Wildfowl 10.2022_downmagaz.net

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0| GREENHEAD OBSESSION 6| THE ROCKET MAN Nothing screams classic duck hunting How a German Missile Scientist put a like gunning for mallards in the man on the moon and duck hunted his flooded timber of Arkansas. way through the emergence of Arkansas BY CHRIS INGRAM as the duck capitol of the world. 60| CR CAPOOTH Na 6

An Outdoor Sportsman Group® Publication Chief Operating Officer, Publishing & Branded Media EVP, Group Publisher & Operations VP, Consumer Marketing VP, Manufacturing Senior Director, Production Director, Publishing Technology Senior Creative Director Director, Digital Editorial COPYRIGHT 2022 BY OUTDOOR SPORTSMAN GROUP® All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission. Wildfowl® is a registered trademark of Outdoor Sportsman Group® in the United States. The Publisher and authors make no representations or warranties regarding the ac- curacy, completeness, and timeliness of the information contained in this publication. Any reliance or use of the information is solely at your own risk, and the authors and |

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’ BY SKIP KNOWLES THERE IS A LOT OF weirdness out there right now the good news. First, a legion of them are military vets swirling in the waters of ‘fowling, some of it bad news now, God bless them every one, and also homeowners and some of it wonderful. Best of times, worst of and parents. According to Adams Arms, a Florida gun times. Strange times. company, they are now the second largest segment of firearms owners. And THEY are the ones that are mak- Harlequin hunting closed in my home state of ing hunting cool again, with their drive to know where Washington, with too many outfitters partly to blame their food comes from. They shun trophy hunting but along with the spike in interest in seaducks. Canada’s the locavore movement is huge for the sport, and they ban on bringing home bird meat, due to avian flu, hurts. recognize that wild food only comes from wild places Argentina’s incredible duck country is under full attack that must be fought for. from antis and it may very well end hunting there. Mexico is backsliding again into a danger zone after a Bonus: They have a deep fascination with cool old long-awaited comeback. guys and tradition, seeking out those pipe-smoking mentors that they didn’t get to grow up with, like prior The Canada ban hits home. Eating those fat as hell generations did. pre-migration corn-fed mallards roasted skin-on is one of my favorite things. You can’t buy food like that in the Guys like calling legend George Lynch, the nicest fanciest restaurant. guy in showbiz. George told us 5 years ago, “I see kids Yet, there is good news everywhere too, with a new limit of 8 specks in parts of Canada. The Duck Factory prairies started getting water at just the right times. The overall boom in goose populations is thrilling and duck numbers are still much higher than in many past years. And with burgeoning waterfowl festivals, activism, recruitment and a huge boost in the popularity of hunting, fowlers need to flock together. We need each other more than ever, especially all those milloonnials, as I call them. Gen X-ers have delighted in poking fun at millennials, how they are quick to quit when handed a shovel, choose entitlement over hard work, and are much handier with a dating app than a 12-gauge. They were pretty easy targets for a while there when they all had the exact same look—the lumberjack-metrosexual, shaved sides of the head and big beard thing—guys with 50 flannel shirts who had never sharpened an axe, run a chainsaw or wrung a neck. \"You just can’t lean on them at all like earlier, tougher generations,\" my 40+ year old friends all say. Aren’t stereotypes such great time-savers? But a whole lot of them were never that way, and many others are growing out of it. They are a part of Generation gaps vanish like gunsmoke in a duck or goose blind. PHOTO © SKIP KNOWLES 6 OCTOBER 2022 • W I L D F O W L M A G. C O M

