Kaiser Tribute

For months now I've tried to finish this tribute to Kaiser. Overwhelmed and not sure exactly what I wanted to add and how I wanted to edited it, I started and deleted more than a few attempts. Then I just held off on completing it out of frustration. Last night I realized today would have been his birthday and decided I would complete it for this day. Not sure if this really how I wanted it to turn out but this is what I put together. Kaiser would have been 10 today.

Getting Out Before It Closes

It's been too long since I've hunted the early dove season but this season I wanted to pursue them. Sunday night, while checking on some never-hunted-before (by me) fields, proved to be a bust.  Monday morning was better but the hope of shooting passing birds was quickly quashed when early on no birds in flight were in sight.  So we were required to go find them in the bush flushing them out.  We managed to find a few and only took a few and missed too many.

Recently I picked up a new Gopro Session, I'm working out all the bugs and figuring out the editing software.  Here is some of the footage from the weekend.  Hopefully videos will be much better from now on.

Hiking With A Gun

This is the last chance to try and get ourselves some pheasants and doves before the season closes.  My intention was on the way here to try and intercept the covey of quail Chul and I flushed while hunting turkey last spring but with the entrance loaded with trucks I decided to bypass that and head straight to the farmlands.  But before that we had stay in cell phone range to receive an important call so we headed for a restaurant for a Persian lunch. 

We arrived at the farmlands with a few hours to roam a few fields,  no pheasants were flushed nor seen.  I managed to flush a dove in a ditch, took a shot and it landed in the nearby field so we gave chase only to have it flush again with me missing him with both shots.  Other than that it was a lot of hiking with a gun.  It was time to head into town for some Thai food and call it a day.

Second Day. Hanging In There

Day two wasn't much better than the last.  My usual spots all proved to be duds.  After visiting Dave to say hi, he gave us some venison meat that he harvested this year.  Since he bagged three in so many states, I think he had plenty to spare.  We took off to check some nearby areas.

After we finished lunch, some serious winds hit the valley and so changing to fly fishing was not an option.  It took me forever to find the pond I met Bob two years ago.  It was mostly loaded with coots but did hold a few ruddies and three hen ringnecks.  I dropped the old man off at one edge of the pond and drove to the other end hoping to flush the birds toward him.  When I got to the side the two hens already took flight.  They were borderline too far but I took the shot anyways, missing with both barrels.  It did though turn the birds toward dad and he managed one shot at them but missed as well.

I drove back to pick up dad and we moved to a smaller nearby pond.  There we found some more hens, I wasn't too sure what they were but I believe they were gadwalls.  I told dad to head over to an opening of the reeds and see if he could get a shot from there while I swept over toward the edge.  When I made it there I stepped into the tules and felt the ground slowly give in.  I was sinking to my knees and while I tried to get out I sank even more.  By this time I heard dad take his two shots.  I managed to drag myself out of there by pulling myself with the tules but not before a rush of water entered my waders.  When I got out dad told me he nicked one and the direction of the flight of the birds and it looked like they may have flown to the pond we were just hunting.  So we drove back, while glassing the area I noticed a fair sized covey of quail on the far side running along the bank.  We made our way to them and after switching our bismuth and tungsten rounds for lead, we began our search for them.  I managed to take a jackrabbit in our search.  We eventually saw the covey of thirty flush wild afar.  We gave chase and managed to get them to rise but we missed our shots.  They flushed into a mass of impenetrable tules and we gave up before we ran out of legal shooting time.  Last night we asked the nice Indian owners of the motel we stayed at if the Indian restaurant was any good.  They said it wasn't bad for the area and it was worth a visit so that's what he did.

Video From The Last Hunt

I finally downloaded, edited (poorly), then uploaded the video from our last hunt.

Duck Club Invitation

I've never hunted a private duck club before so I was excited when I received an invitation to hunt The Little Ramona Duck Club from my new hunting buddy Jeff.  I met Jeff on an online forum when I posted a picture of one of my past hunting trips and he inquired about my Merkel Model 8.  He had thought it was a Sauer, a gun that he had once owned in the past.  This struck a conversation regarding fine doubles and we became fast friends.  He asked if I would like to join him at his club and I jumped on the opportunity.

