South Dakota!!
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 2:55 pm
Got back last week, but been trying to catch up at work. Is it possible to drown in emails??
My first time to the prairies.
First morning. After being marooned near D.C. all of last season, hot damn it felt good to pick up a heavy strap!!
The next day, we found a pothole that thousands of mallards were using during the day. Holy. Cow.
Same routine, different day. Find a buncha ducks, whack a buncha ducks. And a coupla geese.
Tried an afternoon goose hunt to finish up w/ the geese for the day. Didn't work out as well as we hoped, but watching these two cup up from a quarter mile away and then bagging them both was definitely one of my trip highlights.
FINALLY, on the last day, we found some mallards, that to me, acted like mallards, ie, hole shy. Almost glad the bull can snuck in while I was out picking up birds...I had to fly out and didn't need the hassle of shipping his booty to the taxidermy man!! Think time is 'bout up on that layer of tape?
All in all...wow. Some of the concetrations of birds I saw up there were just...wow. Yall that haven't been to the breeding grounds owe yourselves a trip up there. And we didn't even bother with the pheasants, even though they run around and across highways like Roadrunner. You can almost hear 'em going, "Beep! Beep!" My only regret is that we didn't really get into any swans. I got drawn for a swan permit, but only saw six or eight the whole time I was there. Oh well, man's gotta have a reason to get back, right??
My first time to the prairies.
First morning. After being marooned near D.C. all of last season, hot damn it felt good to pick up a heavy strap!!
The next day, we found a pothole that thousands of mallards were using during the day. Holy. Cow.
Same routine, different day. Find a buncha ducks, whack a buncha ducks. And a coupla geese.
Tried an afternoon goose hunt to finish up w/ the geese for the day. Didn't work out as well as we hoped, but watching these two cup up from a quarter mile away and then bagging them both was definitely one of my trip highlights.
FINALLY, on the last day, we found some mallards, that to me, acted like mallards, ie, hole shy. Almost glad the bull can snuck in while I was out picking up birds...I had to fly out and didn't need the hassle of shipping his booty to the taxidermy man!! Think time is 'bout up on that layer of tape?
All in all...wow. Some of the concetrations of birds I saw up there were just...wow. Yall that haven't been to the breeding grounds owe yourselves a trip up there. And we didn't even bother with the pheasants, even though they run around and across highways like Roadrunner. You can almost hear 'em going, "Beep! Beep!" My only regret is that we didn't really get into any swans. I got drawn for a swan permit, but only saw six or eight the whole time I was there. Oh well, man's gotta have a reason to get back, right??