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double vision
PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 6:46 am  Reply with quote
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Glad to see little Smoke is hunting hard. He overcame a lot.
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Gil S
PostPosted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 10:03 pm  Reply with quote
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Location: Lowcountry Ga.

We are having a tough time in an old standby of an area. Not finding many birds. Emily Dickinson said that "hope is the thing with feathers." Here's hoping that tomorrow will bring us things with brown feathers. One bird today. Sadie and Pop with Floyd:
[URL=http://www.jpgbox.com/page/53233_600x400/] [/URL]
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Gil S
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 4:36 pm  Reply with quote
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A fine day in the rivercane with Floyd, Ben and Billy escorted by Abby, Pop and Sadie. Willa rode the bench due to having to safeguard stitches. She’ll be up and at’em soon. We had 15-20 flushes and bagged six. Good day with friends and dogs.

One flat worn out dog, Abby. Note the rivercane camo pattern on Floyd's dog box.
[URL=http://www.jpgbox.com/page/53236_600x400/] [/URL]
Pop surveying the tailgate, Floyd, Abby, Sadie in the right box, Billy and Ben.
[URL=http://www.jpgbox.com/page/53237_600x400/] [/URL]
Top to bottom, Billy's 20 gauge Superposed Midas Grade (equivalent); Ben's 28 ga. Marocchi; My 16 ga. MF Ideal 302 Clunkerette. Floyd's Ithaca SKB 20 ga. was camera shy.
[URL=http://www.jpgbox.com/page/53238_600x400/] [/URL]
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fourtrax
PostPosted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 4:45 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 04 Jun 2009
Posts: 827
Location: N. Shore, mn

Your tearing them up there Gil!

Keep on keepin on.

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I STAND WITH THE NRA!
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Rick Grimes
PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 3:14 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 18 Jun 2004
Posts: 438
Location: thick and uncivilized places in the Allegheny Mts.

Looks like everyone had a good time Gil. Give those puppers an ear rub from me for a job well done. Be sure to miss a few so the pup and I have some to play with come March. Wink

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Going into coverts becomes less a chase with the sole purpose of killing; it remains important to find game but the gratification-and I keep coming back to that word-is in the beauty of finding it. George Bird Evans A Dog, A Gun, And Time Enough.
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Gil S
PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 5:04 am  Reply with quote
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Rick, FT, it's been a strange season here. One huge tract that has been historically productive with numerous coverts has been a big disappointment, but our numbers overall riding home in the truck are even with this time last season. We've found two new big tracts widely separated from our old haunts. Difference between the two seasons may be woods moisture. It is considerably drier this year. The last 2 hours yesterday were amazing. The birds were in rivercane 10 to 15' high with stalks as big around as a 12 ga. shell. Very challenging shooting. Best comment of the year was by a buddy who said: "It's not like they are hard to hit,it's just they are so easy to miss." As far as leaving some for you in March, Rick, my shooting is woodcock friendly from their standpoint and you will have plenty to fool with soon enough. Very Happy Gil
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Gil S
PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 1:53 pm  Reply with quote
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Hunted today with worn-out dogs. The productive spot bordered a swamp and the birds were on the hill adjacent to the swamp’s edge “nooning” in straight as an arrow sweet gum saplings of about an inch and a half diameter. I tried taking a photo, but it must not have happened. We found at least a dozen birds in about an hour’s time, but of note, four got up from one spot and three from another. We often have pairs get up but never more than that previously. We ended up with 5 but gave the landowner one before we finished.

[URL=http://www.jpgbox.com/page/53241_600x400/] [/URL]

Abby, Sadie and Pop—all three in need of a rest after Pop and Sadie hunted three days in a row and Abby, two.
[URL=http://www.jpgbox.com/page/53242_600x400/] [/URL]
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simcgunner
PostPosted: Wed Jan 17, 2018 4:52 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 25 Jan 2011
Posts: 70
Location: Virginia

[URL=http://s449.photobucket.com/user/simcgunner/media/20171229_142931_Burst01%201_zpsxfvshb8z.jpg.html] [/URL]
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Montana16
PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 11:26 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 14 Oct 2011
Posts: 110
Location: Eastern Washington

Spent a couple days in November in CA at Tule Lake NWR hunting pheasants. Nice rooster with Dash and the Merkel 200E. Lots of waterfowl at the time which made for a great scenery during my lunch break. Photo of snow geese climbing off the water.