on the Internet talking trash, more concerned about piles hunting and habitat is under threat, young gunners of birds than just having a good time with friends. Every are seeing what should take precedence over how time I see a flock of geese lock up I get that same feeling many birds you and your friends can subtract from the I got when I killed my first bird when I was 19 or 20. My migration. You really see it at shows like the Rogers heart still races, even if I don’t fire a shot.” Waterfowl Weekend, and at calling contests, which are booming again, and on social media, where content that The web and social are still rife with trolls, yes, but it focuses on the experience surrounding hunting—cooking seems to be changing for the better, quickly. From my with friends, putting out the spread, off-season dog work, outdoors-nut oldest son and his friends who rappel off and kick ass duck boats, is overall more postive com- arches using only each other to tie off on, I now know pared to ten years ago. It has become cool to become scores of genuine bad ass millennials, and waterfowl- a knowledgeable ‘fowler, a killer caller, a hunter with ing is packed with them. My boy worked hard in the respectable friends, not just a flat-hat-act stalking family offshore oil field and now runs municipal water in Utah. groups of banded geese preseason to slaughter. His friends are vets, shooters, restaurateurs, off-roaders, pilots, and all seem to hunt and shoot a little more each We need each other. Millennials and their offspring year since entering their 30s. are the group that will save hunting or see it collapse, like it is tragically in Argentina. A GOOD WHILE BACK l wrote that the younger “black hoodie crowd” faction of aggressive kill-happy If you are one of those cool old guys and haven’t ‘fowlers were not an entirely different species than us adopted yourself a millennial or three, please try to do who love the tradition, the birds, and the satisfaction so. They are gonna save the sport, and be the ones haul- of doing it right. I called it a false dichotomy, and ing your decoys in another 15 years. Share the tradition, insisted that they would grow out of the kill-crazy get them in the blind with you…besides, most of them egoist part of hunting and become the same people can halfway cook. who love the legacy and the sound of live birds as much as piles of dead ones. Send comments to: [email protected], and head over to WILDFOWLMAG.com for more It seems I was right. Everywhere you look, as hunters content...and check out our podcasts! mature into the sport, have kids of their own, and see BRISTOL QUALITY GAME GUNS 1816 Linn Street, North Kansas City, MO 64116 • 816.421.1400 FEATURES: —True-to-gauge steel receivers with Case Colored finish or Nickel-Engraved with 24k gold inlay detail. —Select Turkish Walnut Stocks-English or Pistol Grip —12, 16, 20, 28 & .410 Chrome-Lined Stainless Steel Barrels/ Chambers —Choke Tubes Included (SK, IC, M, IM & F) —5 Year Warranty TRISTARARMS.COM

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR may be sent to: [email protected] I wanted to comment on the great article WILDFOWL My Jack Miner Duck bands include by year of band- wrote about Jack Miner. I think it may be one of the ing and verse; most popular articles ever and brings waterfowling history into perspective as hunters are our greatest • ’94 – #88152 Rev 22:7 “Behold I come quickly” conservationists. • ’99 – #96894 Rev 22:7 “Behold I come quickly” • ’01 and ’02 #99789 & 00479 Rev 14:7 “Give Him I have been very fortunate to live in Michigan and waterfowl hunt in all lower 48 and Alaska and recover glory” 161 bands, and another 21 banded birds with various bands either too small and unreadable • ’02 – 00449 Rev 14:7 “Give Him glory” from teal or wood ducks, or in one case • ’02 and ’03 – #01781 a simple green zip tie. Included are five reward bands, whether they are federal, & 02968 Mark 5:36 “Be state or waterfowl associations, etc., but not afraid” most assuredly the highlight of nearly 38 years of hunting has been one or another • ’07 #8491 Lev 26:2 “I of my Labs bringing back eight total Jack Miner duck bands and 5 Jack Miner goose walk among you” bands, plus the gift from grandfather. • ‘AF1940 Heb 10:24 I am currently on my 4th retriever and it is an ESPN Wide World of Sports “Let us consider one an- moment when your best buddy brings other.” (My cherished gift back a bird with jewelry. from grandfather.) My luck, in my mind, is attributed • ’71 #70877 Mark 5:36 to a gift my grandfather gave me when I was 8 years old; a Jack Miner Goose Band “Be not afraid” (AF 1940) harvested near grandfather's “farm” in Amherstburg, Ontario with • ’78 – #78649 Mark 5:36 the bible verse of Hebrews 10:24 “Let us consider one another” which I treasured “Be not afraid” and had in my pocket everywhere I went. I received it in rough shape, not knowing • ’90 – #7720 Lev 26:12 the history or significance of the band, but rather a gift from my sportsman “I walk among you” grandfather who taught me how to fish and hunt, and it shined up like it was • ‘E’92 no number or brand new after a year in my pocket. verse Being fortunate to hunt what I believe to be the premier waterfowl • ‘F’93 no number or areas in the United States and Canada surrounding the great lakes in Michigan and Ontario, verse we not only see almost every species but are in close proximity to Kingsville, Ontario the home of the Jack I mount the ducks Miner Sanctuary where I have had the honor of visiting exactly as they come in his grandson “Capt.” Kirk Miner, who gave me a 100 and are shot and only year commemorative band and will spend hours talking birds with one or more with you about his grandfather. bands. My teal mount has three bands downed in I have also attached some photos of the bands both three lucky shots. framed and on lanyards, as each of my retrievers gets his own lanyard, retired with the dog and calls and whistle. We have been blessed in my hunting home 8 OCTOBER 2022 • W I L D F O W L M A G. C O M bases from Michigan and Canada and Walpole Island to road trips to Alaska to Chesapeake Bay and to Habitat Flats in Missouri the past two years, (because entry into Canada was pretty tough), and hundreds of places in between. With Canada allowing us back I plan at least 55 – 60 hunts in Canada and Walpole and a road trip to Nebraska on the Platte as well. — Jim Cooper, Michigan STAMP ART © BOB SUIR | DREAMSTIME.COM

