Fox Collectors

Well the flight birds finally have come to central NY, 1000's of mallards descended on our marsh today, a sight to behold!! The Super Fox accounted for 4 green heads and a widgeon.
My little girl Lucy broke a toenail off on the first retrieve but kept on hunting----tough little bitch. 8 mallards one wigeon and one goose---life is good!!

Good job!! After the weather you guys have had you deserve a break.

Skitso spent about two hours coursing out in the pouring rain on an 8000 acre patch of BLM land in the Channeled Scab Lands today to no avail. Guess the Game Department didn't do their usual pre-Thanksgiving plant!! Probably a good thing we didn't find any birds, as bound up in rain gear and carrying my raggedy old 16-gauge Model 12, I'd have probably never gotten the safety off!!

What a great day Craig. Lucy looks great! Thanks for taking and sharing the pics. Is that the SF you got while at the Southern SxS this year? Also, that looks like a mud motor setup on the boat. Can you please tell me its manufacturer? Thanks. Frank

Frank it is the SF I purchased at the southern last year, it fits me very well and I like a shorter stock (13 7/8") for cold weather duck hunting, I had some 1 3/8oz Kent TM and the Super digests it with no problem,, but 1 1/8 bismuth works just as well in 90% of the circumstances. Dempsey wants my 32" SF which I love but do not shoot it well so it may find a new home.
Lucy really did a job on her nail and it is a little infected today so she is on injured reserve until it clears up.
The motor is a Go-Devil that I purchased in 1992, I have replaced the Briggs motor once. Go-Devil is the only way to go in my opinion, the Mud Buddy motors are OK but have not held up as well as the Go-Devils at our club. The one advantage of the Mud Buddy is it has a aluminum frame, lighter but not a tough in my opinion.
Craig

Thanks Craig, sorry to hear about Lucy but with modern meds the infection should clear up quickly altho the nail area will be tender for a while I'm sure. Yeah that SF looked familiar and was a nice find. I remember you coming back to the booth with it along with a big smile. That LOP is great for hunting ..... the old timers had it right imo. I agree 100% with you on the Kent TM's @ 1-3/8 ounce for SF guns for the longer shots on waterfowl. I read somewhere that Kent is discontinuing them but I don't know if that's fact. But with that said, same as you I shoot lighter loads of bismuth for shorter range work. 1-1/4 to 1-3/8 ounce of lead pushed at higher velocity is also a great load in SF's for use on turkeys and predators. I like that Go Devil setup and was already on their website. Cuz and I are still updating the duck rig as most of the hunting hereabouts is on shallow water including some stretches of the Susquehanna up this way. Thank you.

Frank

Nice going Lucy and Craig! I guess the weather warmed up and melted the ice so you could get out in your marsh.
Jim

Jim the weather has been wild. Last week it was in the low 20's and our marsh had 2" of ice. Monday the temperature went to 70 degrees with wind and sun---the ice all melted in 48 hours.
The DU Biologist in our area tells me it takes 5 consecutive days of snow cover and freezing temperatures to move the mallards and blacks from the north. Yesterday was truly spectacular, flock after flock of up to 400 birds-----when they come it is amazing.

Craig, I have never seen 400 Mallards in one flock! Maybe in the Butte Sink where there are refuges and "HIGH Dollar" duck clubs in California's Sacramento valley. Not where I have hunted on public hunting areas.
Jim

Great pics, Craig. Thanks for sharing them. Glad the ice melted for ya'll. Those big flocks of ducks are exciting, that's for sure.

Jim, I once saw a "tornado" of ducks alighting in a flooded field near Brinkley, AR. The local guy called it a "windmill". I wouldn't even begin to guess how many ducks were in that cloud. Had to be in the thousands. I'll never forget that sight. No big ducks here yet, just summer ducks. Maybe by the last season.

SRH

Well done Craig and Lucy!