Wow-84 years-- And 74 of them afield in the many hunting seasons we all are fortunate to enjoy-and the memories and perhaps fotos from those days afield. That is good news to me, at age 77, if I am careful, as I try to be, I hope to make that 84 year mark, and hopefully, can still shoot a Model 12- or a L.C. Smith, and maybe, still hit the bird in flight.
Barn pigeons are my "vade mecum" in the off seasons. Two of my favorite area dairy farms also have ponds (cattle piss drainage) next to corn and soybean fields- Great for crows and pigeons with decoys- but it always seems that when I am hunting those farms during the longish waterfowl seasons in Michigan's Zone 3-- I get many crows and pigeons buzzing the field decoys, perfect range, but with steel shot being enforced, I guess I am too cheap to fire a $1.00 shotgun shell to possibly kill a bird I'll never eat.
Late duck and goose season re-opens this week-end. All the ponds and swamps that held birds in October are frozen over, but with area crop fields providing fodder, the geese and mallards are on the river that flows by my acreage-- So, weather permitting, a M12 and Rowdy, my Lab, will be out and about, after another goose dinner-
The pheasants we used to bag on some of those same farms are gone- nobody really knows why- my guess- clean farming. Can't blame the farmer for using sprays that take out weeds and also insects-- two of the many things pheasants eat- especially grasshoppers. We are too far above the Indiana/Ohio line to get any serious numbers of quail- and we'll never get a dove season here-- so, 90% of my hunting is for waterfowl. C'est La Vie!!