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yy yp 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s featured an era rich with bull sprigs cau- 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, a sur- tiously circling decoy spreads over the marshes and flats of the rich and vey issued late last summer. voluminous Texas Gulf Coast region stretching from the Sabine River to the mouth of the Rio Grande. That report noted that in Texas, there were 44,119 redheads taken by Curiously enough, with Cowan’s work also showcasing mallards, snow hunters in 2019-20 and some 69,233 geese, bobwhite quail, and redfish, all species found throughout the 3,359 redheads taken during the COVID- miles of coastline that the state offers, few, if any, detailed one of Texas’ 19 pandemic influenced season of other iconic waterfowl species, the redhead duck. 2020-21. That’s impressive given the fact that the USFWS says that there That’s a bit of a curiosity since these days, as much as 80-percent of

noted that city officials in Mary Esther, Fla. hoped to another duck stamp while you’re at it. Of every dollar meet with State Rep. Patt Maney soon. The reason? To spent on a Federal Duck Stamp, 98 cents is used by see if duck hunting should be restricted in Santa Rosa our friends at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Sound, just offshore from the Panhandle community. acquire and protect waterfowl habitat.” harvested numbers fall well below that same season. riding the wind whipped waters of the 2.8 million mallards killed While redheads aren’t as plenti- the Laguna Madre each winter, they nationwide in the two seasons are an important species to many mentioned above, as well as a long ful, as say, the mallards that winter hunters, have found their way to the way below the 1 million plus gad- in pin oak flats and rice fields across Federal Duck stamp on occasion, walls and green-winged teal that eastern Arkansas, on reservoirs and and are a sight to behold over a fell to hunter’s shotguns both times stock tanks of Oklahoma and North decoy spread, or serve as a delecta- during that two year window. And Texas, in hardwood bottomland ble treat on the dinner table. that’s not to even mention the habitat across East Texas, or even 1.1 million blue-winged teal and on the shallow playa lake depres- But there are ill winds that can cinnamon teal that were fetched sions of the Texas Panhandle, that’s blow for the species. While the by retrievers in 2020-21 and the not to say they aren’t significant Laguna Madre flats happen to be 1.1 million wood ducks that found players in the Central Flyway and filled with acre after acre of shal- their way to the dinner table during elsewhere. Thanks to flocks that can low water, the idea that H2O is number in the tens of thousands in endless supply for the redheads © PHIL KAHNKE W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M • O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 11

