Veterans Day Hunt

[Les Becassines 0]

Yesterday wsa the day that we honor veterans that have served our country in the military. Many people don't have that day off from work but I am fortunate that I do. As has been customary on this date for the last handful of years I went snipe hunting.

 

I got up early enough to be out of the house at 6:00. About halfway to the lake I noticed that it was lighter than I thought it would be so I gave the gas pedal a little extra foot pressure. The procedure at the landing was a fire drill. I had both hands going at the same times, throwing junk in the boat, attaching the trolling motor, tightening the wingnut connections on the battery. From the time I stepped out of my truck until I was in the boat poling away from the landing no more than two minutes could have elapsed. It might have been not much over one minute.

 

I left the landing and headed to the open water. I wanted to tary and get some sunrise pictures and also to see how many ducks were roosting at the lake and which way they were heading when they left. Since I was late getting there the birds were already moving out. I didn't see many but I don't know how many had flown in the previous five to ten minutes. There weren't very many clouds for the light to reflect off of so the sunrise pictures are somewhat plain.

 

 

 

 

I took my time going to the area I have been hunting and by then most of the fog had burned off. Without any breeze overnight the grass was wet and so was anything that walked through it. I wore a thin fleece jacket that worked out well. I warmed up quickly and the jacket got hung on a tree until picked it up on the way out. My hands took a bit longer to thaw after getting wet from poling and handling the boat but after just the first few shots I could fell everything pretty well.

 

 

 

 

 

This is something of a unique position to find a bird in with his head bent backward. I'm sure he skidded across the water and pads and when he hit the stalks of the arrowheads it caused him to be contorted like this. It looks uncomfortable.

 

 

I put a pad on this 20 gauge Grulla to see if I could tell a difference in how well I shot it. The stock is 14 1/2" but that pad makes it 15 1/8". It didn't seem to make any difference but regardless of stock dimensions I have yet to find one that I shoot any better than any other day in and day out. I'm sure if I didn't switch around so much I'd become familiar with the fit, feel, and balance of a particular gun. So far I am off to a better start than I thought I would be a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Paddywoodcock 0]

Thank you so much for this nice reportage on your day hunting! I am also a "snipe specialist" and I am impressed by the bags of birds that you are getting I had a look at your website as well, congratulations! Great job!

[bullmastiff 615]

Some stunning Photos and a great write up, thank you for sharing it with us.

 

Regards

 

Luke.