LABOR DEPARTMENT FARM BILL AND MALLARDS

I trust you are aware of The Labor Department's proposed regulations concerning children working on farms.

It is painfully obvious that today's farm families cannot make decisions for themselves. It takes a skilled community organizer from the farm rich area of metropolitan Chicago to do for them what they cannot do for themselves. How did our Republic survive the last 250 years without him?

You may not have been aware of a proposal buried deep within the regulation that would affect duck seasons for years to come. (Stretch Pelosi proclaimed "We have to implement the regulation to find out what is in the regulation. Away from the fog of the controversy amid the fact we make up this crap as we go along.") 

Deep (read hidden) within the Labor Department’s proposed Child Labor Laws protecting the proletariat  children from the parental bourgeoisie on family farms, was a proposal to protect young mallards from the grueling, oppressive rigors of the migration. 

The young mallards of the current year’s hatch will no longer be allowed to be in the air for more than eight hours in any twenty-four hour flight period. Night flight is strictly prohibited. Mandatory rest periods of a minimum of one hour must be allowed every two hours during the eight hour flight day. Adequate food and water must be made available during said rest period. 

In addition, the migration must be supervised by adult birds in a ratio of no less than 2 adults for every 8 juveniles. If the ratio falls below this level due to adults having a confrontation with Mr. Benelli, Mr. Beretta or Mr. Browning, juveniles must wait for replacement adults before continuing migration.

Hilda and Potus trust these regulations will be accepted in the spirit intended. The duck population cannot be trusted to govern themselves.

Addendum: Secretary Saladbar has instructed the US Fish and Wildlife to continue research on replacing steel shot with mini-nets. The move will facilitate a catch and release component heretofore missing from waterfowling. To date tests have been very encouraging. Dogs may be used to retrieve captured birds providing their teeth have been removed. Retrievers must be approved, inspected and registered before they are allowed in the field. The following are approved inspection sites: Humane Society, PETA or the following PETA representatives:  Alec Baldwin, Pam Anderson or Metta World Peace (watch out for the elbow!) When asked for a comment on the farm bill and the proposed 'mini-net' shotgun shells, Harry Cattails replied, as an aide wiped the spittle from his chin, "I am going to check on my fig and pomegranate trees on my way back from the Cowboy Poetry Contest in Elko."

God Bless the USA!

2012 TURKEY SEASON

As I am penning this post at 10:30 am on April 19, we just completed the sixth day of the 2012 Turkey Season.

I am pleased to report seven hunters have bagged twelve turkeys. If you count the tom I bagged this morning that would be lucky 13!  Perhaps not so lucky for the turkeys, but very exciting for the hunters.

I had the most amazing morning I have ever had while hunting turkey. I did not have hunters scheduled today so I went out by myself. I settled into one of my blinds and waited for the sunrise to illuminate the Nebraska landscape.  As the morning grew brighter, the stillness was broken by the sound of turkey leaving the roost.

I had placed my four Dave Smith decoys (three hens and a jake) fifteen yards from the blind. After allowing a few minutes for them to get settled, I let out a soft chirp. A gobble immediately rang out in response. A couple more chirps followed by a seductive purr and the tom was on the run. Not just one tom, but an eight-man football team! They ran up to the decoys and proceeded to kick the hell out of my jake decoy. They took turns jumping on his back beating him with their wings. The decoy was soon on the ground but the scrum continued.  It was if I was watching the All Blacks pummel Les Bleus.

Assuming they had convinced my decoy to abstain from any coital bliss, they began to parade for the lovely ladies. As the biggest tom separated himself from the melee, Mr. Beretta sent a calling card of #2 shot his way. The gesture was unwillingly accepted. The remaining seven casually sauntered 30 yards away and remained there for another twenty minutes before moving off.

I have been blessed to witness another scene in God's magnificent outdoors.

8 toms on my jake decoy

Nate Houle 2 toms with bow

The one that did not get away

"Nobody who does not appreciate the majesty of the hunt should be allowed to disgrace the bird by killing it."

