Tri-Colored Black Bird

The tri-colored blackbird is a species that is in decline. Lack of habitat is the basis for most declines. I’ve heard that there are ongoing efforts to reverse the trend, but I don’t know if they are effective.

Here’s a link: https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/tricolored-blackbird

On a few occasions I’ve had a chance to photograph them. Here are two photos of tri-colored and another photo of a red-winged blackbird. They are very similar in appearance.

Here is a red-winged black bird.

Open Zone 2019

While I was hunting deer in 2018, I spent quite a bit of time wondering what I could be doing differently.

The more I hunted, the more I realized how many places I had yet to go and I began to think about purchasing the OZ tag again.

Yep, I did it.

Now I’m really fired up.

Conservation Banking 101

Here are some of the threatened and endangered species found in southern Alameda County.

This Alameda striped racer was captured in a trap during a periodic survey.

This California tiger salamander larva was caaptured in a sein net.

Callippe butterfly on buckeye blossom.

This metamorph was found on top of a ridge on a gravel road, about 150 yards directly up a steep hill from the nearest possible breeding site.

This CTS in swimming in a few inches of clear water. Note the structure. In this pond, eggs are disbursed.

Juvenile red-leg frogs live in the ponds until fall when they will depart for underground burrows which provide winter security.

This larvae is about four inches long and it appears that it will be morphing into an adult pretty soon.

The California Red-legged frog is a listed species.

Here is a link to an explanation for Conservation and Mitigation banking provided by Westervelt Ecological Services.

https://www.wesmitigation.com/resources/wetland-and-conservation-credits-101/

Duck Wind Down

The last weekend of duck season was a workout.

Guess I’m getting a bit old. Can’t burn the candle at both ends and get away with it.

The Livermore Native Sons Big Buck Contest took place on Saturday and I didn’t want to miss it. That left Friday for a goose hunt and Sunday to pick up decoys at the Kerry Club.

Got to Webb Tract about 10:30 AM and checked the single blind I wanted to hunt. It was not flooded, which made me happy. But, the area around the blind was dense smart weed which made for tough paddling for Lola. We made it work.

The blind had not been hunted all season, so I figured the ducks wouldn’t be too shy of it. Although there we’re many ducks around, I did get chances at ring-necks twice and pintail once. Missed the first couple chances, but knocked down a ring-neck later on.

Specs were pretty active. After the first couple hours of hot sun, the birds began to work. Seemed like everything was going wrong. Hit the first ring-neck, but he sailed out of sight. Then I hit one of the sprig and it sailed away. I went after it almost certain that Lola would find it, but she did not. Could be that it never actually went down.

Lola was struggling to make it through the thick smart weed, so I actually assisted her by holding her up by her dog vest.

Specs kept coming around and finally I shot at a small group thinking there were well within range. Again a bird was hit and it sailed out of sight. I decided to calm down and wait for a shot I couldn’t miss – if there was such a thing.

Finally  a spec came over at about 45 yards and my shot brought it down. Lola swam right past the goose and I had to make the retrieve. She was not having a good day.

At least she turned around and made it back to the blind – with my assistance.

As the afternoon was coming to an end, I checked the time. There was about ten minutes left before the end of shooting time when another spec came over in range and I dumped it. After four misses, I had killed birds on my last three attempts.

After picking up my decoys, cousin Wes appeared in the Yamaha Rhino and gave Lola and I a ride. I felt better after finally connecting. We barbecued specklebellies from my previous hunt for dinner. They were fantastic.

The Big Buck Contest at Basso’s Barn was a lot of fun. The out-of-state bucks were amazing with Jeff  Zuniga winning with an Arizona Strip buck that was humongous. Clayton Koopmann won the A-Zone contest and my Inyo buck nipped Rick Escover’s nice blacktail in the “All-Cal” category.

Met my Kerry Club hunting partner, Tom Billingsley, at the K-Club about nine on Sunday and we hunted for about two hours. Knocked down a couple teal and then hauled decoys.

I won the half-mile race from our blind back to the truck. Tom did have a slight handicap. He was dragging all the decoys in my decoy sled.

Guess that’s story for 2018/19 hunting.

Now it’s time to start thinking about the plan for next season and doing some fundraising for MDF.

 

Back from Doyle (M3)

My friend Jerry Lowery and I had only two days to find a buck at Doyle. Located several four point bucks, but couldn’t get excited about them.

Here’s a couple of Doyle bucks that I photographed on Friday afternoon.

 

After that found only one other in that size range and it was one we followed on Sunday morning.

We hunted BLM land in the Long Valley, the Doyle Wildlife Area and the Fort Sage Mountains. Looked around a few other places, but didn’t want to spend time scouting with so little time.

Now my dilemma is deciding what to do for the rest of the season. Can go to Anderson Flat, but the results from last season there are dismal. Not sure why.

Goodale is a good option. Trying to figure out a plan for that. One the other hand I could fly to Washington to hunt my friend’s ranch. We’ll see what works out.

Haven’t fired a shot yet this year. I’d like to do that soon, but it could be 0 for 2018.

Modoc Deer

Spent nine days in Devil’s Garden. It was a great time. Morning temps ranged from 8 degrees up to 11. The Cargo Trailer worked well, but I would like to have had a heater.