that winter there at the bottom scarce in good years, being con- generate around $2 million dollars end of the Central Flyway is a bit fined to cattle stock tanks and small for conservation causes, as well as more complex than it appears at ponds, both natural and manmade. being named the Texas State Artist first glance. Because as voluminous And in a drought-fueled year like of the Year in 1978-79 and the Ducks as the saltwater flats are in Texas, 2022—as of this writing, a fiercely Unlimited International Artist of the redheads wintering there also need hot and dry summer was unfolding Year nod in 1977. plenty of freshwater too. in Texas, joining the infamous years of 1980 and 2011 as the worst heat- But obviously, a framed painting The reason for that, as Rapp wave/drought years in the state’s is one thing and the voluminous noted in his news release, is that modern history—such spots are as turf in Texas is another. And with redheads typically forage in these rare as can be. that in mind, what’s the solution to ultra-salty waters, feasting on the a problem that can’t be cast away rich underwater shoal grass mead- That’s not good news, either for with a few simple brushstrokes? ows in the Laguna Madre region the electric bills of Texans sweating Simple—the same thing that fueled south of Corpus. But as they ingest in the shade or for waterfowl surg- much of Cowan’s life mission, the this grass—which makes them solid ing down the flyways. And with an idea of conserving scarce resources table fare, much like the celery outbreak of avian influenza taking and preserving our wildlife species eating canvasbacks were during the place in many places this past spring for another generation. And while hey-day of market hunting—such a and summer—in mid-July, problems Ballard may not have a secondary dietary component means that red- had reportedly surfaced in import- career in mind of painting images heads ingest a lot of saltwater. Too much, in fact, since this drives up ant breeding spots like Alaska, for art galleries or Ducks Unlimited the salt concentration in their blood leading biologists to worry about and Delta Waterfowl fundraising streams, forcing the handsome the impact of bird flu on juvenile dinners, he is certainly a champion diving ducks to fly inland in search geese population numbers—leading of the idea of conserving water in of freshwater. to fears that drought conditions will a place that doesn’t have much to affect this year’s breeding success, begin with anyway. The problem, as any fan of John as well as impacting hunting success Cowan’s great artistic work is likely this fall and potentially concen- In fact, Rapp notes that the work familiar with, is that freshwater is trating migrating waterfowl more of Ballard and his colleagues in in short supply across much of the and more this year, something that recent months has been centered region, even in a so-called wet year. waterfowl managers don’t want to around that idea as the biologists If you’ve ever seen a well-known see as bird flu continues to loom take a closer look at the winter Cowan watercolor painting like (see Wildfowl.com). ecology of redheads in the region. the deer hunter’s favored Windmill With several years of research under Whitetails or a hot dove hunting For Cowan, the artist who was their belt, the biologists hope that scene like The Waterhole, then born in 1920 and died in 2008, water providing more fresh water will help you’re familiar with the trickles of was always an easy fix as he painted redheads spread out more, reducing water—mudholes, even—that dot ducks sweeping into decoy spreads grazing pressure on the shoal grass the region and draw in thirsty white- in coastal watercolors like Pintail beds in the Laguna Madre region. tails and doves. And as it turns out, Alley, Sneakin’ In, and Coming redheads too. Home. A scarce commodity on parts With aerial surveys showing of the Texas landscape, a few streaks available freshwater sources near the For what it’s worth, the redheads of blue and gray color dabbed on coastline, as well as which ones will don’t really mind water so scarce that canvas went a long way for Cowan dry up in a drought year, Ballard and it might hardly drown a rattlesnake, in a career that saw his work help his colleagues have published their as long as they can find someplace to findings in the Journal of Wildlife land and drink. And that’s good news according to Bart Ballard, a professor at Texas A&M University-Kings- ville, not far from the Baffin Bay flats where plenty of South Texas redheads spend the winter. “They typically come in to drink right after sunrise,” said Ballard. “They hit the water and feverishly drink for several minutes.” But the liquid gold in the arid region of southern Texas and northeastern Tamaulipas, Mexico, is 12 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M