Paraphrase from Norman Maclean

RECAP 2012 SNOW GOOSE SEASON

The abnormally warm weather of winter 2011-2012 presented us with new challenges. Two years ago we arrived to find three feet of ice on our ponds. When I arrived on February 15th, two of our ponds were completely open and the third had just a light layer of ice. The first scout flocks were already in the area. We applied a full-court press in order to ready our spreads as quickly as possible.

What occurred over the next three weeks was truly epic. Our hunters harvested 980 snow geese. On March 1st, three hunters harvested 62 snows! March 5th was our largest one day total with 112 geese from our three locations. On March 9th we killed 66 birds and on March 11th they were gone.

We had a banner year on banded birds.  We had two neck collared geese. In addition we had six leg banded geese. All the geese were banded in the far north of the Northwest Territories of Canada.

I have been hunting spring snow geese in this area since 1996. This was the first year we did not have any snow. It always snows in early March in southeast Nebraska!

100% of our groups have re-booked for the 2013 season. I am adding another location next year to accommodate our increased demand.

I invite you to join me for a waterfowling adventure of a lifetime. We are now taking reservations for the 2013 spring snow goose season.

Scenes from the 2012 Snow Goose season.

SIEGFRIED AND ROY SUCK

 If you think pulling rabbits out of a hat or making white tigers disappear or having a tiger eat you for a snack is real magic, you would have to be impressed by the waterfowl season that we pulled off last year.

Our mallard hunting was very consistent throughout the season. My hunters bagged limits or near limits from mid-November through the end of the season on January 12th. The totals for the season saw a 15% increase over the 2010-2011 season.

The Canada goose season was a different story. We experienced unseasonably warm weather during the entire fall and winter. The geese did not follow their normal migration patterns because they didn't have to. The majority of our geese never made it past Montana. Some geese stayed in southern Saskatchewan the entire winter!

The annual Goshen County 2-Shot Goose Hunt is held the second weekend in December. During this year's event twenty seven geese were harvested compared to ninety seven geese last year. (This year's winning team hunted from WyoBraska Waterfowl's Lingle pit!)  At a recent Wyoming Game and Fish meeting, the Chief Waterfowl Biologist reported the annual aerial survey of Goshen County showed the lowest Canada goose count since 1993. In spite of the dismal numbers we harvested over 600 hundred geese.(sshh...lets keep that between us) Under those circumstances that is way better than making a stupid white tiger disappear.

I can't thank my incredible clients enough. Your support over the years is truly gratifying. Nearly every group has re-booked for next season, and several groups have added additional days to their hunt.

Thank you for making the 2011-2012 a very successful and rewarding season.

LAST DAY!

The 2011-2012 waterfowl season drew to a close on Sunday, February 12th. We had an incredible season in spite of warm weather and a less than impressive Canada goose migration.

The decoys are in storage. The blinds and pits are cleaned and secured until next fall.  As usual, my good friends from Park City, Eric Lobdell, Jeff Sporley, Garrett Klein and "The Polish Pistol" David Kalinski were here to help with the cleanup. We hunted in the mornings and then put things away in the afternoon.

I am off to Fairbury in a couple of days to prepare for the spring snow goose season and the turkey season. My Administrative Staff and apprentice Brayden are off to Phoenix for a couple of weeks for a well deserved vacation.

I will post a more complete wrap-up at a later date.

Thank you for a great season!

Eric, Jeff, Joe, Polish Pistol, Garrett

AND THEN THERE WERE "SOME"!

The second annual Tom Harpstreith Memorial Youth Hunt was held on Sunday, January 22nd. Forty area youth, ages 10-17, were treated to a day of Canada goose hunting. In the tradition of avid goose hunters everywhere, the day began early.Registration at 5:00 AM was followed by a complimentary breakfast at the Pineapple Grill.  The breakfast was provided by a wonderful client of mine, Jeff Meyer of Jacksonville, FL, owner of Pathfinder Ranch in Alcova, WY.

I am humbled by the support of my clients in making this a memorable day for the kids.  Friends of WyoBraska Waterfowl contributed over $4,000.00 to support the hunt.

