripples easy. Yesterday one bird but I found the fabled "X" for today's hunt. First picture is the hide. A levy with high brush, weeds mostly ragweed. From my hide I could not see the marsh on the other side. Birds out the wazoo.

   The Set up. There is only eight yards of open water between the levy and the flooded grass which is seed heavy.

   It was already 73 when I set up and in the mid eighties when I got back to the truck at nine. First two birds downed as singles and they crashed on the levy. CRAP I thought but found them. My third bird did drop in the open water but alive and swimming hard away. Had to give a second shot. Whew half way done.

  Now to the finale. To John P. When does one equal three ? Can you see it coming? A rather large group came in , I shot and three fell into the thick grass across the open water. I walked to the weed that shook when they hit. Two dead and one trying to escape. I don't chase birds, I can't but I took it's head off real quickly before it got too far!

 I could give a pretty good story and it was but I am too tired to type any more. Skeeters were going right through my deep woods off 45% deet.  Thank goodness for the thermacell it saved my life. Wouldn't of had enough blood left to paddle back to the truck. Got to be tough when your stupid!

BilletHead

Sounds like you got this ol' waterfowl math down ;).   Congrats.  My last 2 sits have been nothing but skeeter swats more than anything else.  Haven't seen a Teal since last monday.

[Johnsfolly]

I got out on Sunday and was on public lands as well. I had the Remington 870 12 ga pump action. I heard the first one before I saw it. It was coming in low. I could see it above the grass tops. I led it and pulled the trigger when I saw its head coming out of the grass. It crumpled and made for an easy retrieve. The shot was only about 5 to 6 yards. I ended up with three only. I missed the daily limit only by seven. Only got one photo. Add these three with another one I shot last week, now I have enough for a meal.

I know its not a teal, but I just wanted to post with the cool guys. I have teal post envy. I will say that this year especially, the thermocell has been an invaluable tool.

[BilletHead]

   Cool guys HA!

it wasn't so cool yesterday morning. Three years ago the Mrs. and I was hunting the same spot. Cool that morning. We dropped a teal across the channel. I crossed with waders to find the teal had crashed in a patch of frost! Wish it was like that now. Took the day off today. I think I got too hot yesterday so Johnsfolly your cool theory just got burnt up in the furnace .

BilletHead

[Johnsfolly]

BH

Understand being hot and worn down. My trip on Sunday was on a 1 square mile of National Forest land with 65% of the land in grasslands. It's relatively flat land. so I wasn't expecting a grueling hunt. Since they allow grazing, the only wooded areas are around the creeks that run through the property and they are fenced to keep out the cattle. So I ended up crossing over four barbed wire fences. The creek bottoms looked like they had lost a couple of feet of bottom due to scouring with the heavy rains this spring/summer. I had to cross two of the deep creek bottoms (higher than my head) and a few that were only waist to shoulder height. Some of the weeds and brush were chest to shoulder high, which for other people may only be waist high. It seemed like every "opening" in the weeds ahead of me resulted in a patch of briars or another deep creek branch. I did find my first patch of jack-o-lantern mushrooms here in MO. I have seen them in PA, but not yet here. No edibles that I could confirm. Had a cottontail 8 to 10 feet in front of me with an open head shot, but it was a couple of weeks before it becomes legal game. At that time its likely a fox will have killed and eaten it. Still it was a good afternoon/evening hunt, but was worn out on Monday. I had already planned to have that day off from work and just had to convince my better half to give me the day off of the honeydo list.

Oh shoot, I didn't get a picture of me having fun.