SPIKE'S BIG WEEKEND

DUCK HUNT OPENING DAY 10-03-2009

...........by Spike


Probably the most fun day of the year for me is the opening of the duck hunting season. This year was no exception. I went hunting with my pal, Voo, Wire Nut, his two dysfunctional brothers (Draino and Karl), Judge McIff, and McIff's grandson (Matt the Cat). The group, also, included my good friend, Oil Can. Most people who know Oil Can really don't care for him too much, but he has always been real nice to me. He takes me for coffee every morning and finds cats for me to tree. He is fun to hunt and fish with, too. He has even let me do the dog paddle in his hot tub. Some of the usual hunting companions were not there. The Little Prince was on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean, The Wolf and The Dude were fly fishing in New Mexico and Rambo was supposedly "hunting elk". Hop Sing was practicing stunts on his four wheeler. Actually, Hoppy is still recovering from his accident and will definitely be with us next year. The others, I am not so
sure. They were all missed................. but not that much. I especially did not miss those obnoxious Petersen Labs. They are always making incredibly long retrieves, blind retrieves, double retrieves, triple retrieves, responding to hand signals, responding to whistles, etc. I don't need to go through all that happy horse shit. I don't need some candy ass rube in an Orvis hunting coat, white gloves, and six whistles hanging around his neck signaling me where to go and what to do. If a bird is down, I will find the son of a bitch. I will promptly bring it back to the person who shot it down, which is usually Voo. That is all there is to it. Case closed.
I have included a few photos of me (I hope not too many) in this essay. I hope you enjoy reliving, with me, one of the greatest days of the year.

(photos courtesy of Oil and Voo)



This is me with decoys in the background. They were set up the previous day by the decoy bitches, Voo and Wire Nut.




Waiting in the blind for some action.

The hunters were constantly taking my photo.

Resting on Voo's knee.

I think I hear a Mallard. McIff can't hear it because of his ear flaps.

Oil Can shares some food with me. This makes me happy because Oil never shares his food with anyone else.





Oil went for a walk and scratched down a Canadian goose. On his way back to the blind I ran out to greet him and carry his goose back to the blind for him. Oil is the one to the far left. However, politically, he is to the far right. When Glen Beck cries, Oil cries........ but I like him anyway.




Showing Oil the way back to the blind.

Always on alert.

Checking out the duck decoys.

They look good to me.










Oil takes aim...................

I think he got one.....

Marking the downed bird.................



Bringing it back to Oil................

Matt takes a shot.............

I think it was a miss........

Andy AKA Wire Nut and his Yellow Lab, Sally are hidden in the tamarack. It was Sally's first hunt and she did real well. Unfortunately for Sally, she was in a blind with the Receders (all three brothers have slightly receding hairlines). Not only that, they are also kind of a bunch of clusters. Sally showed very much patience in trying to please them and their confusing commands.

I have a knack for seeing the in-coming ducks before anyone else.







I think Voo got this one.....

Another one bites the dust.

Believe it or not, the Receders knocked down a goose.

It was a heavy son of a bitch.....

I was huffing and puffing when I got back to the blind...

Sally is after a mallard in the water.








Sally with her prize...

The receders begin to leave their blind.









Karl has had a good day.

Draino did likewise....




Draino with his day's work.....








I am still on alert.....


Matt is alert too......


Here comes a mallard.......





Another successful retrieve..............

I am the only one looking in the right direction...........

Showing Sally how it's done............

A mouth full of down and....


a rump full of burrs...........

Oil has had a happy day.

Group pose........

Posing

Me, Sally, a bunch of ducks, one goose, and a couple of dorks.

A couple of McIffs. ....





A couple of Tiny Terrors..........

I know that there might be some readers who are anti-gun or uncomfortable with the killing of wild game. You readers rest assured that none of these birds were harmed in any way. After the last group photo was taken, they were all released back into the wild, just like releasing fish. Instead of catch and release this is called shoot and release.
(see photo below)

Voo took this photo of the ducks flying away right after we released them.

After I got back to Manti and rested a while, I headed up to Ferron with Voo and Zoo.

The fun never ends if you live in Manti.

YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK
(below)

It was cold and had been snowing a little bit. When we got on the other side of the mountain we came upon a wrecked Forest Service truck. Luckly, no one was hurt. The driver had gotten out of the truck on skyline drive without setting the brakes. The truck then proceeded to coast backward off of a cliff and ended up close to the dugway we were driving on. It had a four wheeler in it and all kinds of other stuff which was scattered all over the hill side.


















Looking at wreck from the top of the mountain.







When we got to the cabin, Voo built a fire in the stove for Zoobee and we decided to go fly fishing.


It was very cold and windy. Voo is not a great fly fisherman. He is not even a good fly fisherman. But I must give him credit. The dumb bastard is persistent. Because of the bad weather, we were the only ones on the lake. It didn't take long to get hooked up once we got to Spike Island.





A nice brook trout......









A nice rainbow.........



Another rainbow........


After about an hour and a half, Voo's fingers were frozen and I was shivering all over. We had landed 8 nice fish and kept four of them. The others were released, just like we released the ducks. It was time to head back to the cozy warmth of the cabin.

Catch of the day.

I was so exhausted after a full day of retrieving birds and fish that I laid down by the stove and did not move for the rest of the night. I dreamed of all the things I had had in my mouth that day... including drake mallards, hen mallards, spoon bills, gadwalls, teal, Canadian geese, Rainbow Trout, Brook Trout, Cutthroat trout, a frisbee, a steak bone, Oil's cookies, a stuffed bear, and water. Thankfully, no one in our group was hunting elk.

We awoke the next morning to a snow and wind storm that had totally destroyed the carefully arranged patio furniture on our deck. It had been arranged based on a design we purchased from Lil Lois. Now we will have to consult her for another design. Her designs are the best.

After a great breakfast and restful morning, the weather started to turn really bad and we decided to go home.

On the way down we came across two sheep camp wagons that had jack knifed and gone off the road.

The road was straight ice and we slid quite a bit before we made it down the dugway.

Zoobee was so nervous that she insisted I finish driving us down the mountain. This I did with no problem.

I had a great weekend and am now looking forward to the pheasant hunt next month. Thanks for tuning in. I hope I didn't bore you with all those photos of me, but you must admit that I am much more photogenic that the other milk duds I was hanging out with.

.........Spike




QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf arf.

......Rin Tin Tin