After about three hours sleep I awoke in the morning to meet Jeff personally for the first time near the entrance of the club.  After a few pleasantries and war stories we made our way to the blind (14).  Half way to there Jeff realized he forgotten the duck stamp in his car.  So we unpacked the gear once we made it to the blind and raced back to the car to get it and raced back before legal shooting time.

Only a handful of club members showed up today which meant most blinds were available but this blind was one of the more sought after ones.  The club assigns blinds for two weeks after that you move 5 blinds away.  Jeff hunted last week on the opener and managed a handful of teal and spoonies.  He did clean up the algae from his decoy spread the day before to ensure a landing spot for the birds.  When he returned again today he was disappointed to see the algae return covering the all his previous week's labor.  This meant birds would unlikely land in the spread making calling somewhat useless and also meant we'd be pass shooting for the most part.  Had he know the pond was covered in green stuff he would have taken another blind.

The morning was slow with the occasional flyby by a teal but with the low light and speed at which they came in there were no shots fired.  Eventually we'd see spoonies fly but none in shooting distance.  Typically Jeff doesn't take shovelers and lets them pass.  Since he figured not many "good" birds were around we'd take them.  Not long did one buzz through our pond.  We both fired and it fell from a lung shot.  Since it was before 7:30 and it fell beyond our pond, club rules didn't allow us to go get it at this point.  So we marked it and would go fetch it when we were allowed.  Of course this did not go well with Kaiser as he it made him whine even more.  Kaiser is not much of a blind dog.  He never was trained to sit patiently (not that he would even had I trained him to) while hunting.  He simply is too impatient and wants to run and hunt.  I warned Jeff about it and asked whether I should leave him home but he assured me that he didn't mind.  Not knowing Jeff, I was still slightly uneasy and not sure if he was just being polite I really didn't want to tick the guy off on our first meeting.  Especially since I wanted to be invited back!  I brought Kaiser though figuring he will be annoying but if we had a cripple or bird in the tules he would make up for it.  That is exactly what happened when the time came when we could leave our blind.  We worked the area we though the bird fell and after about twenty minutes of searching Kaiser the hen shoveler our of the cattails.

Hours would pass with no action.  Jeff seemed annoyed and apologized trying to reassure me but that was not needed.  I was hunting for free and in a place I have no access to, not to mention I didn't have to endure the tedious process of the "sweat line."  I was all good. If it's slow, it's slow. Nothing we can do about so I just enjoyed the company.  Jeff and I have a lot in common and we think alike so time goes fast when conversation is easy.  Eventually Jeff saw a flock of geese in the distance and he followed them down into a nearby pond.  So we loaded our heaviest loads and headed there to jump shoot them.  Jeff misjudged their landing.  They landed on a closer pond than he thought. So he had me stay put as he would back track around the brush and try and drive them to me.  When he got to them they flew the opposite direction so he took them and nailed three all specklebellys.  There were small Canadas among them but Jeff managed to avoid them shooting the king of geese instead.  I saw one drop and saw another one cripple which Jeff gave a follow up when he reloaded.  Kaiser and I walked around to help with the retrieve.  Jeff had already picked up one and let me know they were specks and Kaiser picked up the one I saw fall.  Jeff let me know he hit a third bird and couldn't find it.  So Kaiser was tasked to find him.  Eventually Kaiser found him and gave chase as the bird tried to lift off.  Finally he caught up to it and brought the bird to me.  As it was in the high 80s we were sweating and returned to our blind.  After a quick rest in the shade of the blind we called it a day at 11.  All in all it was a good day.  Kaiser got his first taste and retrieve on geese.  The king of geese no less so I was happy even though I didn't get to pull the trigger on them but that's okay.  Thanks Jeff.  We really enjoyed ourselves and thanks for putting up with my annoying dog. 

