The News Outside
Life jackets a must for boaters, Steve Sarley, May 21
DNR needs sustainable funding, Dale Bowman, May 21
Bowfrogging for trophy croakers, Don Gasaway, May 21
Parts of Johnson-Sauk park closed, Star Courier, May 21
Pros, cons of Hackmatack refuge, Northwest Herald, May 20
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Recent entries
- Kentucky crappie, bluegill bedding! May 10
- 5 Ideas for an Outdoor Mom May 03
- Time to Shoot the Moon! May 02
- Ahead of Schedule Apr 27
- Here, There, and Yon Apr 19
- I Can SEE! I Can See! Apr 10
- And The Envelope Please Apr 06
- Win the best Illinois Mushroom book Apr 01
- Eyes on the Ground! Mar 29
- Beyond Her Comfort Zone Mar 26
- No Morels For Me ...YET Mar 19
- Zoom zoom zoom…. Mar 13
- I’ve Lost A Snake…. Mar 01
- Where’s the Bones? Feb 27
- Whac-A-Mussel; Whac-A-Carp Feb 22
- A Call For The Ladies Feb 17
- A Sweet Call For a Sweetheart Feb 14
- Gobble Gobble Gobble Feb 13
- Coming and Going Feb 08
- The Season That Wasn’t Jan 31
GRETCHEN
STEELE
Through the Lens
The Season That Wasn’t
Tue, January 31, 2012
I’m cheating a little today, and sharing with you a piece written by by my lifelong friend James Knope. James is an avid waterfowler and heck an avid sportsman in general. James has recently returned to “God’s Country” as he calls Southern Illinois from a stint working as a nurse in Florida. James tells me that while the fishing was great there, nothing beats home. When he’s not hanging out working at being a trophy husband, writing about the outdoors, or slaving away as a nurse, the Southern Illinois native can be found at his dad’s place - One the finest hunt club’s in Southern Illinois - Gander Hill Hunt Club - - where most years he’s slaying birds.
Gotta say when he shared this with me - I completely understood! ( and asked him if I could please share it here as well.) Damn Ducks. and to quote our fearless leader Jeff..Damn Geese.
The Season That Wasn’t…
Well… It’s done… Over… gone….
The season has come to an end.
The season which held so much promise….
So much hope for the Epic that it wasn’t…
The sky is a dull lifeless winter gray and empty….
Equipment is being stowed for a long summer nap…
The guns are cleaned, placed in their respective slots in the cabinet without fanfare…
The shooting bag is cleaned out….shaking out the cracker crumbs and half eaten cookies…along with two full boxes of shells….
Plenty of time to eat in the blind this year….
Both dog and hunter gained 10 lbs…..Where’s Jenny Craig when you need her?....
Sinking a little further down in the overstuffed easy chair…
Three fingers in a glass…. The Labs head in lap…
Both doze, remembering past successes ….
Dreaming of those of the future…..
While still trying to forget…. And wondering why…
Comments
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For a testament to how weird the year has been, one needs to only looks at the Southern Illinois/Western Kentucky waterfowl surveys. In an region that averages 79,000 geese, they had barely 3,000. For myself and our crew where we hunt in Fulton County, last year we shot 80 ducks off this strip mine lake. This year…9. And the goose numbers were not much better until very late in the season.
Saturday I made my 80 mile one way drive on the prospect of 1,700 geese sitting on our lake, and 1,300 of them specks. When we rolled in to start setting decoys, they were all on the water. And they stayed for a while. About 30 minutes before shooting time, all the birds got up. We figured they would go out and come right back. Well, they didn’t leave, just continued to fly around overhead. When 30 minutes before sunrise arrived, the sky looked like a waterfowler’s dream. Thousands of bird that would equal a limit of Canada’s and Specks for every man.
But the wind blew and the birds flew. And among the 6 of us laying on that bank, we had a total of 1 Canada that was dumb enough to land right in front of us. The other 1,699 would spend over 2 hours taunting us and then leave without every decoying or working into a shootable range.
But that is the story of the season, and why this thing we love to do is called hunting, not killing.
And in true Cubs fan form…wait til next year.
Posted by FlintlockShooter on January 31
I suppose, if it’s any consolation - I’ve been hearing the same lament from waterfowlers across the flyways.. seems not many have been exempt from a rotten waterfowl season. I think in my case I had such high expectations based on early reports, hatch numbers etc. and boy.. was it a let down.
Posted by G on January 31
If I had a dollar for every time I heard in our blind, “Best duck season in 40 years and none of them came here.” I could buy a new duck boat. It was pathetic. What ducks we had wouldn’t work; mostly because we are next to a refuge that they like to go to; and those that did work had a hard time committing. Yeah, there’s always next year.
Posted by birdchaser on January 31
I am sitting here in torture while my dad, who borrowed my gun for the last day of goose season, sent me a text saying “that browning is good luck, it got me my 1st speck”. What a way to end the season for him and for me to be real happy for him.
Posted by carrollcountyhunter2024600 on January 31
Sat there today on closing day with bunches of little baby wolf spiders crawling over my boots. On Jan. 31. Spiders, all over. So then I started looking around. Spiders were moving all over. On Jan. 31. Wow. And specks were still everywhere and I still had none ... but we did manage a pair of honkers. Bring next year as quick as possible. I’m getting a puppy!
Posted by Jeff Lampe on January 31
Jeff, what are you getting for a pup, a lab? By the way, that speck of my dad’s i mentioned above ended up being a 12 year old goose banded in Alaska! Super neat, and just a bit cooler that the one i got this year banded like 2 miles from where i shot the honker, banded in Iowa!
Posted by carrollcountyhunter2024600 on February 01
Horrible season!!My group only shot 536 ducks and 67 geese…Horrible!!!
Posted by Birdkiller150 on February 01