Twenty local hunters who donated their time and pits served as guides for the kids. The Youth Hunt is not a competition. It is our way of introducing kids to the sport of waterfowling.

If you have been following the blog (and if not, why not?) you know that we have had an unusually warm winter. Southern Alberta and Saskatchewan and all of Montana have been warm as well. The geese never migrated in the numbers we are accustomed to seeing. We were all concerned about the quality of the hunt for the kids. More than one volunteer guide told me a tale of woe regarding their goose hunting so far. One pit normally has harvested over 200 geese by this time and they have shot 5! Some pits have not had a shot all year. Until Sunday.

I am certain that my good friend, Tom Harpstreith, was responsible for the storm that hit Montana last week. Snow coupled with below zero temperatures for several days pushed a number of fresh birds into our area. Many pits that had not bagged a goose all year shot limits on Sunday. Every pit had shots at geese.  More geese were bagged during this hunt than were harvested during the Goshen County 2-Shot Goose Tournament in December. Thank you my dear friend, I know you had a hand in the storm. The kids thank you as well.

The two hunters I had with me epitomize the purpose of the hunt. Ten year old Cade Herring had a hunting accident in December. Cade lost his thumb and little finger on his left hand to a shotgun blast. His desire to hunt and experience the outdoors has not been diminished by his accident. Joining Cade in the pit was his good friend Jared Myrtle. Cade and Jared did not want a parent to accompany them on the hunt because they wanted to experience a guided hunt on their own.

Think they were excited? The boys slept in their layout blinds the night before the hunt. How cool is that?

On the way to the Lingle pit, I explained the pit we would be hunting was Tom's favorite pit. The designated retriever for the day was Tom's Lab, Awesome, aka Aussie. Both young men were quick to grasp the significance of the honor that had been bestowed upon them. Once in the pit, Cade was informed that he was sitting in Tom's chair. His response was "I can't believe I am hunting in Tom's pit, with his dog and sitting in his chair. This is the best day of my life!" Quite impressive for a ten-year old.

The hunt ended at 12:00. Everyone gathered for lunch at The Little Moon Super Club in Henry owned by Ben Hager. Ben served on the organizing committee and guided in the hunt as well. The complimentary lunch  for the hunters and parents was provided by Bret Van Rensselaer of High Plains Wingshooters. Thank you Bret. Following the lunch a goose calling contest was held for the young hunters. Brett Guth won the 14-17 year old age group and Kash Kaufman  won the 10-13 year old age group. The winners were presented with Zink goose calls. The highlight of the day was a drawing for a new Benelli Black Eagle 20-gauge shotgun. This is the exact gun that Tom shot for many years. The winner of the drawing was Hannah Woster of Torrington. Hannah  had to borrow a gun for the hunt. Is it coincidence that last year's winner of the shotgun also did not own a shotgun? I think not. Thanks again Tom!

We had very few geese and then there "SOME"!

Trent Tatum Photography

AN EPIC LAST DAY

The duck season closed in Nebraska on January 11th. I had one of my long-time groups from Park City, UT, here for three days. We hunted the river that day. It was an epic mallard hunt.

We woke that morning to light snow and blustery NW winds. There was a certain amount of anxiety on my part on what the day might hold for us. In the six years I have hunted the river in Nebraska I have never had a bad hunt in the snow. Today was no exception.  The designated retriever for the day was Dani, the Platte River specialist. There is not a dog anywhere that can hunt the river better than Dani. 

From first light the sky was filled with mallards. The ducks were very responsive to the calls. My Dad, Michael, was with us in the blind. We make a formidable duo on our Carlson duck calls. We have been responsible for the demise of many mallards over the years. As legal shooting time passed we had several flocks of 20-30 birds inside ten yards over the decoys but because of the poor light conditions we didn't shoot because we could not tell the drakes from the hens. We practice "Green Only" at WyoBraska Waterfowl. 

We did experience an occasional lull but it would not last over twenty minutes and the ducks were back on us in full force. My hunters had their limit of 15 drakes by 8:30. We also bagged six Canada geese that morning. For the next couple of hours we called in  hundreds of mallards.  It is a joy just to watch them.

It was a great finish to a great season.