Update On Ankle Surgery

 

Sitting in my recliner with foot up. New cast.

Ankle now fused. Done arthroscopically. Minimum surgical intrusion.

If all goes as planned, I’ll be able to put weight on it in four more weeks – about July 15th.

Hardly any pain, but some misery is involved. Taking a pill occasionally. Hard on my  wife as she’s the caregiver and you’re pretty useless when on crutches.

Should be good for hunting with my Open Zone tag. And, I think my brother and I will purchase a pontoon boat which will make fishing a big easier during the final month of my recovery.

The fused ankle should allow me to hunt ducks this winter without a limp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Epiphany

For a couple years I worked on a project in support of the Mule Deer Foundation’s National Endowment Fund.

The concept was that the event would be a social affair, a discussion about conservation and also a fundraiser.

Because it was immensely successful relative to other people’s expectations, many people are interested in doing it again. I wasn’t surprised as one of the goals of the program was to create a template for additional events.

Along the way, I came to grips with the fact this was God’s work – a very emotional thing that I believed to be worthwhile. Others stepped in to encourage me and lighten the load.

Guided by instinct, the event came together piece by piece. I did not know what I was doing, but what I did turned out to be perfect. That’s hard to explain.

So, when it was over and after some rest, I proceeded to try to figure out how to tell somebody else how to do it. Social event, conservation event, fundraising event. That was what I knew.

The name of the event, “A Conversation in the Vineyards…..Immerse Yourself in Conservation,” was appropriate.

What I had a hard time with was how to generate the emotion that would lead to the intended result….supporting MDF.

Finally I realized that the emotion was created by conflict – conflict between people and wildlife. The conflict is embedded in our past and future. It is unavoidable. Unsolvable problems lead to strong emotions in people and they are motivated to take them on even if they seem to be headed into inevitable failure.

My understanding of the event and what took place was an epiphany.

Epiphany is a word my mother used to use. She would sometimes tell me that I’d had an epiphany. I accepted that as some type of awakening. However, I wanted to use the word today, so I looked it up to make sure I knew the correct definition.

Epiphany: a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being. Or, a moment in a story when a character achieves realization, awareness or a feeling of knowledge, after which events are seen through the prism of this new light.

Wow. Good job Mom. Either way, that’s all right by me.

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.