You Won't See Us Out There

Today is September First and for the wingshooter for most of the US means opening day for doves.  I did not partake.  Don't get me wrong I love being out in the field with my dog with my double barrel in hand but some of my previous outings have left me with a bad taste in my mouth.  First every numbnut with a shotgun and a hunting license is out here.  That means crowds.  While most hunters are good people there are a subset in our group that are complete idiots.  I've seen a moron shoot a dove and when it landed 5 yards in front of him, instead of going to retrieve the bird he shot it again blowing it to Smithereens laughing the whole time.  On another instance my father once took a pellet to the face from an idiot shooting low birds.  Luckily nothing happen other than a scare but he could have easily lost an eye or worse.  Fucking idiots.  Another reason is it's hot.  Africa hot.  That's not only hard on myself but it's grueling on the dog.  Also the heat brings out the rattlesnakes and that's the last thing I want to deal with.  I could always leave the dog home but I don't want to hunt without him.  So we'll see if I pass up this first dove season again or if I go out.  It's unlikely but if I do go out it will not be on a weekend when all the crowds go out or it will be because I was invited on private property and won't have to deal with the scum.  For now though the side by sides are staying in the cabinet.

Preseason Warm Up

With the season forthcoming and since I haven't shot with Mike in a couple years, I decided to hit the skeet range.  I was also able to meet Mike's new pup, Lizzy, a pointing black lab.  The old man and I shot our side by side Merkels but Mike left his side by sides home in favor of his Benelli Ultralight.  This is the gun he takes every year to South Dakota for pheasants and since he is required to shoot nontox there he has moved away from hunting with his double barrels.  He used to use his Garbi, WC Scott or AyA but he grew tried of paying for bismuth rounds and now sticks with the Benelli that can shot safely with steel.  Mike as always showed us up  but  I actually shot better than I expected considering I haven't picked up a double since last season.  I still need to shake the rust off though.

Make Room On Your Bookshelf

Time to pay a visit to your local Barnes and Noble as they (at least my local store) have a true gem in the bargain aisle.  Treasures of the NRA National Firearms Museum by Jim Supica, Doug Wicklund and Phillip Schreir is a coffee table book that showcases all the jewels of the NRA collection. 

Considering my latest posts were all regarding airguns I thought it is appropriate to show some of the airguns in the NRA collection.  The most interesting is the Girardoni (often misspelled Girandoni) repeating air rifle, as carried by Lewis and Clark.  Google or youtube this airgun and you'll be impressed with it's ingenuity and history.

Other airguns include President H.W. Bush's Crosman Air rifle.  I recall reading about this gun in one of my father's airgun magazines.  Also contained in the collection is Prince Charles' Omega air rifle.

Theodore Roosevelt's gun collection is well represented including his .405 1895.  There are several other presidental guns from Eisenhower and Kennedy.

The book includes many of publisher Robert E. Petersen's collection which include the last Purdey .600NE ever produced. 

Among the 425 guns donated by the Petersen family is some fascinating odd ball guns like the Hoenig over-under double rifle with a twist action in equally odd .225 caliber round.

As a fan of Teutonic guns, there are several Nazi guns including one of my dream guns, a Luftwaffe survival drilling, a belt buckle gun and Hermann Goering's Merkel.

Obviously this is just a sampling of, the book and museum there are many guns of different eras and styles.  The NRA collection is so diverse and likely to please just about any gun nut, from those interested in ancient guns carried by pilgrims from the Mayflower to modern military guns to everything in between. If you consider yourself a gun enthusiast buy this book or better yet go visit the museums (one in Virgina at the NRA headquarters and the other in Missouri at the Bass Pro flagship store) in person.  I need check out these works of art.  Several of these guns shown on this post and many others can be seen and discussed on NRA museum's youtube page.

Musto Canvas And Leather Gunslip

Not many quality gunslips are available here in the States.  Most are overpriced cheap imports that are hardly befitting a fine double.  Regretting not picking up a Maremmano gunslip on sale a few years back, I've been looking for a new one ever since.  I picked up one from Musto for £108.29.

There are some real smart feature of this English-made gunslip.  First, there is protective block end that creates a pocket to fit a portion of your stock.  This creates a layer of safety in case you carry the slip incorrectly (shouldering it zipper side down).  If the heavy duty zipper is improperly secured, the gun can plummet to the ground.  The pocket at least can help prevent the gun from being dropped out of the carrier.  Another layer of safety is that the zipper has a leather pull that can be buttoned to the slip to prevent accidental slippage.

