Sunday, September 5, 2004

Move over, Annie Oakley Debby Wolniak and I joined Charlie and Gail Thon to hunt doves on opening day (Sept. 1).  Matt Raebel, dog trainer at Wild Wings Sportsmen's Club in Campbellsport, brought a black Lab named Gunner to help find downed birds. We kept Gunner busy for three hours as we shot doves near a small pond in Washington County.  The birds were feeding in nearby wheat stubble, then coming to the pond to drink and nearby trees to rest.  Deb surprised herself by dropping two doves with her first two shots.  I don't know anyone else who has done that, as doves are notoriously hard to hit.  We were taping the hunt for Outdoor Wisconsin, and I hope videographer Duane Rodriguez caught Deb's double on tape. I hunted with Charlie, who is a methodical shooter and a darned good shot, while Deb teamed up with Gail.  Matt and Gunner traded back and forth, picking up birds we had marked down but could not find ourselves.  The overcast turned to mist about 10:00 a.m., so we broke for breakfast. Later, Charlie, Gail and I went back out to try to finish out our limits.  Charlie did so in fine fashion, bagging 15 doves with 20 shots, an achievement I doubt many could match.  Gail finished her limit an hour or so later, and I followed suit shortly after. It was clear that the advance scouting the Thons had done really paid off for us, as we had birds all around us all morning and most of the afternoon.  We had what they wanted: wheat, water and a place to roost.  Last season, the Thons shot over 200 doves, scoring limits on at least six outings. On Friday, Debby and I joined Jerry Solsrud, founder of the Wisconsin Waterfowl Association, for an early-season Canada goose hunt, also in Washington County.  Jerry hunts geese nearly every day.  He had scouted a number of fields and picked one the geese had been using for a week or more.  Wheat stubble, of course. Once again, we taped the hunt for Outdoor Wisconsin. Videographer Michael Garvin and audio engineer Art Welter used a haybale blind, set up about 50 yards from our spread of super magnum shell decoys.  Jerry and I hid in goose chairs, while Debby tucked herself into a Wildfowlers layout blind.  The first flock caught us off guard as were were taping an introduction to the segment, so we scurried to our blinds, as the birds landed 100 yards from us and eyed us suspiciously.  Jerry and I each dropped a goose from the next flock.  Then it was Debby's turn to show us all up again, as she TRIPLED (I am not kidding) on the next flock. The shooting lasted less than an hour, as a half-dozen small flocks of a dozen or so birds worked our spread.  Jerry's yellow Lab, Red, scoured the field to pick up our birds.  Debby has hunted game farm pheasants and chukars before, but this week's two hunts were her first for wild birds.  I don't know how she can top a double on doves and a triple on geese, but knowing her, she'll find a way to do it! Later... 10:43:50 PM    comment []