(Caption: My retired retriever Valentine at Mayberry on a good day.)
It’s the last Saturday of the 2007/2008 duck season and my truck is loaded, my dogs are ready to go and all I’ve got left to do is pick up some groceries on the way to our club.
I normally get out sooner on the last [...]
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“How does your club shoot on a north wind?” was the response to my query.
“OK,” I responded, “Not accustomed to being tested when inviting people to hunt on my club. Usually my potential guests were less direct.
“Wednesday’s going to be a north-wind day,” reiterated the voice at the other end of the phone. “Do you [...]
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Posted in California Delta, Duck hunting, Ecology, Farm Management, Hunting, Land Ownership, Wildlife habitat, goose, outdoors, permanent marsh, pheasant, real estate, seasonal marsh, wildlife, wildlife conservation, wildlife management on January 13, 2008 | No Comments »
After a morning of enthusiastic and exhausting pheasant hunting, with a bird each in the bag, Rob and I trudged through a final field of marsh on our way back to camp.
I glanced over to my brother, and he pointed skyward – above our main duck hunting pond. A large flock of mallards was circling [...]
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Posted in Archery hunting, Big game hunting, Deer hunting, Duck hunting, Farm Management, Hunting, Land Ownership, Partnerships, Ranch Management, Wildlife habitat, outdoors, real estate, selling land, wildlife conservation, wildlife management on January 12, 2008 | No Comments »
(Caption: The size of the pond and the catch vary with ”the beholder.” 
The small sycamore tree stood atop a 20 foot high mound where it had been spared by quarry equipment. It remained an island in an otherwise barren gravel pit. From our vantage point, my brother, Rob, and I could see a valley quail sitting atop [...]
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Caption: yellow nutsedge, chufa or nutgrass
The phone rang.
It was my friend Ed with a question about the types of duck food he had found in the mallards he shot the day before.
“These ducks are all full of natural duck foods,” he stated. “What’s the big nut-like object I found in the craw of [...]
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Posted in Duck hunting, Ecology, Hunting, Land Ownership, Wildlife habitat, outdoors, wildlife conservation, wildlife management, tagged Conservation, Hunting conservation, Hunting on my own land on January 2, 2008 | No Comments »
A couple years ago I shot a mallard drake on the last day of the season, as I approached the bird I could see a metal band on its leg. As I lifted it from the water I could see a second band on its other leg. It was late morning and this greenhead was [...]
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Posted in Duck hunting, Land Ownership, Partnerships, Wildlife habitat, hunting dogs, outdoors, wildlife conservation, wildlife management, tagged Hunting on my own land, Hunting conservation on December 27, 2007 | No Comments »
Went duck hunting this morning. Mainly to get my young pup out for her second hunt. Didn’t get up early, just left my house about 7:00 AM – not your typical duck hunt. Fortunately the weather was cool and foggy, ideal for a late start.
I expected a couple of my partners would be at the [...]
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Posted in Duck hunting, Ecology, Farm Management, Land Ownership, Ranch Management, Wildlife habitat, hunting dogs, outdoors, wildlife conservation, wildlife management, tagged Hunting conservation on December 23, 2007 | No Comments »
The silence over the duck ponds made a statement about the quality of the hunting. No ducks, no shooting. OK, there were a few ducks overhead, but not very many.
The decoys sat motionless in the still air. A light fog settled in as the sun began to appear like a soft white light creating an [...]
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