12/22/09

Went to Bear River again to try for some more goldeneyes. They won today. Don't know where the birds moved to, but they wanted nothing to do with us. We ended up killing 4 ducks and 1 merganser. There was one surprise though. We went to pick up one of the ducks I had killed and to pick up the decoys. I was shocked to see a Barrows Goldeneye. I have never seen one in the wild. It was really cool. It made a slow hunt seem a lot better. Unfortunately, now I have another bird that "needs" to go on the wall. It might have to wait a few months though, so that I can save some money and talk Annie into it.

12/18/09 Goldeneyes

Todd, Mitch, and I went out to the Bear River to find some goldeneyes. Actually Mitch found them last week and we finally made it out there to hunt them. We got out there a little late because the gate was frozen closed and they couldn't get it open. Finally we made it out and there were ducks everywhere. Mitch's boat was just a little small to handle 3 guys, a big dog, and the gear so we had to make two trips out there. It was well worth it though. Ended up with 21; 20 goldeneyes and 1 merganser. They are a blast to shoot. Its a little different than shooting mallards. We went through about 70 shells to get our limits. Can't wait to do it again.

12/11/09

Well, I made it out hunting everyday this last week. I didn't kill as many birds as I wanted to, but it was still really cool. Today we decided to put the sneak on those teal that wouldn't work yesterday. We ended up getting three limits of drakes. It was a really fast hunt too. They sure are pretty little birds. Tyler didn't wear his waders and got soaking wet...especially when he fell on his back right in the water. He beat Mitch and I to the truck by about 15 minutes. It took him that long to get his frozen coveralls off though.

12/10/09

Went out early this morning with the dog. He is the only one crazy enough to brave the cold with me. Found a little piece of open water that was thick with teal. I decided to let them fly and then set up hoping they would trickle back in. It wasn't the case though. Ended up with one. It was cool to see that many birds though.
The walk out there made me sweat, which turned to icicles on my head.

This is as good as jax would pose without another person assisting.

12/8/09

Me and Mitch went out today in search of some divers, swan, and maybe some geese. Things didn't quite work out like we had hoped. I scouted a little piece of open water on a really big frozen pond. I thought we were going to be the only ones crazy enough to brave the cold and snow this morning. I was wrong. When we got out there, somebody was already set up on the spot. We made a quick decision and set up on the ice with the just the goose decoys. We didn't end up seeing any geese but we did get a couple of groups of ducks to look our way. We ended with 5 scaup. It has been about 10 years since I killed a bluebill. They are really cool birds.

12/01/09

Its hard to believe that its the 1st of December already. Things have really been slow the last couple of weeks. I can contribute part of that to school. Contrary to popular belief, I actually do work and attend school during hunting season. Got out today with my dad and ended up killing 4. They were the only birds that even came withing range though. Hopefully I can get into 'em one of these days. I would even settle for a limit of goldeneyes right now. Hopefully in my next post there will be a really big, white bird.

Thanksgiving Day

Got out on Thanksgiving after some guaranteed shooting. Had a really good group this year for our annual "turkey shoot." It was a lot of fun and tons of shooting.

11/25/09

Went out to Ogden Bay with my Dad and Mitch. We started the morning by breaking ice and pushing it underneath the ice on the edges. Then we sat around. It was really slow. Ended up with 4 birds between all of us. Maybe next time it will be better.

11/18/09

Well today was my wife's birthday and she was nice enough to let me go hunting...pretty much all day. First I chased pheasants with no luck. Then my dad took off work and we went after some ducks. Luckily he has a little time to scout so that I don't have to "waste" my afternoons with no birds. He found a spot that was very easy to get to. Especially compared to where we had been hunting. Ended up with my limit of drakes (6 greenies and 1 gadwall) and a bonus snipe. My dad shot 6 mallards. He might try to say that he let me do the shooting but its not true. I know of at least one bird that I let him shoot all three and miss before I brought it down for him. I'm glad he likes to go with me though.

Check out this picture of Gayland Jr. Don't you see the resemblance?

Click on this picture to blow it up and see if you can see all the ducks flying around in the background. They were all over the place after sunset.


By the way.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY Annie!!!!!

Friday the 13th

Today I was actually pretty lucky. I'm a little ashamed to admit this but up until today I haven't ever shot a wild pheasant. I have shot farm raised birds but never a truly wild bird. Today I got one though. I always see lots of pheasants while duck hunting so I figured I knew where a few "marsh chickens" were. We finally found a few on the edge of the GSL. We ended up flushing 8 different birds but this was the only cockerel that was close enough to shoot. Jick did most of the work. Chase was pretty cold and tired. We had been breaking ice all morning and had walked about 4 miles when we found this rooster. I am excited to get the puppy ready for next season. I have to keep reminding myself that he is just a puppy. The bird is pretty ugly in the picture. He was hiding in inch deep water and we shot him over water too. Pheasants are not pretty when they get wet.

11/09/09

Went after the cockerels today. We found one. Jick did a great job getting the bird up. My puppy made a great retrieve. He watched the bird flush, and was right on top of it. Hopefully we can get a few more over the next couple of weeks.

Hooded Merganser

Happened upon a funny little duck today. It is called a Hooded Merganser. They are pretty uncommon in Utah. They are one of the coolest looking birds I have ever seen. This first pic is what they look like when they are still alive.

11/2/09

Went running around with chase this morning and snapped a couple pictures. Just thought I would post them up.