Bring on the Waterfowl

The boat blind on opening day,Blackwater Swamp, Va

The Virginia Waterfowl season opened a little over two weeks ago without a bang,pun intended.Very few local birds were moving and the resident geese didn't want to play.So what's a waterfowler to do?Enjoy the sunrise and catch up with a hunting buddy I haven't seen since last year.We set out early,minus a certain brother that didn't show up,and went through the motions.Then the crickets started talking,yes crickets I know it's wrong to hear crickets while duck hunting but we did.We told stories,watched the deer follow each others scents through the swamp and enjoyed the calm weather and sea smoke.It was a good drill,end of story.

Goose down!

That was the opening day and no hunting on Sunday brings us to Monday.My new found hunting buddy down the road is addicted to goose hunting.He is a big time deer hunter and just recently retired,so he took up goose hunting.He had only killed one goose and wanted a chance to go out in the duck boat.Easy choice because he owns fields and swamps in some key areas I would love a chance to hunt.I informed him that 48 hours earlier the geese didn't cooperate but we could try again.The geese for the most part didn't cooperate but I did manage to turn a group of six.They got close enough to take a shot and a nice dose of Hevi-Shot brought the goose down through the trees into the swamp.That was the end of the trip,yay Virginia duck hunting.My job was done,he killed a goose and invited me to hunt his property around Christmas.The weather is starting to turn now and the birds are slowly moving South.I have another two weeks of work and then I'm off for the Holidays.I can't wait to get out there again.

Rig 'Em Right Jerk Rig-Field Test take 1

I just wanted to go hunting and relax,now look at me

Unfortunately there will have to be more than one field test for this "rig".The reason,the first test didn't go so well.It was opening day for waterfowl in Virginia.The boat was loaded,the jerk rig had been deployed on land to better understand the "easy" set up.The weather was calm and cool,around 34 degrees with zero wind.A perfect day to try out the new jerk rig I purchased earlier this year.I needed movement and this was the exact reason I called upon the Rig 'Em Right Jerk Rig.I should have hung up the phone during that "call".

Duck hunting is fun!

So to keep this brief let me tell you that I took zero pictures.Seriously,what good are pictures when it is pitch black out and you are holding a mass of tangled line that is hung up under the boat on a rivet?Oh and your buddy is in stitches that your fancy new rig isn't working out like the directions said it would.It looked better on the shelf I think is what he kept saying to me.So it went down like this.I placed the anchor of the jerk rig out,my buddy slowly let out line.We came to the first gang rig clip and I placed the decoy on and overboard he went.We repeated this process two more times until all hell broke loose.We came to the forth gang rig clip and noticed that is was awkwardly bent out of shape.This is a kind way of saying it was all jacked up on Mountain Dew!This clip was so screwed up that it wouldn't close after I applied the tugboat dude method of hossing it in.This takes place when brute strength isn't enough and I bring anger into the situation.The end result is usually complete annihilation of whatever the Hoss is applied to.So almost as soon as I had it semi fixed enough to use for the day,the line became tangled under the boat.See I had to stop paying line out in order to apply the Hoss method and some extra line went over the side and got tangled up.Tangled up like a cracked out kitten in Grandmas yarn drawer.So that was it,with the sun coming up we took it back in the boat and I cursed it.I blamed it on everything,except myself of course.If you are keeping track that was strike two for the Rig 'em Right Jerk Rig.The first was the frayed bungee line right out of the box.This second slip up I attribute to the faulty gang rig clip,which I have now fixed.I am willing to get it another try and I will.Unfortunately this won't happen for about a month.I just got back to work,I mean I do have to pay bills.Coincidentally talking about about name brand products doesn't pay very well,who knew.I hope everyone is enjoying the overly warm weather on the East Coast and I hope it gets much colder in the next month.Thanks for tuning in!