Had the worst duck season of my life... ice ice baby early season.. skunked 5 hunts in a row. never in my life have i been skunked 5x in a row. there are decades i havent been skunked 5x. broke ice until I hated the shit so bad I was drinking my whiskey outta the bottle cause i couldnt stand da rocks. Thursday before christmas I shot by myself, it was my day to have the super concentration of ducks in our area, our pitfield was littered with them. a limit by 648 (only limit I had of the season) me and da juice ran to the 4 tire to get off field by 7 oclock, hoping they be back... took till 11 to shoot 8 ducks between 4 guns the next day... sheez. sat before new years woke up with my neck not working right, by 4 am my right arm was on fire (had slipped 2 disks and pinched off nerve to right arm), drove to arkieland with my arm over my head, by 715 was out of blind couldnt sit still. when i left at 830 (the only time in my life I ever ended a hunt early) I knew my season was done... I was right, had to fuse 3 vertebra and repair 2 disks. had the surgery the next week, was back at work 5 days later, but no mo duck season. Itll be at least a month before he oks me to even ride a 4 wheeler, let alone shoot (who cares about shooting comapred to going).
the earle widgeon have been pushed out by the spawn of the devil itself, the pintail. we have them by the thousands... when ya can kill em, you got to stop WAY to early with 2 apeice.. but most days they just fly around without a care in the world.
in an effort in our war against the pintail, I actually painted deeks this year... I made about 50 pintail deeks to go with the 4 dozen we normally have.. thinking if everyone has a spread with a few pins on the side, I ought to have a spread of pins with some mallards on the side.. yeah, they dont care. but i had fun painting them and will go further with it next year with some flocking and what not.
had a health scare fall before last (a tia temp stroke). you wouldnt recognize me... lost 60 pounds, was jogging this fall so I could do remote ghille smacks on birds we roost (sneaking in dark to set up while others are hunting in more tradational places... is awesome). once this neck heals up, ill be back on pintail ninja mode, and hope to have 150 pin deep spread next year, as well as flocking my spec deeks. tj is 16 now, driving, trains dogs with me everyday and works at the shop parking cars for me in the afternoons and on saturdays. hes still my best friend and my kid, as well my business partner and hunting buddy. tj is an accomplished dog trainer and handler himself, and is thinking after college thats his bag and what he wants to do. Im trying to convince him of a better career path, like learning to lick his eyebrows and marrying an ugly rich woman, but you know kids these days, cant see forrest for the trees! travis