The exterior is laminated cotton twill canvas with Italian vegetable tanned leather trim.  There is an adjustable leather sling with solid brass hardware.  The interior is a soft padded quick drying synthetic fleece.  This English made gunslip is an affordable piece of kit worthy of carrying my Merkels, Darnes or any higher end shotgun.

Video From The Last Hunt

Coup de Grâce

Surprisingly the day before, we ran into or saw no hunters afield despite being a weekend.  As a result we were able to hunt all the spots I wanted to and ran into several birds.  Everyone must have stayed home to watch the playoffs.  Now with everyone back to work, I figured Monday should be better.  At least that was the theory.

Since I knew that most of my go-to spots would likely be undisturbed, I decided to start the morning checking out new spots.  The first spot was a bust and so I headed off to a pond that I had not checked out in a long while.  It was barren and half frozen.  That was okay as I wanted to make sure I remembered where it was so I could come back to it in the spring and try my luck on some largemouth.

As the pond was a bust, we drove on looking for another pond I know of and while I was unable to find it, I did find a new one.  It was completely froze off. These roads unless you drive them all the time it is easy to take a wrong road and leads you off track. 

We checked some other areas and they were also all frozen.  We then headed to one of my favorite spots.  On the first half we flushed three mallards.  I took a shot at one missing with the first shot and it looked like I nicked her with the second that caused her to spin around and changed direction, with my gun empty dad took over and dropped her down with the first shot of his Merkel Model 8 loaded with Bismuth No.4.   I tried crossing the stream thinking it was shallow but it was deceptively deep.  I wore my waders without the shoulder straps connected and had some water filled my Simms.  Kaiser and I made it across to retrieve the hen and made it back to dad to hand it to him.  We moved on and then we flushed a pair of mallards.  Having a perfect bead on the greenhead I fired but since the ducks flew behind some trees I only hit the tree.  I could tell by the impact, it would have nailed the mallard had there been no tree been there.

Having checked the rest of this area without any success, we drove off to check another section of the river I never been.    After hiking upstream some ways, I gave up on the area and moved on.  On the way out all we found was a lone merganser that I wasn't too interested in taking.  We took our lunch streamside and while eating we were buzzed by one of our Naval pilots in what appeared to be a  F-18 Super Hornet.

On another part of the river I parked along side water after checking to see if there were any ducks.  When I climbed out of the Rover, I checked the water again and from the far bank three mallards flushed.  Had I seen them I could have put a very easy stalk on them.  I walked up the river and only saw no more premium duck only "trash" ducks. 

By this time I was exhausted from four days of hunting and looked at some areas that didn't require too much hiking.  We did find two cottontails but did not take them.  With about an hour left of light, I decided to drive to an area that Dave told me was holding geese.  Having never hunted that area I drove down the dirt road and it proved to be too hard an area to hunt while tired.  It would have been a lot of bushwhacking that I was in no mood for.  The rest of the road was closed off and I had to turn around and that was the trip.  This maybe the last "trip" of the season unfortunately.  Hopefully I can get one more in but I'm not too sure that's going to happen. 

Gettin' Better

In California, At Least For This Season, We Are Allowed Two Hen Mallards On Our Daily Limits

After yesterday's sorry showing, I had high hopes for today.  Anything would have been better.  Unlike yesterday where I was just winging it, I actually had a game plan today. First, I'd check a lake that Bob had told me that the ducks hung out at the outer edges of the lake and while you can't see them in through the binos, they'd likely be hiding in the tules.  Next I's hit up one of my favorite parts of the river.  Then to my old stand by in case I couldn't get any birds.

The Impenetrable Tule Fortress That Hid 20 Or So Canvasbacks

I arrived at the lake and I glassed all I could while in the Rover.  I saw a single bird on the eastern shore so he made our way there and tried to jump the bird.  We couldn't quite find him so I glassed the far end and saw a flock of 20 canvasbacks.  I'd never seen canvasbacks in numbers, I've only seen them in singles or a pairs.  I drove to the other end and tried to make a stalk but the tules were simply too high and thick.  I tried to find an opening so I could peak out and check for the birds but I could not find anywhere to penetrate this tule fortress. 