The propane lantern and one-burner stove took the edge off, but that was about it. Went to town on day three and purchased a big sleeping bag that saved my life. I was freezing at night in my light down bags.

The cargo trailer was roomy for one person. Had a table set up at the front and rear with my cot in the middle. The solar panel supplied plenty of power to keep the battery working the lights and fan. The Rhino ATV fit nicely inside and towing was no issue for my 2013 F-150 with Eco-boost engine.

There were plenty of deer, but I didn’t find a shooter buck. Here are my best deer photos.

This is a typical group of does and fawns.

Here’s a small buck in rut mode.

This 4×4 crossed the road in front of me.

This 3×4 had a harem.

This guy was competing with the buck in the previous photo.

This was the best buck I saw, but not good enough. I figured he was about 24 inches wide. He was close, but the decision wasn’t hard. He came by on the next to last day of the hunt, following a doe.

This group of deer crossed the road about 100 yards in front of me early in the hunt. The buck is a 3×4, but a small one.

This is a typical group of does and fawns.

Here’s a small buck in rut mode.

This 4×4 crossed the road in front of me.

This 3×4 had a harem.

This guy was competing with the buck in the previous photo.

This was the best buck I saw, but not good enough. I figured he was about 24 inches wide. He was close, but the decision wasn’t hard. He came by on the next to last day of the hunt, following a doe.

The horses were there as well.

On the final day of the hunt, I wanted to sit by a tank and wait for deer. This is what showed up.

Between the skittish horses and swirling wind, it became  clear that it was a bad day to hunt the water hole, so I passed. It was time to head home anyway.

Next up, Doyle.

2018 Duck Opener

Arrival at the Kerry Club was unimpressive. As I passed the Ingomar Packing Company ponds, I was surprised that there were zero ducks. When I reached the Kerry Club, I could see a limited number of ducks on the ponds, but not as many as I would normally expect.

Once in camp, I began to look around and I could see some birds working. It was mid-day, too early to arrive at any conclusions about duck numbers.

Other hunters began to arrive about the same time as me. Enthusiasm was high.

Everybody let their labs loose and it was mayhem. My Airstream was in sad shape after a long off-season, but a quick clean-up put it into acceptable shape.

The traditional dinner was excellent with surf and turf with all the trimmings. Parking was at a premium. Camp was about as crowded as I’ve seen it.

Here are some shots from Friday.

 

Mike Hill’s two year old male was pumped up. He had lots of company. Lola’s almost twelve. I kept her out of the fray.

From camp, there wasn’t much sign of ducks during the afternoon.

About a half hour before sunset, birds began to arrive by the thousands. Optimism was restored.

The sunset over Ingomar Grade was a hot one.

Being in the “senior” group, I laid myself to rest at 9:00 PM. The younger group was still going strong.

Not a sound could be heard at 5:00 AM when I turned on the Airstream lights, but it wasn’t long before the camp came to life and several more hunters drove up ready for the hunt.

The walk to blind 4 was pleasant. Most of the other hunters rode ATVs so Lola and I were about the last to settle in. My partner, Tom Billingsley, was working so I had the blind to myself. I took my time.

Just after shooting time I snapped this photo of the horizon. As you can see, Lola was ready. She’ll be 12 in January.

As is the norm, the ponds were void of ducks by the time everybody was in place, but it wasn’t long before birds poured in, mostly teal and shovelers, but there also quite a few pintail.

My first shot was at a drake pintail. I missed on the first shot, but hit him on the second. He started down, but I lost track of him in the mix. Lola hadn’t seen him.

Bad start. I unhooked Lola and climbed out of the blind, heading in the right direction. After the water cleared of birds, I had no idea where the drake had disappeared. Rather than search, I opted to head back to the blind. Didn’t want to ruin everybody’s hunt.

After my first screw-up, I proceeded to miss the next eight shots at teal. They were humming, but the problem was me, I knew I was aiming and that never works.

Finally I got my sighting figured out and knocked down a teal. Lola made the retrieve.

From that point on, my shooting was better. I passed on a boat-load of teal while trying to get a good shot at pintail. Finally I dropped a drake sprig dead and Lola made the retrieve.

Next I knocked down a green-wing that was a swimmer. I turned Lola loose. She was within inches of the bird, but could not catch up with it. After she turned the corner into some tules, I followed but lost sight of the action. Last year she would have retrieved this bird, but I wasn’t sure where it went and I didn’t want to stay out of the blind, so I called her off and she reluctantly returned to the blind with me, birdless. The fact that she was willing to give up was a sign of her age.

As the morning wore on it was mindful of other Kerry Club openers that went down in a similar way. There was the debate about whether to shoot pintail first or last. There was the amazing difficulty of hitting shot-at teal that never slowed down. There was the worry of shooting a spoony by mistake.

I got my second sprig, my sixth bird. It was getting late as we began the wait for a seventh bird. As sun rose higher, Lola was finished and so was I.

We closed out one shy of a limit. As we neared camp, Bob Smallman drove his ATV out to give us a lift. It was hot and the ride was appreciated.

The sunrise was complete as I chased after Lola and a swimmer teal that we never found.

Lola with a drake pintail.

Opening day hunts are a small portion of a duck season. Unlike most other duck hunt  days, they are generally predictable. The emotions, the ducks and the shooting.