Friday, February 8. 2008
Some good Maggie's Farm pals, last week. 
Thursday, February 7. 2008
Even if you aren't scouting deer for hunting, heat- and motion- detecting cameras can tell you a lot about what lives out there. This photo came from some deer hunter's motion sensor camera in Montana. 
Thursday, January 24. 2008
 It begins like this:
The alarm rudely drags me back to wakefulness. 4:00 am comes all too quickly, even when you're looking forward to getting up. Quietly, I slip out of bed and pad across the room to turn it off. A lump stirs under the covers, and the comforter slips back to reveal a black head, one eye opened balefully. She doesn't lift her head from the pillow.
"Time to get up, Soup Hound," I yawn. "It's a new day."
A blogger's duck hunt, here.
Thursday, January 17. 2008
Some of the expected prices of American furniture and folk art in a Christie's auction today and tomorrow are astonishing. Still, I thought our readers might be most interested in the values of the old decoys in that auction. 
The hen merganser above is expected to fetch between $200-250,000. Another hen merganser in the auction is expected to fetch up to $500,000. In the NY Sun's piece on the auction, they note: Americana doesn't have to be made from precious metal or come with a society pedigree. Christie's will be auctioning hand-carved duck decoys this week with several estimated in the $500,000 range. What makes carved birds so pricey? "It's the confluence of two collecting categories — hunters and folk-art collectors coming together and competing over the same material," the head of Christie's Americana department, Margot Rosenberg, said. Twenty years ago, a similar phenomenon took place with weather vanes. "Weather vanes was the old story," Ms. Rosenberg said. "This is the new story. At auction, a bird has yet to break a million, but one will soon."
It's time for everybody to check Grandpa's barns and sheds for old decoys.
Tuesday, December 18. 2007
Editor's comment: How can you be sure that isn't just a Bambi hitching a ride from a sympathetic animal-loving bicycler? Well, I could give you a half-hour shaggy dog story, entirely true by MSM standards, on the subject of a deer, skull-grazed by a 14 year-old in an old Maine apple orchard, which regained consciousness (the buck, not the orchard) after being hauled across the orchard and lifted over a barbed-wire fence (the deer, not the orchard), on a bike with the kid, and pedaled the bike (the wakened deer pedaled, not the kid) three miles to the nearest roadside bar and walked in and said (the buck, not the kid)...well, but I don't want to do that story today. That's enough unclear run-on sentences for one post.
Wednesday, December 12. 2007
Davy Crockett's 10th grandson kills bear at 5. I see a bright future for this lad.
Thursday, December 6. 2007
Call for quote. No bag limits, and no licenses required. - Posted by Roger de H.
Thursday, November 22. 2007
Would you call this an easy shot, an average shot, a long shot, or out of range? (although it's moot, in fact, because you do not want to drop a bird in those tules because you'll never find it. Shoot them when they are over open water.) A flock of Mallards as seen from my duck boat, a couple of weeks ago:
Wednesday, November 21. 2007
Video: How to melt your machine gun barrel. The manual recomments 5-10 round bursts, not 5-10 meter belts.
 That's Yankee, our friend's Large Munsterlander pup, retrieving a large, heavy Canada Goose:
Tuesday, November 20. 2007
 I think we linked this piece once, but I can't remember. It's from Munchkin Wrangler (h/t, Right Wing Prof), and begins thus:
Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.
In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.
When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gangbanger, and a single gay guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.
Read the whole thing. Here's a nice piece on handgun selection for self-defence.
Monday, November 19. 2007
Some things in life are foolish, inconvenient, uncomfortable, sometimes dangerous and often plain frustrating. Duck hunting is one of those things, work is another, and blogging is another, but a guy's gotta do what he's got to do. Photo is a two weeks ago. As you can see, the weather was a little bit too good for ducks, but we knocked down a few. 
Sunday, November 18. 2007
Chincoteague and Assateague. Looks like a good winter hunting destination, and probably a bit warmer than December up here.
 A good day in the field. Cold as heck putting up the decoys in the dark, in the lights of the pick-up, but it was warmer by 9.
The bulk of the flocks came in to the field from the lake, where they sleep, at the break of dawn. Some of these birds will be Christmas dinner. The rest will be other dinners. Goose is an under-appreciated fowl. It has to be cooked right.
Saturday, November 17. 2007
 Talking about autumn foliage is about as cornball, old-fogie a subject as I can think of, but this fall has been the best in my memory. Since New England has been spared heavy rains, windstorms, and Nor'easters thus far, the leaves are still on the trees in many areas. A visual feast wherever you look, and nourishing food for the soul. It's uplifting, exhilarating, and it reminds me to be grateful for being alive.
Life is wonderful, despite being poor (statistically I am one of America's "poor" - which bothers me not one whit: just a humble, underpaid journalist junior reporter at a smallish newspaper). I love this brisk autumn weather which leads the spirit to thoughts of thanks-giving. Life is good. I am going to cook the bird I shot this morning (with my Gramp's 20 ga. Parker) on lentils with shallots and gibier sauce, for my current chick beautiful, intelligent, super-special gal. Wish I had a bottle of Jarhead Red to relax her, but I have something else. (I mean a bottle.) Try to tell me that I am poor! I am blessed. Poverty is a state of mind.
Friday, November 16. 2007
 Canada Goose-looking birds come in widely different sizes and ornithologists, who love obsessing about taxonomy, have a lot of fun with the subject.
The subject comes up because we shot quite a few Cacklers in Canada in October, which were probably what we used to call Hutchins' or Richardsons' Goose. These birds are high-Arctic breeders, and only winter on the East coast as rare vagrants. Bird Dog says he has seen them occasionally on the East coast. Their CLO link here. Photo: Canada Goose with Cackling Goose For the part of the Wikipedia entry which reviews all of the taxonomy, see continuation page below.
Continue reading "Goose of the Week: Cackling Goose"
Monday, November 12. 2007
Thursday, November 8. 2007
Winslow Homer, 1892 
Wednesday, November 7. 2007
Saturday, November 3. 2007
 Waterfowl Tomorrow:US Dept of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Svc.
JP Linduska, Editor, 1964
Ducks, Geese and Swans of North America
Frank Bellrose
Stackpole Books, 1976 Flyways - Pioneering Waterfowl Management in North AmericaEdited by AS Hawkins, RC Hanson, HK Nelson, HM Reeves
US Dept of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, 1984 Prairie Wetland Ecology
Edited by HR Murkin, AG van der Valk, WR Clark
Iowa State University Press, 2000
Thursday, November 1. 2007
A thanks to Jim at Wild Goose Lodge on PEI for the loyal support of Ducks Unlimited. Many satisfied customers.
Sunday, October 28. 2007
We are. I like this one, but it might be overkill.
 We believe that an unarmed home is a potentially dangerous place. As with fire insurance, you just hope you'll never need to use it.
"Shoot first" laws are growing in the US, making life tougher for bad guys. However, Bruce notes that some people would prefer being victims. I think that is the height of irresponsibility: protecting yourself and your family is the most basic duty in life.
Saturday, October 27. 2007
In Maine, last week. I should say "pa'tridge", not "grouse." In Maine, Ruffed Grouse are "partridge". In Canada, grouse are often referred to as "chickens." Hunting grouse is rough on one's legs. Famous soap opera star on the right. 
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