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0 ing to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, a bird that and redheads that fly up north was banded in Minnesota after it hatched in 1976. The for the spring breeding season in redhead was eventually taken by a duck hunter in Texas. better overall shape, not to mention happier duck hunters who might years, the amount of time that the RemArms.com website eventually put a few more of these indicates that the Model 870 shotgun was in produc- divers into their daily bag limits. tion. Produced since its introduction in 1950, more than 11,000,000 of the 870 shotguns have been produced. And the good news according to Ballard, is that landowners aren’t 60,000 That’s the number of redheads that can gather faced with building sizable water in some flocks wintering in the Laguna Madre bodies that can support a duck estuaries of southern Texas and northeastern boat and outboard engine churning across acres of big water. In fact, Mexico. Such big numbers happen according to the even in arid South Texas, it doesn’t take much to make things better. Cornell Lab of Ornithology because of the redhead’s dining “They aren’t picky as long as it’s preference for shoal grass flats in these water estuaries. a decent sized trough close to the coast,” said the biologist. A trough of water straight out of a John Cowan painting, in fact. And something tells me that the late sporting artist—a man who cham- pioned conservation and helped spur the creation of the Gulf Coast Conservation Association (now the Coastal Conservation Association)— would be all smiles at that idea. The idea that with a little imagination and elbow grease, something beautiful can be created, helping conserve one of the iconic wildlife species that annually call Cowan’s adopted state their own home, at least for a few months out of each year. Perhaps, if Cowan were alive Management. After analyzing the more artificial ponds and stock tanks, today, he might be inspired to paint data, they hope to help wildlife along with the drilling of water wells, another watercolor scene, a work managers supply additional water for to help supply redheads with more straight from the Laguna Madre and redheads, especially in dry fall and freshwater as well as lessening the one possibly dubbed Redhead Alley. winter seasons like the ones that may stress on the shoal grass beds lying a be coming to Texas in 2022. short flight away. If the big rafts of Now that’s a wildlife painting redhead ducks could be spread out that would draw some serious That’s a tall order to some degree more thanks to better habitat in the attention and even a few George when you consider that Ballard Laguna Madre region, the end result Washingtons at a Texas waterfowl and his partners have reportedly could be better wintering prospects conservation banquet this fall, don’t identified 3,624 hectares of foraging you think? habitat in the Laguna Madre area that have no coastal ponds within a 10-kilometer radius of the estu- ary’s shoreline. That means limited freshwater resources for redheads, even during a good year, thanks to a number that comprises some 21-per- cent of all foraging habitat there. But if landowners will work with biologists like Ballard and others, the result could be the creation of 14 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M



year we live for. No matter how much we hunt, py we can’t get enough, but one way to come closer is outdoors viewing content and a terrific solution for through immersion in hunting video content that those who can’t get access to the network channels. And has been curated just for us. now, you can enjoy much more waterfowl content on MOTV than initially was presented. MOJO TV, Water- A few years back, Outdoor Sportsman Group fowl obsession, Heartland Waterfowl, The Fowl Life, launched MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). The goal was RNT-V, and Gundog TV are just some of our faves on simple: creating a Netflix for the Outdoors and MOTV, where over 15 wingshooting series are on tap Sportsman Channels (and World Fishing Network, on the world’s largest on-demand outdoor streaming ser- too). In just a few years, total content has exploded. vice. More than 20,000 exclusive TV episodes live here along with loads of fun adventurous short-form content On MOTV, you can thumb through best-of-the like how-to videos, tips, recipes and more. best compilations, a huge search-friendly library of 16 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M

