Adventures of Gunner and Moosie......

[Moosie]

So, I'm about 8 days behind with stuff. Need to get out a DHI newsletter, Should be getting some Work done, Setting up Christmas lights, Cleaning my Garage, Siding my Shop, (I'd mention the Front fence but thats a given every year.. ) ......along with a Whole lot more.

This morning I was Suposed to go Harvest Sage Seeds with Wylee, Deliver a Water Power Washer, Visit my Mom, Hang the Lights ......along with a Whole lot more. But the Wife said she hasn't gotten out of the House in about 10 days so..............

...........With Kid duty this morning I got to Experience my 2nd to Youngest HAving Diaria in his Underwear and the Youngest Screaming while the older two were fighting and Watching TV. Nothing like throwing in a kid to the Bath holding another one and Kicking 2 others.... OHHHH I know moms do it all the time but Dads are made for yelling and watching TV and Drinking beer... right ?

So, I was caught up in a Weak moment this afternoon when Gunner calls and Said he scouted 100 ducks on the River...... I agreeed to an Early AM hunt and the Wife gave me the OK as long as the Christmas lights get up tomorrow (And I had to go to a Dinner thing at the Church tomight.....)

So I headed to walmart afterwards and got my Fed stamp, came back and Found my Decoys and boots and am About to pack my waders and Shells.

Stay tooned for Pictures and Stories tomorrow, I have a Feeling something Funny will happen

 

[csutton7]

yea like you will get diareeha out there stalking quackers--can't wait for the report--chris

 

[Elkgunner]

The funny thing that happened was our AM duck hunt ended when we pulled off the river just BEFORE dark!!!!

I got to listen to Moosie call Mrs. Moosie and tell her how much he loved her....

Moosie: Hi, Hun. Just thought I would call and let you know we got off the river....
Mrs. Moosie: ______________
Moosie: Well, uhhh, it took a bit longer to float than we thought...
Mrs. Moosie: _______________
Moosie: Uhhh.... the current isn't as fast in this section...
Mrs. Moosie: _______________
Moosie: We couldn't get cell phone reception in the canyon.....
Mrs. Moosie: ______________
Moosie: Would you like me to stop and pick up something for dinner?
Mrs. Moosie: _________________
Moosie: OK, well, I love you and will be home in a bit....

Moosie to Gunner: Well, that didn't go as bad as I thought......

 

[Wylee]

Aww, come on Gunner, anyone who has hunted with Moosie has heard that scripted conversation, LOL, although it is always funny. Hope you guys killed a few birdies, lets see some pix. hump

 

[Delw]

LOL, thats funny


Delw

 

[Moosie]

I'd love to Argue and Say that converasating didn't happen but I'll save my Disagreements when Gunner stats telling his side of the story........

So the morning starts off with me waking up early and Hitting the road. Knowing I haven’t been out yet and knowing I won’t get out much this year I was Fired up. Gunner , on the Other hand was a Bit sleepy. I know he thinks people believe him that the Pants he wore (The blue and Black plaid ones) are camo but I know he sleeps in them and is just to lazy to get up and change.

I arrive at his Trailer court and they are now enforcing the Coded gate there. WTF ? like a Gate will save a Million dollar house. Geesh….. I had to call for the Code and (In your Best frog “sleepy” voice say this.. “Good Morrning ?”. He claims to have been awake but As I turn the corner the Lights just go on.

We get to the river and I’m Gung-ho, the weather was 11 Degrees when We hit the river and 19 when we got off the river. I’m guessing sometime in between it got warmer but I’m not sure at what point.

He dicks around with Getting Life jackets and an Ice Chest and some dry bags and shooting light is Upon us. I have my Long sleeve shirt and Gun and License and Ready to Kill Chit. Something about "BE PREPARED" he Mumbles in his Sleeping state but I have my gun and Licence and the Rest is just for Kush......

Shooting light is upon us and we’re barely putting in. But I was First up to Shoot and did a Fine job by dropping the First Golden eye of the day. I am Truly hopeing those people living on the River had Tempered glass in their house….

We continue on the Float down the river…….. (More later)

 

[noharleyyet]

"converasating"???...what's scary is I'm beginning to comprehend moosieisms as well as english.

...funny stuff

 

[danr55]

Don't be afraid NYH.. That just shows you're trainable!

 

[Elkgunner]

But, I think we have to give credit to who had purchased and brought the raspberry filled powdered sugar doughnuts. If it wasn't for me being "prepared", we would have not had nearly as many ducks come in, as they seemed to like it when I had powdered sugar doughnuts in my hands instead of my gun...

I don't care who you are, 11 flippin' degrees makes things move a bit slow, and putting on a river in the dark isn't the warmest thing to do.. Our plan was to take my cataraft and jump shoot ducks as we float down the islands, stopping at a spot we have hunted before and setting up decoys.

