Scratching out a few....

The weather conditons and flight patterns, have not been too friendly to those of us in the foothills of NC.... but we are managing a few birds here and there.

Hunt 1: Two weeks ago (12-29-07), I had a traveling decoy ("Dirty Bird"), made by Doom Decoy Company http://www.doomdecoy.com/DoomDecoy/DOOM-Home.html. We managed a drake Mallard and a Ruddy Duck (sorry no pic of the Ruddy) while I had "dirty bird". The decoys had been to Canada, NY, the Dakotas, Utah, and went to Oklahoma when I finished up. Below is a pic of "Dirty Bird", 2 black duck decoys of mine (also from Doom Decoy), the drake mallard I shot. The black Lab (Max) belongs to a good friend of mine (Anthony). Max made a 100+ yard retrieve on the drake mallard I shot. it was a nice show from the blind, and Anthony was quite proud.
Photo: Courtesy of Anthony

Below is another pick of the drake Mallard, and the hand made call I aquired this past summer from Waccamaw Calls. It's a hand made Curley Maple mallard call, and produces one of the best feed chuckles I have ever heard (sounds like a mallard feeding on an acorn - nice and ducky). You can check out Waccamaw calls @ http://www.waccamawcalls.com/

Photo: Courtesy of Anthony

Hunt 2: This past weekend (1-5-08), I had the privilidge of hunting on a private pond in Central NC. Had a great time, and scratched out a couple ducks. Met a couple new guys, made new friends, and had a blast. The pond was frozen over, so I got to break some ice..... set some decoys.... and have some fun! :)

Photo: Courtesy of "Mac"

You can check out "Mac" and his adventures: http://www.skinnymoose.com/moosedroppings/

Thanks to Rick for the use of his layout blind, and access to hunt.... and thanks to Billy, Rick and "Mac" for the warm welcome I recieved - and for all the good company this past weekend. ;)

While hunting, I manged a drake and hen Shoveler.... and the drake had some real nice colors (almost full plumage). In the pic below, is Billy and his Chocolate Lab Hershey. Hershey made a nice "blind" retrieve on the drake "spoonie" I shot.
You can check out Billy and Hershey @ http://www.averycreek.net/ , or at some of the field trials around NC/SC this year.

Photo: Courtesy of "Mac"

It turned out to be a real nice day (nippy, but nice), and we saw some ducks and Canadas. The birds weren't cooperating the best in the world, but it was a real good time hanging with the "crowd". I thouroughly enjoyed hunting "new water", meeting new people, and making new friends.



Happy hunting,
Troy Smart
AC Caldwell County DU
Lenoir, NC