And since waterfowling is one of the most best of your favorite shows are at your fingertips, action-packed realms in the hunting world, episodes and can be streamed to both your computer and about chasing ducks and geese are sprinkled across your smart phone. dozens of other shows that may focus primarily on other species. If, like most Netflix changed the way we watch mainstream of us, you dabble in many TV, and MOTV does that for types of hunting and fishing— the outdoors. Delicious how-to predators, hogs, turkeys or cooking tips, outdoor life hacks, whitetails—you will find it all ways to improve your call- here. We never stop learning ing and short films are bonus as outdoor folks, and MOTV content on MOTV. And if you is a good way to extend your like to fish, you’ll love MOTV. knowledge. It offers a huge leap for us all, moving outdoor content into And now, with the MOTV the next era, and it’s a terrific Huntstream feature you gift for friends and family. can enjoy the live scheduled Hey, if our friends are channel of pre-planned pro- going to be staring at their gramming, and just sit back phones while in the truck, the and enjoy the best outdoor duck blind, or when they are content of your interest area! supposed to be helping pick up decoys, at least it will be a The very newest epi- comfort that they are watching sodes still premiere on the hunting shows. networks, but you can dial up “waterfowl” or “duck • MOTV special offer: Get a 30 hunting” on MOTV and day free trial to MOTV with a choose from top-notch monthly subscription. Hit the programming on that topic QR code below and enter pro- and many others from mo code WILDFOWL22 both Outdoor Channel and Sportsman. And if you are • DON’T MISS: MOTV Hunt- into guns and shooting, the stream is the new live sched- options are endless. The uled channel that just launched best part of MOTV is that on MOTV, lean back and check you don’t have to schedule it out. recordings anymore, you can download these programs with MOTV’s Take • Check out every MOTV episode, With Me feature and watch them anywhere on live events, recipes, behind-the- your mobile device, regardless of web connectiv- scenes action and how-to videos by ity. In the past, content would air, then disappear, going to myoutdoortv.com. possibly resurfacing as re-runs. Now, many of the © PHOTOS (ABOVE) COURTESY OF HEARTLAND WATERFOWL W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M • O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 17

… BAND #: 1937-26600 ,0 HUNTER: David Deuel, Chico, CA - - SPECIES: Lesser Snow Goose (F) BANDED: 8/01/2010 | Near Colville Delta, AK RECOVERED: 11/13/2021 | Colusa, CA † BAND #: 1547-45957 \\\\ ‹ HUNTER: Matthew Michiels r BAND #: 1847-65504 HUNTER: Wes Moss, Dallas City, IL SPECIES: Common Eider (H) SPECIES: Ross’s Goose (F) BANDED: 5/25/2007 | Ile Du Brandypot, QC BANDED: 8/07/2007 | Near Falcon Inlet, NU RECOVERED: 1/10/2022 | Orleans, MA RECOVERED: 3/20/2022 | Near Afton, IA ‡ Œ BAND #: 2227-07752 BAND #: 2047-57430 HUNTER: Tucker Thompson, Bristow, OK HUNTER: Ely Crawford, Osceola, IA SPECIES: Mallard (D) BANDED: 8/22/2012 | Near Brooks, AB SPECIES: Mallard (D) RECOVERED: 1/18/2021 | Mason, OK BANDED: 8/14/2019 | Tulita, NT RECOVERED: 11/26/2021 | Near Brookfield, MO  ˆ BAND #: 1155-69022 HUNTER: Keegan Holman, Clarksville, AR BAND #: 91639-96 (Jack Miner Band) SPECIES: Blue-winged Teal (D) BANDED: 8/16/2016 | Imperial, SK HUNTER: Paul J. Nemeh, Fallon, NV RECOVERED: 9/09/2021 | Clay County, NE SPECIES: Mallard Ž BANDED: 11/27/1996 | Kingsville, ON RECOVERED: 9/28/2004 | Canora, SK BAND #: 1165-94362 HUNTER: Andrew Rose, Garner, NC ‰ SPECIES: Wood Duck (D) BANDED: 10/01/2018 | Near Walsingham, ON BAND #: 1997-23853 RECOVERED: 10/07/2020 | Suggs Mill Pond Gameland, NC HUNTER: Ashton Williamson, Virginia Beach, VA FOR AN EXPANDED “BAND TALE” SPECIES: Atlantic Brant (M) BANDED: 7/28/2014 | Near Coral Harbour, NU RECOVERED: 1/28/2022 | Near Hatteras, NC Š BAND #: 2107-35113 HUNTER: Mark Spurgin, Paxton, NE SPECIES: Mallard (D) BANDED: 8/19/2014 | Near Yorkton, SK •

