I am trying to go minimalist, and Moosie brings this foot locker box with "shells". The thing could hold about 6 cases of shells. It takes us a few minutes to find out where we throw the cat over the side of the bank, and we try and get the boat into the water down a steep icy bank in the DARK.

WE get to the edge of the river, and there is a slight problem, as the river isn't wet. For some reason, maybe the 11 degrees, the river is solid for the first 10 feet.

And it turns out I brought extra crap, like Moosie's lifejacket. For some reason, when I am on a river, and especially when the life expectancy in the river would be measured in minutes, and not very many of them, I like to wear a life jacket. Moosie has a different take on the subject that remains unclear to me.

We push off, and start hearing the first shots up and down the river. My timing was perfect..... Not worrying about shooting, I decided to stay on the oars and allow Moosie to quickly fill his limit. A few mallards get up, and he doesn't shoot. Then a goldeneye comes along, he shoots it, and about 500 mallards get up within the 70 yards in front of the boat.

So I chase down this goldeneye, watching mallards explode from the edge of the island we are trying to hunt....

 

[mtmiller]

Gunner, how much do you charge for those golden-eye hunts?

 

[Elkgunner]

MT,
I can't believe he wasted a shot on a Goldeneye. I got one later in the day by using my bare hands. They aren't the brightest ducks on the river, so I rowed over the top of it, and kept it between the tubes, finally grabbing it when it came up for air.

To me, there are two types of ducks, Mallards and non-mallards. I only shoot the Mallard type, or so I plan on.... With Moosie, it is kind of a random thing as to what is going to die next.

 

[Moosie]

He did have the rassberry Powdered donuts. And they did make for great duck bringer in'er's for when I was Bent over getting one and Gunner had one in his Mouth (Donut that is) we did have the Best of luck with ducks. (Story to follow later). He also brought Diet Pepsi, Fanta, Tab, Rootbeer, and God knows what else, I thuoght he packed for a Week let along a "short" trip down the river....

MtMiller.... It's notthe Golden Eye hunts he Charges alot for, It's the Mixed bag. Koots, Mergansers, Goldeneye.... You thinkg I'm kidding ....

So here's my Theory, Life Jackets are good, but it's hard enough for me to Kill a Duck wearing a Jacket to stay warm let alone a Life Jacket. The boats not sinking (It's a Pontoon boat not a Jet boat. And the Side of the River is only .... 1-2 ... hundred yards away

Trying to Be a Minimalist ? HAHAH !! So the Ice chest and the dry bags to my Empty dry box it's hard to compair.

Wakling out to setthe boat up was Fun.. You walk out 10 feet hoping when the Ice breaks the bottom of the Boot hits before the Top fills up....... And it worked, Barely, so we were on our way.

Now, Loosing ducks aren't fun but unfortunately it happens and I will share a Story with you. Although I'd like to Say the Stealth Gunner had wth the 18' KAT with 15' Poles sticking out brought us into the ducks I think sometimes Ducks jsut are Stupid. And we came Accross such ducks. 3 mallards Flew up. BANG, Moosie knocks one down. BANG, the 2nd Green head hits the Water.. and OHHHH... Wait, the last one is a Hen and when I post pictures MtMiller will make fun of me so I let it fly.. (BTW, we talked alot about MtMiller on our hunt. I wonder how many other people do too.. HUMMmmmm)

So, we retrieve the First duck, It's dead and We chase down the 2nd duck. Not having a Dog we row over to it, well, Chasing it actually. I didn't shoot again due to the Alignment of the house in the BAckground. We chase it to the Cattails and poof it snuggels in there. Jsut as Gunner hops out to Get it, Duck #1 comes alive, thatnx us forthe Ride and Flaps into the Bushes. CHIT, 2 ducks down 2 get away. We beat the Brush for over 10 mins, back and Forth, Grid lines, listening for Movement, and I even Tried sniffing them out...... but unfortunately ....they got away...

So it was Back to the River................

 

[Elkgunner]

I am not sure what kind of bullets Moosie brought, but they must have been the pretend kind. Two mallards splash, and I think wow, that is the best I have ever seen Moosie shoot. I row over quickly and get the dead one and set it on the side of the cat, right next to me. The duck is dead in the water, I lay him on his back, and his head slumps onto his chest. I row quickly to get the one that is swimming/diving and we get to the cattails, and just as Moosie jumps to grab the 2nd one, the first one arises from the dead, tells me thanks for the ride to shore, and jumps off the boat and heads into the cattails.

There was quite a bit of cahos for the next few minutes, as we are chasing ducks, trying to keep the boat from drifting away, and breaking thru ice.

At one point, for some reason, Moosie gets into the cataraft, pushes it into the faster current, and then throws away one of the oars, into the water. I am not sure what the point of tossing 1/2 of our horsepower into the river....

 

[Moosie]

With my Gun slipping 1/2 way in the Water the Oar was a 2nd thought..... Although Caos hit, I managed to Save us like I always do. Gunner let the Birds get away.......

