BrentD
Well-known member
Today, it warmed up to 21F. It was sunny, and the wind so light, I could out run it on snowshoes. So Gus and I went duck scouting.
No picts of Gus on a stump today. But we do have Gus on a Muskrat Lodge. You probably can't see the ducks, but Gus and I could. A dozen mallards, wheeling hard and fast into the west wind, riding the storm from the Dakotas. Feet down, wings cupped. A few teal trailing along behind watching where the mallards go. Yup, they are as good as in the bag. Won't be long before we are ready.
There was some other game about. Frankly, Gus was much more interested in them. This one we know well. We let him get away last fall, but now we know where his back door is. He is as good as ours.
We also stumbled on this curious track. When we arrived there was no other tracks around other than this 1" wide channel winding through the snow. Much more of it than shown here.
At the far end of the track we came upon its maker, belly up, spread eagle to the sky. Dead. Blarina brevicauda (aptly the short-tailed shrew). I wonder what the story might be of his final minutes wandering the ice.
We had a good scout doing a NASCAR circuit of the entire marsh (making ever lefthand turn), we circled the entire system of channels and pools, finding three hidden holes that will undoubtedly be full of mallards and teal this fall. Almost 5 miles for me on wooden snowshoes felt mighty good after 2 weeks of more or less lockdown weather.
For Gus it was almost life-saving. He has been a little stir crazy since we closed out Nebraska's upland seasons at the end of January.
No picts of Gus on a stump today. But we do have Gus on a Muskrat Lodge. You probably can't see the ducks, but Gus and I could. A dozen mallards, wheeling hard and fast into the west wind, riding the storm from the Dakotas. Feet down, wings cupped. A few teal trailing along behind watching where the mallards go. Yup, they are as good as in the bag. Won't be long before we are ready.
There was some other game about. Frankly, Gus was much more interested in them. This one we know well. We let him get away last fall, but now we know where his back door is. He is as good as ours.
We also stumbled on this curious track. When we arrived there was no other tracks around other than this 1" wide channel winding through the snow. Much more of it than shown here.
At the far end of the track we came upon its maker, belly up, spread eagle to the sky. Dead. Blarina brevicauda (aptly the short-tailed shrew). I wonder what the story might be of his final minutes wandering the ice.
We had a good scout doing a NASCAR circuit of the entire marsh (making ever lefthand turn), we circled the entire system of channels and pools, finding three hidden holes that will undoubtedly be full of mallards and teal this fall. Almost 5 miles for me on wooden snowshoes felt mighty good after 2 weeks of more or less lockdown weather.
For Gus it was almost life-saving. He has been a little stir crazy since we closed out Nebraska's upland seasons at the end of January.