contributing factor to steel’s termi- squared. This slight alter- Blindside 2 Hex nal performance. Early steel pellets ation still allows the greater shaped pellets were often crude and far from their number of pellets in the shot are slightly more intended round shape, resulting in column, while increasing rounded now and sporadic patterns and loss of energy. pattern density with more lethal as ever. The uniform roundness of modern aerodynamic pellets. steel contributes to tighter patterns yards to high-fliers out to and subsequently more dead birds. Winchester’s testing 45 yards. No matter the Manufacturers have also taken steel of the Blindside 2 loads flight pattern or distance, one step further by plating their pel- showed a slight decrease in the Blindside 2 loads lived lets in zinc or other materials to pre- pattern density compared up to their reputation, vent rust and improve performance. to perfectly round steel leaving a path of destruc- loads, but the increase of tion in their wake and While on the topic of modern pellets in the payload more a large pile of delicious advancements in steel, I picked than make up the difference greenheads for table fare. Meyer’s brain about their new by putting more pellets Blindside 2 Waterfowl loads. The inside a 30-inch circle. Hex Meyer ended our con- hexagon shaped pellets seemed shaped pellets also exude versation with a simple to go against what he had told greater energy transfer upon but profound statement me about round shot flying and impact, increasing their about steel. He said, patterning better, but the advantage terminal performance and “Steel loads have come a long way that they provide is the ability to fit decreasing the number of in the last 30 years, but despite our 13% more pellets in the same shot cripples the dog has to chase down. best efforts, they will never be lead. column. Winchester also slightly From a non-scientific point of view, It is our responsibility to recognize altered the hex shaped pellets from the Blindside 2 loads performed in and know the limitations of what the original Blindside loads. The spades on mallards at the renowned we are shooting.” pellets still feature six sides, but the Nilo Farms earlier this year. Shots edges are rounded as opposed to ranged from cupped mallards at 10

BY MIKE MARSH IOWA GOLIATH Arriving at a gap broken in the buckbrush by many years of hunters JOCKEYING FOR POSITION ON OPENING DAY of the second split of using that particular spot, the party, waterfowl season, the duck boat lineup idled through the no-wake zone at which included Toby, Timmer- Iowa’s Lake Odessa. One by one, they reached full-throttle water and blast- man’s male black Lab, his 18-year- ed off, with a huge boat blind running in third place. old son Drake, and Drake’s friend 15-year-old Tate Krondfelt, set 150 The first and second “best” hunting spots were taken by two faster boats decoys. Then they unrolled their capable of achieving speeds of 70 mph. Brent Timmerman’s boat with its sleeping bags. Amped by thoughts fiberglass blind could only hit 50 mph, even by white-knuckling the throttle. of what daybreak might wing their way, they napped fitfully and were “Lake Odessa is the only lake in Louisa County that allows hunters to ready to go long before the wakeup stake out their boats along the bank, but no one is allowed to leave the alarm went off one hour before legal bank to hunt until midnight,” Timmerman said. “We have people who shooting time. watch our boat and everyone who hunts there knows everyone else, so we talk about where we want to hunt before we launch. The fastest boats “The first ducks we saw after get the best hunting spots.” legal light was a flock of Holly- woods,” Timmerman said. “They spun around right in front of us, passed by the decoys and came back. We killed eight out of the flock of