And don't let Gunner fool you with his great Shooting ability.... He claims to shoot most of my ducks in years past with me having Blank shells..... but thats when him and Me shoot at the same time. I saw First hand what happens when he's under preasure. We float down the river to or spot and Get out. I start setting up Decoys and he put the boat away. He comes back and we sit and Talk about how it must have warmed up to 15 degrees. As we're sitting and watching Ducks........ "SPLASH". So I see this greenhead on my Left about 30 yards away. NICE !!! It's in the water. Since i knocked a Few birds down earlier I offer this Fine Duck to Gunner and he Accepts the Challenge. He can't se it and I loose sght too because it tucks in close to the bank near us. He get's up and it doesn't fly, then he walks over to it.WOOSH WOSHHHHH it takes off. I think, NICE !! And wish I had my Camcorder. BANG !!!! Bird tips a Bit I thought but keeps flying...... BANG.... BANG !!!! And duck turn in the Air as to SAY "Missed me !!!" I would have backed him up butthe Duck at this point was At least 50 yards out now so I decided to let it fly.......

Gunner must have just been warming up because the next 2 ducks that came in he got.....I'll slip out for that update in a little bit

 

[Nemont]

 

[Elkgunner]

Yeah, Moosie saves the day by yelling like a little girl "Help, get the oar!!!", so I break off the pursuit of the bornagain Duck and head to deeper water grabbing the wayward oar. I then have to throw it to him as he has drifted out into the channel. I consider throwing at his head.....

Keep in mind, we have gone about a 1/4 mile and all this has happened, and I have even unstrapped my gun yet.

You can't buy this kind of quality guiding just anywhere.

We get down to our spot, and unload all our crap, and I go hide the boat upstream. When I walk down, I jump a crippled hen mallard, but we have ducks flying, so I let her run off into the sage brush.

I walk back to the set up, and Moosie has set the decoys. He has decided that all the decoys should be set up within a 5 foot radius. I suggest he untangle the anchor weights and perahps set the decoys up so the ducks might see them....

 

[Moosie]

OHHHHH here is a Picture :

 

[mtmiller]

Did you guys have pretty good luck floating up to the birds and jumping them within gun range? I tried it once and didn't have very good luck. Maybe because I kept sticking my fat head up to see if there were any birds around. |oo

Note to self, move back to Idaho. Every hunt is an adventure.

 

[Elkgunner]

MT,
Did you used to live in Idaho? What part?

Floating down on them worked pretty good the first hour, as they were all tucked up in the vegetation along the edge. As you moved down, even if you jumped them, there was always a straggler or two. We had one that allowed us to pass within 5 feet of him, wait until we were 10 yards downstream, and then bust out behind us like a whitetail buck would.

I have to compare this to Moosie's new theories on duck hunting from a fixed location. He has now decided, thru intensive research that the ducks are either going to land or not land. I am not sure how he was able to come to that conclusion, but that is his theory.

He has also decided that calling doesn't work, so he did not even bring a duck call with us. Despite the millions of calls sold and used around the country, Moosie has now decided that calling doesn't work.

And coupled with his theory of keeping the decoys all in one spot, he may be correct with the "either going to land or not land" conclusion.

Oddly enough, all of our ducks that landed landed anywhere from 15 yards to 50 yards downstream from our decoys. |oo

 

[Moosie]

Most Ducks were tucked into the Banks at this time of the day My theory was Tuck the Ducks into close ("realistic" being the word) to the banks with 2 a little further out just to get their attention. I also had a theory on Duck calling how it was a Waste of time. we had alot more ducks comeing in then the Yahoo's calling 24/7

So on the Ducks.. After Gunner mised the Mallard We decided to break out the donuts. So I hand Gunner a Donut and he lays his Shotgun over his lap. I set my Gun away and am leaning up to the Gearbox (You know the one he was Complaining about ? YAH, it had our Food in it.....) and he casually says, "Ducks". Now, normally I don't think twice. Ducks fly all the time, But then He said.. "Uhhh they are landing" so I turn around nd sit and 3 greenwing teal land. So, here I am with no gun close by and 2 ducks 20 yards from me. I tell Gunner to shoot. I guess you can't put a Donut down in the State of Idaho because he said NO way as he was Eating and Liked watching the Ducks. The soon fly off and He doesn't spill one crumb.

Ithink what a Fuggin Moron I was not having the Gun and Plop down to eat mine. the same 2 tela come back and Guess what, No gun again. As they hover and Flare instead of Grabbing my gun I laugh and think, This is fun !!!!

the ducks apperently wanted to die as they flew into our neighbors decoys and were both shot....

So We're sitting down and 2 Mergansers come in. Now I'm not much of a "SHOPPER" but I have a Duck shopping list and a Female merganser is on it. they are cute to watch though. So they Swim up towordsthe Decoys and As they Duck under I talk to Gunner and he replies then we stop and They surface. We were about to shoot them at 15 years when one came up with a little fish. We let them Finish eating before.....

(OHH look, speaking of fish It's lunch time )