branthunter
12-22-2008, 02:12 PM
Took my son-in-law, down with my daughter from Ft. St. John for Xmas, out yesterday for his first look at ducking. He's wanting to try it but just has his firearms certificate and not his CORE yet so he couldn't shoot but we couldn't have asked for a better day to introduce him to the game. There's nothing like the anticipation of running down the river in a major snow.http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3391.jpg
He really enjoyed helping with the decoys and and trying out the blind's eye view.http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3392_2.jpghttp://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3408_2.jpghttp://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3413_2.jpg
He even got into the "look at me" posing.http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3407.jpg
Mr. Eagle kept us company across the ditch and when I dropped one on the ice right in front of him he took a couple of swoops at it but then gave up when I started across in the punt.http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3396.jpg
Jesse had her first introduction to ice/snow hunting and again performed like a champ. The cold never fazed her and a couple of times she had to lunge through flow ice to get the bird (like the patch shown in the eagle pic). There was quite a bit of drift flow that came out of the channel when the tide dropped and I had to get the tow boat and push it to the far side of the ditch to avert disaster.http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3398.jpghttp://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3400.jpghttp://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3405.jpghttp://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3419.jpg
Passed up several limits of widgeon waiting to fill out on mallards but there were enough coming off the marsh and river to eventually fill the bag.http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3410.jpghttp://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3422.jpg
The BPS functioned without a hitch, unless you call the times it's handler missed "gimmes" a hitch. Today, again, Xmas keeps us at home instead of out taking advantage of this once a year opportunity. Maybe we'll be lucky and get another freeze after all the preparations of the season are done.
He really enjoyed helping with the decoys and and trying out the blind's eye view.http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3392_2.jpghttp://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3408_2.jpghttp://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3413_2.jpg
He even got into the "look at me" posing.http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3407.jpg
Mr. Eagle kept us company across the ditch and when I dropped one on the ice right in front of him he took a couple of swoops at it but then gave up when I started across in the punt.http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3396.jpg
Jesse had her first introduction to ice/snow hunting and again performed like a champ. The cold never fazed her and a couple of times she had to lunge through flow ice to get the bird (like the patch shown in the eagle pic). There was quite a bit of drift flow that came out of the channel when the tide dropped and I had to get the tow boat and push it to the far side of the ditch to avert disaster.http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3398.jpghttp://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3400.jpghttp://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3405.jpghttp://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3419.jpg
Passed up several limits of widgeon waiting to fill out on mallards but there were enough coming off the marsh and river to eventually fill the bag.http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3410.jpghttp://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo126/branthunter/snowhunt%20Don%2008/IMGP3422.jpg
The BPS functioned without a hitch, unless you call the times it's handler missed "gimmes" a hitch. Today, again, Xmas keeps us at home instead of out taking advantage of this once a year opportunity. Maybe we'll be lucky and get another freeze after all the preparations of the season are done.