A Few More

Thought I'd add a few more duck hunting photo's. Photos I have, actual ducks...not so much!

Putting out decoys.

A view from my spot down to where Dylan is sitting. Can you find him?

Yep there he is.

Getting ready to head back to the truck. We always wear orange walking to and from  our spot because you never know about those deer hunters. I usually have some on Bama as well but forgot to bring it today.

Bama watching for ducks. Dove hunting has been good experience for him learning to search the sky for birds. Sometimes I watch him because he'll see birds before I do.

Waterfowl Hunting In Need Of "Fowl" Weather

 The duck hunting has been a bit slow so far this season, we're still in need of some sustained cold weather in the Dakota's to get a good push on the ducks into Missouri. At least that's my excuse for the lack of success and I'm sticking to it! However... with that said I still enjoy getting out. I've been to a few different places so far this year including a couple of the big duck clubs up north of St. Charles along the Missouri River. I always find going to those clubs to be really entertaining because I get to see how the other half lives. The ducks don't seem to care how nice the places are or what great equipment the hunters all have, they don't show up there just as much as they don't to the places I can more readily get access to.
We're supposed to start getting some cold wet weather this weekend into next week so let's see if that changes my luck.

This is the Catawissa Pits area off the Meramec River. Old sand dredging operation from the 1940's and 50's that they turned into a conservation area of about 1,000 acres.

Bama and I scanning the sky for ducks.

Heading out to the blind at Belleau Hunt Club - St. Peters, Missouri.

View from blind in flooded corn field.

Mark scanning for ducks.

Sunset on Belleau Farm

I Love Bird Hunting

I must love it. Why else would I get out of bed on a cool November morning at 5:00 AM and drive an hour and a half to chase a bird (quail) that probably won't be there when I arrive? I guess it's love. I used to drive a lot farther to visit my wife when we were dating and I know that was love so this is probably similar. Not the same but for the purpose of figuring this out let's say similar. Bama and I loaded up the FJ this morning and took the long drive to the Reform Conservation Area. RCA is about 50 miles southeast of Columbia, Missouri and is where the Calloway Nuclear Facility resides. I've hunted the property surrounding the facility for several years. It's actually beautiful country with rolling tree covered hills and farmland. There are a number of ponds and lakes on the property that hold ducks and geese at certain times of the year and in past years I've jumped a fair number of quail on the property. This morning was one of those days. Bama and I hunted a different area than we normally do due to other vehicles parked where we normally do. Good thing. We parked in a field that was near cut corn but was rather unremarkable otherwise. We headed toward a distant tree line that had a number of draws and spotty plum thickets. No sooner had we crossed the field and entered the first draw a covey of thirty or more quail flushed. The game was on.

 Just past the short trees in the foreground a covey of 30 - 40 quail exploded off the ground.

One of two I took from the first covey.

Tree line edge along corn field where second covey took flight.

Last of four birds we got today. Great time, great day.

Yes it's love. I think about it all the time and it's the perfect way for me to get away from it all and clear my mind. Can't wait until next time, next place.

Kelan, Bama and Gentleman Bob.

This coming Tuesday brings in the new quail season so Kelan, Bama and I decided to go out to the Wil-Nor Hunting Preserve today to sharpen our skills. Bama did a great job and was definitely on his game and Kelan and I both shot well. We ended up with 10 birds. They flew really, really, well today about as close to wild birds as you can get. Depending on how busy it gets this week at work I may try and take a day off and try and scare up some birds.

The quail were big and healthy. That made for some great shooting.

The temp was in the high forties in the morning but warmed into the low fifties by 11:00. Bama decided he needed to cool down a little so he took a dip in one of the ponds on the farm.

And That's a Winner!

Wow what a great World Series! Every game was exciting, of course it didn't hurt that the Cardinals were in it. I was in Kansas City for game 6 on business so our group went to a 54th Street restaurant to watch the game. That was a ton of fun because all those bitter KC Royals fans that resent the Cardinals success were cheering for the Rangers. We drank a lot of beer and cheered loud enough to represent Cardinal Nation in hostile territory! We kind of looked like the picture below (minus the goggles) after we won. So that makes number 11 for the birds so I guess they're going to have to add a new flagpole in centerfield next year to make room for a new banner. By the way....Rams I hope you were paying close attention.

Dad's Weekend

Last Saturday was Dad's Weekend at Mizzou so I spent the day with Dylan at his fraternity and the Mizzou vs Oklahoma State football game. We had a great time. I really enjoy going over to Columbia and spending time on the campus. Beautiful fall day and perfect for some college football. Work has been really busy the past few weeks so it was nice to take a break and hang out with Dylan. We had great seats and saw plenty of action but unfortunately most of that action was OSU marching up and down the field on the Tigers. The OSU cowboys lived up to their name, storming up and down the field like a bunch of crazed cowboys riding into town after a long cattle drive. Hide the women and children and your football team!

A Lull in Adventure Land.

Ok so we're a little between hunting seasons right now. The doves have pretty much moved on south and quail and pheasant season is a little more than three weeks away followed by waterfowl a couple weeks later. So it's back to scouting the afore mentioned birds and training with Bama.

Saturday Bama and I drove out to an area I've duck hunted in the past to see if we could scare up any Geese or ducks. The area is called Pacific Pallisades and is about 900 hundred acres bordered on two sides by the Meramec River. An old sand dredging operation used to be in that area and there are a number of old ponds that are surrounded by woods which attract the waterfowl when the conditions are right. We got there about sunrise and walked in. Almost immediately I saw a few ducks flying up the river skirting the treeline. Followed later by a flock of about 30 geese. Good sign. Now they just need to stick around for a few weeks.