It was hopeless as even if I climbed through the tules, I would have spooked the birds long before I made it through and had a clear shot.  We got out of there and I made it to one of my favorite places to jump shoot ducks.

Our First Goldeneye

Disappointed that I wasn't going to take, or at least try and take, my first canvasback, We were finally finding some ducks with regularity.  It was a good mix of divers and puddle ducks.  I did take my first goldeneye.  Later I would miss an easy shot at a mallard pair.  I captured my crappy shooting on the headcam.  And as I watch it here in my motel room, I'm so pissed at myself.  Such an easy shot and I can't believe I missed so bad.  I simply got overzealous and failed to keep my cool and blew it.  The first shot was behind him as I could see the water splash and I overcompensated for the second which I believe I was ahead of him.

We Wait, Hoping For Some Pass Shooting

I missed more birds than I care to admit.  The old man managed to shoot a couple and we lost one of his birds as we were separated and by the time I got to him with Kaiser the bird likely dove and was hanging on for dear life.  We made it to one of my go-to spots and I flushed a mallard pair.  Taking my first shot at the greenhead, I missed.  Thinking I made the hit I switched to the hen and took her down with my tungsten matrix number 3 shell. 

My meal-Boudin Blanc Aux Truffles With Yukon Gold Puree And Roasted Apples

Dad's dinner-Pasta Bolognese

Afterwards we tried our luck at some pass shooting but no birds came within range.  It was time for dinner, the best of this trip.  Despite it's good food the restaurant was empty and we were the only patrons at least while we were eating. 

Unforgiving Landscape of the American West

Another Bald Eagle Sighted. Given Our Location I Doubt It Was The Same Bird We Saw Yesterday

Tomorrow is our last day and hopefully it's a good one.

Refill At San Jacinto

With Ed on holiday for the next few weeks, we were able to check out on of our local wildlife areas in the hopes of taking some waterfowl.  Ed brought along his son, Kyle for the adventure.  Instead of trying to kill ourselves waking up early to sweatline it, we decided to try our luck with the refill line.

Ed picked me up at 7am and we headed off to our destination.  When we arrived and signed in we were 32nd in line.  We were offered blind A1, a not particularly desirable location but since Ed needed to be home by 3pm, I thought it prudent to take it and try our luck.  The blind is deep and requires a dog.  It hunts well in the morning but once the sun becomes high it becomes less productive.

When we arrived at the pond we made our way to the blind spot, we flushed two redheads out of the thick stuff.  Of  course our guns were slinged and unloaded so we did not even get a chance to take a shot.  It would have been a perfect shot within easy shooting range.  I've never seen a redhead in the wild so I was pretty disappointed that we didn't even have a chance to take them.

Our blind location was less than ideal, our faces were directly in the sun.  This caused at least one lone flier to flare before we could get a shot off.  Kaiser is a terrible blind dog.  He lacks the patience and simply wants to hunt.  Forcing him to sit and wait is simply torture for him.  So after several hours of waiting I let him run around.  He ended up in the water in the thick stuff behind Ed and Kyle.  While he in there he flushed out the couple dozen coots and the lone teal hiding.  Of course when it flushed out I had my gun broken and laying on my shoulder.  Ed was too late to notice it for a shot.  That hen teal was sitting there for several hours unafraid of us the whole time.

Kyle was getting impatient so I told him to come over to me and I handed him a crappy Haydel pintail whistle that's been in my duck bag unused for years.  Unlike a lousy duck call, a whistle won't spook waterfowl so I let him keep his mind busy for at least a while.  I told him to tell his dad to teach him how to blow it properly.

Around 11 we saw a trio of ducks in the distance.  Two flared away and the single came toward our pond.  Ed and I shot at about the same time and we dropped the bird.  It turned out to be a hen shoveler.  Not exactly a premium bird but at least the dog was able to have some fun and retrieve it and Kyle was able to see some action.

We ended the day sometime around noon and headed home.  It was a ridiculously hot day for waterfowling.  I believe it was around 78 degrees but such is hunting in SoCal.  Not exactly what I was hoping for but at least we had a good time.