Indholdsfortegnelse for April/May 2022 i Wildfowl

THE DOG MASSACRED the first two doves, chewing them badly, but it was hard to be mad at her suddenly acting hard-mouthed because they were the puniest little birds I had ever seen. Tough for her not to. They were, after all, like very small, warm, delicious, bloody, dog treats. Also, she was showing great eagerness even in the hot weather and it was the very first birds of the year. You don’t want to punish drive. She was patient, steady, a relentless beast at finding birds, and I soon marveled at my own stupidity at almost leaving her home. It was soon apparent that with the deep brush surrounding the field from this unusually wet year in Colorado we would have lost at least half of those teeny doves…

SO OFTEN, AND so unfortunately, goose legs get tossed in the discard pile. Yes, they are not as easy to cook as breasts. They take time, a pinch of love, and a good deal of patience. But they can be incredible if you’re willing to set aside the hours to make it happen. For this recipe, the process of smoking and cooking these legs is largely hands off. You smoke ‘em, then you let ‘em sit in a crock pot for several hours until the meat falls off the bone. The most difficult part of this recipe is cutting your vegetables, but you can bypass that step if you wish by buying pre-cut stir fry vegetables. The real star here is the super tender goose-leg meat. I rarely (if ever)…

STUTTGART, ARKANSAS, IS the greenhead capital of North America, and a bucket list destination for any serious waterfowler. It’s also an important wintering ground for light geese; one where hunters annually harvest more than 80,000 birds. It’s not surprising then that when Arizona waterfowler Matthew Farnham and several friends traveled there for a two-day guided hunt, his expectations were high, though not to the level of what he would ultimately accomplish. It didn’t take long for the action to start on the hunt’s first day. In fact, nobody was ready for the first visitor, a solo blue goose... almost nobody. “The bird came in and flew right over all six us just a few feet above our heads,” recalled Farnham. Then it landed 10 yards behind their blind. “Did you…

WINCHESTER’S NEW waterfowl Bismuth load is the most recent player to enter the premium, non-toxic shot arena. Toting Winchester’s tradition of excellence, the new Bismuth waterfowl loads will, no doubt, be a force in the waterfowl world—and with good reason. “We designed our new bismuth load to be the best of the best,” said Ben Frank, Winchester’s Product Manager. The inferior performance of early steel shot plagued waterfowl hunters after lead shot was banned in 1991. Since then, many a cuss word has been spewed by disheartened waterfowl hunters frustrated with the terminal performance of standard steel loads. This growing resentment opened the doors for ammo companies to expand their horizons in search of a deadlier non-toxic shot. The result? An onslaught of premium non-toxic loads with impressive claims of…

ON A MILD, sunny December day more than a decade ago, I found myself gathering around the back of a pick-up truck with a group of outdoor writers attending a Texas Ducks Unlimited media event along the Gulf Coast east of Galveston. After this particular hunt, which had been somewhat slow due to the mild pre-Christmas weather, a few green-winged teal, a few shovelers, a mallard or two, and even a mottled duck had been bagged. But the star of the post-hunt tailgate show that morning was an eagle-headed blue goose wearing a band. And not just any band, mind you, but a highly coveted Jack Miner band, one placed on the leg of this trophy specimen by the Jack Miner Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Kingsville, Ontario (www.jackminer.ca ). While…

THE WORDS SHE was looking for were ‘chronic crystalluria.’ My daughter’s friend was trying to come up with the condition while explaining why they gave their new puppy back to the breeder. She was rightfully upset that her pup was sick, and that her parents had made the difficult decision to return it. Boomerang pups, due to medical issues, happen. BUT THEY DON’T HAVE TO In our space, where we use dogs for the pursuits they’ve been generationally bred for, we shouldn’t consistently run into early-onset genetic issues. As a subset of the general pet owning population, waterfowl hunters are probably as in-tune to bloodlines and health issues in sporting breeds as anyone with a deep love of dogs. That still doesn’t guarantee anyone’s individual choice won’t come with an…

CALL ‘EM BROADBILLS, Scaup or Bluebills, they’re fun to shoot. The time was when the Atlantic Fly way had a bonus season of five extra bluebills for a total of 10 a day. They will fool you as the Ringneck duck or Blackjack look a lot like the Lesser and Greater Scaup. They’re friendly little ducks that like to decoy to their buddies. I think these guys might have been hunting on the Mississippi River—which huge flocks migrated to every fall. The store front might be run by the village photographer with his handy kill rack to display the birds and “Fine Liquors” to put cash in the till. It made me laugh because the very first party I guided on Maryland’s Eastern Shore was a group of retired judges…

WHEN IT COMES to duck hunting, there are many different facets that appeal to aspiring hunters and draw them to the sport. For some, it’s the act of conversing with migrating fowl. For some, it’s the comradery in the blind and the time spent with long time hunting buddies. For others, it’s the shooting opportunities provided, or the subtle tactics used to trick a wary, late season mallard down through the oak tree canopy and into the decoys. But for me…. it’s the dogs! “It’s a lot easier to take it out of them than put it in them,” grandpa said. This has always stuck with me, and I wanted a dog with a lot of “go” in him. And boy did I get it." As a young boy growing…

IN LAST SEPTEMBER’S issue of WILDFOWL, I wrote a feature titled, The Underdogs, about non-Lab retrievers. The story generated the second most responses from readers in the more than 3,000 magazine articles I’ve written for magazines around the world over the past 25 years. Thank you! Answering the many questions from readers got the wheels turning, and the next thing you know, Skip Knowles and I were hunting together, brainstorming, and, well, here I am writing a column for one of my favorite magazines on the planet. I love waterfowl hunting and waterfowl hunters. We’re a blessed fraternity who share the same passion; we’re on the same team. While I bring 45 years of waterfowl hunting experience, along with degrees in education and the sciences, what I love about this…

WATERFOWL AND waterfowl hunting have been my passion ever since I was a teenager growing up in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Living near the beach, sand and surf were always close at hand but marshes and duck hunting were a long way from home. Somehow, I figured out the public duck hunting programs at several Southern California state wildlife areas and federal national wildlife refuges. Each fall, I made hunting trips to the Imperial Wildlife Area and Kern National Wildlife Refuge. Fast forward 50 years and waterfowl have become ingrained in my daily life. First with degrees in wildlife management from Humboldt State University, then a 26-year career as a biologist with the U.S.F.W.S. I served at four national wildlife refuges, ending in 1999 with an early retirement after…

WATERFOWLERS WINCE WHEN their Labs break to retrieve a downed mallard while another flock makes its final approach, or worse yet, lunge forward before any quarry is in range at all. That’s what makes steadiness so highly prized in gun dogs. There are many ways to develop a calm, focused retriever, but Duckhill Kennel’s Robert Milner has a method that is unique. Milner works his Labs in f light pens loaded with birds. While that method is unconventional in America, it’s commonplace in the UK for good reason: It works. A THINKING GUN DOG “The first time I saw a dog trained in a flight pen was in England over 30 years ago,” Milner, the Eukanuba pro trainer, said. “I was working Labs with Robin Watson of Tibea Gun Dogs…