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Freedom intensifies……..

I’ve not seen one in real life, sad.

 

Monday vibes.

 

They are THICK here.

JUST NOW Saw one watching while I was stringing Christmas lights! Really Good omens.

 

yeah, I’ve actually seen more bald eagles now than black bears.

these guys were reintroduced at the bottom of the Hudson River (NYC) years back and have moved all the way up into the Catskills, Adirondacks and now the Finger Lakes naturally.
They’re trying the same thing with Ospreys now.
Pretty cool.

 

They are bad ass birds.

A few years ago I was fishing with a buddy on Crowley Lake. A pair of Balds was in the area. The male finally spotted a fish and did the death plunge. Sure enough he comes out with this 14"ish trout. The female comes right up on him and starts flying super close. I've seen Balds and Ospreys go at it mid-air before over food and this wasn't that. This was more like they where playing.

The female suddenly inverts. Swear to god. The bird is flying inverted about 10' below the male. Then the male drops the fish. As it's falling the female grabs it out of mid-air and flies away while the male continues to hunt. It was one of those "That was the coolest thing I've ever seen" moments.

 

playing with their prey like cats. Only they’re flying, haha.

 

When the valley was flooding the eagles were not only feasting, they were training their young. My wife and I took a walk when our road was closed (flooding). We were actually in awe as they grabbed various floating rodents from the flood waters.

https://outdoor-society.com/the-best-eagle-watching-in-the-pacific-northwest/

 

A few years ago I was out duck hunting with my dad and brother and we were having a pretty slow morning. Crappy weather, wasn’t seeing many birds, and only had a couple in the bag. We finally get a flock to come into the decoys and knock down a couple more and cripple one. On my way to pick up the cripple and all of a sudden a bald eagle dives down and picks him up. We had no idea he was even in the area. It was about 30 yards from me. I turn around and everyone was watching amazed. I wasn’t even mad that he got away with my kill. Naturally we didn’t have our GoPro running that day because of the crappy weather.

 

Yeah, I really wish I got that moment on video too.

I used to duck hunt a shit ton. We considered crappy duck hunting weather to be blue bird days. When it was raining or snowing the ducks fly all day. When it's blue bird you get a 15 minute window in the AM and PM. If your birds fly during sunny skies maybe I should have been hunting the Mississippi Flyway instead of the Atlantic. Duck hunting in Missouri is on my bucket list though.

 

exactly, any time there was a cool front coming through we made damn sure to be in the blind. Blue bird days we would try to hunt the evenings because they’d always show up at the end of shooting hours. Had some good hunts but the birds don’t make it this far south any more. There are a few good spots, but they’re high dollar now. When GTii moons I’ll be able to hunt the good spots again

 

When GTii moons we'll set up a hunt on private land in Missouri. Then off to AK to fish for some Bows and maybe get a blacktail hunt in.

Here's one of my funny duck hunting stories.

My mom wouldn't let me get a gun until I turned 16. Once I did I spent the entire summer shooting 1000's of rounds at skeet and sporting clay. The early fall was spent pheasant hunting. By the time duck rolled around I was stoked. Duck has always been my favorite wild game to eat.

The very first day of the season I'm in the marsh for the first time. My buddy Mike is about 50 yards down. It's dark and cold and raining hard. Perfect first day. As twilight starts I can hear the birds flying by. If you duck hunt you know that sound. My stoke level is through the roof.

Just as legal shooting hours start I see a lone flyer. It's 40 yards out and closing. That bird is mine. I bring up my 12 gauge and just before I pull the trigger I hear my buddy Mike shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Don't shoot. It's a fucking seagull!"

Yep. For my very first duck I was milliseconds away from blasting a seagull. After a few more days in the marsh I got way better at identifying birds on the fly. lol

 

The first of the social justice movements...

 

That's what they do to save energy...Female returns to the nest to feed the young...male looks for next fish...Once their young can hunt they drop the wounded critters for the young to catch...
This led me to find this one...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8uec-obWA8

 

That's why steel shot...
Have some fun debating...

 

I knew the sunny clip was inbound

 

For the Amazon bot

$12 Ident-I-Cards Waterfowl Set of 9 Freshwater Ducks and Geese Identification Cards

https://www.amazon.com/Waterfowl-Ident-I-Cards-Freshwater-Ducks-Identification/dp/B008ACWNBY

 

Wife wants to do a craft project...adding brass legs to a table...
I KNOW she wants to do this on her own and if I say anything I face wrath...So I make coffee and breakfast and sit back..
Hardware that came with the legs has 3/4" wood screws...This will not work with 1/2" wood so I tell her the type of wood screw to get 1/2" steel...I have one laying around, show her the depth with the thickness of the legs and they will be just right..
She goes to the hardware store and comes back with 1/2" brass because they look nicer and match the legs (that will be attached through the bottom so...)
I say "Ok, watch out because brass is real soft, and tends to strip so go easy with the driver"
She's ready to pre-drill the holes for the legs. I say "Probably use the 5/32..." She decides on using the 1/16 quick change hex bit for my Dewalt impact driver...I'm of the opinion that based on the hardware she's pre-drilling for that she'll need at least 5/32 but hey...not my project...
She's screwing in the brass on the first leg...strips out the first 2 screws...
"These stupid things are just shredding..."
sshhhh....
Now I have to go back to the store and get more
Mind you hardware store in 5 min away...
Comes back with more screws...
Next 4 holes being pre-drilled
on the 3rd hole she snaps the bit in half...
"What? The stupid bit broke"
did you hit any metal or anything...

So now she goes back to the hardware store to get another 1/16 bit
"Ok, make sure you get the hex quick change bits..."

Comes back 15 min later with the new bit set..
Dewalt...
She immediately opens the bits...
WHat the? Where's the adapter for these?

Spoiler: Hmmmmm....

Um...I don't have a bit chuck adapter for that...those are for a regular drill..

Maybe use the 5/32" for now and figure that out later...

5/32" works perfect...

Many moons later she's finally done..ish...
and now I add a 1/4 keyless chuck to my christmas list to go with my new drill bits...

 

there's no better feeling than getting buzzed by some bird unexpectedly and the mood goes from chill to holy fuck wheres my gun. especially when you cant see shit in the early mornming. thats part of the reason people get hooked on duck hunting, the adrenaline rush is like no other.

i've had a close call with a seagull before, and sand pipers....little shits look just like teal sometimes. and they fuckling looooove to buzz overhead. we used to get flocks by the hundreds in our ponds

 

muh lead poisoning, blah blah blah

i can shoot squirels and doves all season with lead but i cant shoot a duck....smh