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Gil S
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 4:39 am  Reply with quote
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No photos. Use your imagination. Picture Curly, Larry and Moe. Moe stayed in the truck with Murphy.
We had great expectations today having left a pile of birds (woodcock) behind the last time we went to this spot. Expectations developed into a real cluster fest. It started out with a wild flush out of a thicket. Usually on the first wild flush, birds often land close by. We figured it landed behind the thicket and we walked around with the dogs in front of us, my Abby and Willa. While watching the dogs work, it exploded from the ground five feet from me. I got off two quick misses. We worked the back edge of the thicket and Abby went on point on a different bird. I couldn’t get in fast enough and the bird got up on its own. Sayonara. Next up was a huge rivercane patch. In spots, the cane is 12-15 feet tall and as big around as a 12 gauge shell. Cane is bad enough, but it was laced with cat claw briars and stump holes that could swallow a VW. We are lucky to see the dogs 5 yards away. Dogs out in front. “I heard one get up, Floyd.” It landed five feet from us with a “thunk’. It was as if it landed on a silver platter. As quickly as it arrived, it left up and away behind a tree just and I shot the tree. Gone. The bird, not the tree. Later, my Garmin signaled Willa on point, 50 yards out. We struggled through the cane and Floyd saw her 4 yards away, locked down. Floyd got the shot, and it got away fast without a ruffled feather. Minutes later, Abby’s bell stopped. Both of us got there quickly. I could see the bird five feet from her nose. Floyd was positioned behind her perfectly as he could see it as well. I went in. The bird got up fast and just as fast dove down 25 feet away. I got off a shot just as it dove. Swing and a miss. The dogs got over in the area where we thought it landed, but it had either flown farther than we thought or had run and it took off without us seeing it as we heard it twitter away. We eventually got on the far side of the monster cane patch. Abby’s bell stopped and I got a signal that she was on point, 50 yards into the cane. I got to within 15 feet from Abby and Willa charged in with me yelling “whoa, whoa!” and I then tripped and promptly face planted on the soft loam and the bird got up and away. I wasn’t too happy with Willa. According to Floyd, the worst part of it was he didn’t get to see me face plant. We should have never let Murphy in the truck and I unnecessarily carried my Manufrance Ideal 302 16 through the should-have-stayed-in-bed day. Gil
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double vision
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 5:33 am  Reply with quote
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Those days make you appreciate the trouble-free days. Beats work! Thanks for sharing, Gil.
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fn16ga
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 6:01 am  Reply with quote
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Gil, Sounds like a great day . Like said Dave beats working as that's exactly what I was doing.
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fn16ga
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 11:20 am  Reply with quote
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Chilly Snipe hunt Thursday morning .


When I got out the truck it was 28 degrees and the wind was blowing outa the north about 15mph . May not sound cold to you boys up north but thats cold for us South Florida boys . Turned out to be a great hunt and I shot my Lefever F grade really well .
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Gil S
PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 2:58 pm  Reply with quote
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Dave, yes, a bad day in the field (unless you shoot your foot off) is better than a good day at work. FN, love snipe. Sporty and great eating. Nice haul and a fine looking shotgun.

What a difference a day and a change of location makes. We hunted civilized, head high rivercane today. Shots were easier than yesterday and we found some birds, or more precisely, Pop and Sadie found the birds. Floyd and Jeff in the photos to give some scale of the cane we were in today. Tomorrow is season’s end in Georgia with SC out end of the month. Work beckons, however.
[URL=http://www.jpgbox.com/page/53264_600x400/] [/URL]
Cane not as dense as yesterday’s. Here’s Pop out about 5 yards.
[URL=http://www.jpgbox.com/page/53265_600x400/] [/URL]
[URL=http://www.jpgbox.com/page/53266_600x400/] [/URL]
[URL=http://www.jpgbox.com/page/53267_600x400/] [/URL]
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Gil S
PostPosted: Tue Jan 30, 2018 2:06 pm  Reply with quote
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The SC woodcock season closes out tomorrow. Our season closed out today. We had waited until today as the temps were down from yesterday, but unfortunately, the cold front arrived windy which gave the dogs fits. We hunted my Abby and Willa and Floyd's Pop and Sadie. We normally don't hunt 4 dogs, but since it was the last day for us, we gave it to the dogs. I can imagine the panic of the woodcock, twittering "The Britts are coming." The wind gave the birds the advantage. We hunted private property near Floyd's which is less than 10 miles from where I live. We hunted here 15 days ago and found a dozen birds in a little over an hour. Today we found 5 birds, all wild flushes without a single point. We managed one bird. The area is threaded by a Tupelo swamp and is well known in this area as it goes on for miles across many property lines. Here's a photo of the swamp. Note the swelled butts of the tree trunks. The Tupelo "butt swell" was prized by old time Louisiana duck decoy carvers as it could be carved green without checking. It is also the wood preferred by Floyd for carving his bird carvings. He prefers to let it dry before carving. He harvests the wood from this swamp. Not only is Tupelo a preferred wood for carving, the tree produces blossoms loaded with nectar which attracts honey bees. Tupelo honey is the gold standard of which all other honeys are judged. There was a reason Van Morrison's song, Tupelo Honey, contained the line "she's as sweet as Tupelo honey." The landowner's hives (called "gums" by old timers locally) are under this live oak which is a rock throw from the swamp behind the photographer. I only had one other in range opportunity besides this bird. Those who shoot the Ideal will understand the befuddled panic in attempting to take the safety off these guns on an unexpected flush. I had one such flush today. Abby had found a bird a 100 yards out. It must have flown before I could get within 50 yards of Abby judging from my Fenix 3. Assuming it was the same bird, I suspect it landed between us and I almost stepped on it. The safety flummoxed me. After decades of shooting a tang safety, the Ideal's "off safety" direction operates in the opposite direction of a top mounted safety. Below is a photo of the habitat surrounding the swamp. No rivercane, but plenty of saplings. I imagine this looks like some of the habitat in the north. Well, to book end the woodcock season, I can't think of anything more fitting than a photo of one of Floyd's woodcock carvings, carved not only from Tupelo, but as sweet looking as tupelo honey. Dave, Rick, we left plenty for you. They'll be heading your way soon...Gil
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