Season Goals

[missed mallards]

Well season is about to be upon us. What have you laid out for this season?

I've got a few I'm hoping to fulfill this year.

1) Get my daughter her first dove/duck/deer. This task will be done at her will to want to pull the trigger. The understanding of taking a life is present, so I'm going to let her make the call on the killing part.
2) Make a hunt happen, write a story, get it published! It'll be trilogy of sorts. I'm wanting to make a successful hunt with my great grandfathers 11-48 16 ga, my grandfathers old stevens double barrel (his first gun), and my dads S&W Model 1000 (his only shotgun). I got the guns in a deal of sorts I will have to explain in the stories, but thought it be cool to dust them off and get some field time with them. They've been in the safe for 15 + years so getting them up and going has been quite fun.
3) The inlaws hunt. Going to try and get my FIL and brothers FIL in on a hunt. Being neither can wear boots, it adds to the challenge (duck). Hopefully it'll work out and give us some laughs at least.

As of now, that's my goals. Hopefully I'll get to fulfil them and make some memories doing so.

What say ya'll? What's on your agenda?

[msudawg8087]

Overall, just to enjoy the time that I get to spend outdoors. Have a 15 month old daughter now so hunting outings haven't been as easy to come by as they used to. That and enjoy the time with my dad hunting doves and at deer camp. He's not a duck hunter and rarely sees a deer stand anymore but loves to cut up by the fire with a cold beverage and cook breakfast.

[novacaine]

Spend the season with family, old friends, make new friends, carry some utes to hunter their first ducks, sit in the blind, sit on the ground, sit by the fire, sit on the porch (at my age there is a lot of sitting going on).
Sip some good whisky, cook some good grub, smoke a good cigar, enjoy the sunrise, enjoy the sunsets, enjoy the cool days, enjoy the foggy mornings, enjoy the bad weather, enjoy the fact that duck season is upon us.
Learn some new tactics, teach some old tactics, tell old stories, make new memories, relive old memories, pass on some old traditions, make up new traditions.....................
MISS THOSE THAT ARE GONE and last but not least, APPRECIATE AND ENJOY THOSE THAT ARE STILL HERE!!!

Man ive got a lot to do this season, i'm ready to get started.
And i left out...........shoot a few ducks

[Smoke68]

I would really like to see my hunts include new areas requiring new equipment to get there. I've had an f&f welded hull with a 23 hp Backwater longtail for a year-and-a-half now, and I haven't even mounted them up yet. I'd like to see that rig get completed into a finished looking duck boat not done, and not look like it was done in an hour the night before opening day.

Also have a couple of two year old fiberglass tubs with transoms. Want to get some layout blind doors mounted on those and be able to ease into skinny water and hunt in areas with short cover.

Seems like the last couple of years I've been long on ideas and found some pretty good deals, but just haven't made the time to complete them into experiences in the field. Goal is to see that change.

Also, my hunting buddy has a new dog that has spent this summer and fall at the trainer. Looking forward to not chasing down my own ducks, or at least taking a step in that direction.

[jtdumallard]

[novacaine]

[jtdumallard]

Anyway i can help assist in getting him in the water please let me know.

[NyssaAquatica]

Goals this year are to spend as much time as possible with family at the camp, get in a few good flooded timber hunts with my old man, and get my girlfriend her first duck.

It's also been seven years since I shot a buck, so maybe this will be the year I get back on the board with a good one.

[bigwater]

I'd like to see my daddy wave his orange hat; a signal to me and my brother to come a runnin . Ol joe has locked up tight and is on'em . We take one side of the fence row my dad has the other. Ever so slightly he starts to move in to flush the birds. But before he can do that ol
Joe goes to a slippin. Hear dad say them birds are runnin on'em.. hope they don't get up wild .

This cat and mouse game proceeds for the next minute or two and then bam... ol joe freezes up again . This time it's business . I mean business .. dad steps in close to ol joe then . Shazam. An explosion of rapid wing bursts going on in all directions. Mayhem. 5 foot off the ground goes the bird I'm locked in on. First shot is no good. Second shot a clean miss as well. Third shot misses as well but the bewildered quail has made a fatal error and appeared in my brothers gun sights. A 40+ yard takedown shot excuted by my brother puts one more bird in the tote and everyone smiles thinking of biscuits, gravy rice and fried quail. Yes I'd like to go on a sure enough wild quail hunt this year.

The above store would have take place 30 years ago . Damn I'm old