15 and were hooting and holler- MATERIALS LIST ing and high-fiving. Later on, two drake mallards decoyed and we got • 30 Feet - ¾” steel conduit them both. We called three guys • 260 Feet - ½\" conduit in another boat to come and set up • 10 - Conduit clamps beside us. Between the two boats, we shot 16 teal, 8 shovelers, two • 10 - Self tapping screws mallards and two specklebellies.” • 120 Feet – Black fiberglass matting, 4' wide • 120 Feet – Black bed sheet fabric, 4' wide That memorable, inaugural hunt that took place in October 2019 • 6 Gallons - Fiberglass resin was the Timmermans’ reward for • 2 Sheet - ½” Plywood undertaking the building of a hard- • 48 feet - 1”x1” wood sided boat blind with a lightweight, fiberglass skin. • 1 – Plastic sheet, 4’ x 10’ • 100 ' – Plastic coated garden fencing, 1”x3” openings Brent Timmerman is 40 years old and was introduced to waterfowl • Zip ties hunting 35 years ago by his father, • Interior LED lights, wiring, switches Lyle Timmerman. A maintenance technician at a drywall company Total cost: $1,500 in Burlington, Iowa, he shoots a Remington 870 stoked with Federal welded together with a MIG welder, frame sections. The blind also has Speed-Shok steel 2s and sets Avian X with each piece custom-fitted to cre- an overhanging stern section with a and GHG mallard, pintail, gadwall, ate an extremely sturdy support sys- firewall between the engine and the wigeon and shoveler decoys. (For tem. The finished blind is so strong interior. A door in the firewall pivots those who have not heard the term that hunters can stand on it. It has a open like the bow hatch to allow “Hollywood” used for the shoveler bow entry hatch that rotates open access to the engine. or spoonbill, it refers to the drake on pivots points consisting of larger being a fake or imitation mallard diameter base conduit sections The skin’s foundation layer is because everything in Hollywood is rotating around smaller diameter black cotton bedsheet fabric, hot- a fake or imitation). glued to the frame. The outer layer He also works on race cars in a pole barn behind his house. That is where he and Drake constructed Goliath. The boat is a 1996 Alweld 1860 powered by a 1981 Johnson 110 two-stroke outboard. The trailer is a 1996 Mirrocraft. “When I bought the boat in 2016, it had a homemade blind,” he said. “It had been used and abused and was falling apart. Since I also drove racecars, I asked my son if he wanted to be a duck hunter or race- car driver. When he answered ‘duck hunter’ I gave him that boat and got a bigger boat for myself.” The blind frame is made of steel conduit. The base is ¾” conduit and is secured to the tops of the gunwales with 10 conduit clamps welded to the frame. Self-tapping screws connect the bottoms of the clamps to the boat. After hunting season, the screws are removed and the blind is light enough so that four hunters can lift it off the boat. The rest of the frame is ½” conduit 38 O C T O B E R • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M

is black fiberglass fabric matting are removed and stowed. Compart- insulation company. On the coldest saturated with resin. Plastic coated ments on both sides of the bow deck day, the interior temperature can be garden fencing attached over the entryway holds 120 decoys. Rigged maintained at 75 degrees. fiberglass skin holds camouflaging with the Tanglefree system, they tumbleweeds, secured to the fencing are simply tossed into the compart- “It took us 20 days of solid work- with zip ties. Hunters also add ments, not bagged. ing to build the blind,” Timmerman buckbrush to help it blend into the said. “Since it’s Drake’s boat, he got hunting site vegetation. The goal A full-length shelf holds a built-in to name it.” was creating a more rounded shape propane RV stove/oven and a than the rectangular shape of most 30,000 BTU glass-fronted heater. To anyone who sees that hulking boat blinds so it would resemble a The blind interior is coated with form racing for a hunting spot at beaver hut. spray foam insulation applied by an midnight on the dot, the name Goli- ath must seem the perfect fit. The custom-made helm and throttle controls are located at the starboard side near the bow. Hunters sit on either a wooden bench with a conduit frame or on a top-hinged wooden storage seat with 3 inches of foam padding and a vinyl cover. They shoot through four 28”x28” ports on the starboard side. The port covers are 1”x1” lumber framing covered with plastic sheeting. The framing fits snugly enough inside the ports that they remain in place even while the boat is road towed. During a hunt, they

BY TOM DOKKEN SIGNS OF UNRAVELING they can also start to go the other way. To me, the initial slippage is WHILE I HAVE A deep passion for retrievers and waterfowl hunting, easy to spot, but that’s not the case I divide my time up between ducks and deer each fall. I love bowhunt- for everyone. ing whitetails, and there is something that happens each season that reminds me of our dogs. And when it happens, it often goes too far and forces us to face an It involves the frequency of target practice sessions. Throughout the unfortunate reality with our dogs— summer, the motivation to try to shoot a few tight groups is easy to come they have backslid in their obedi- by. But once the hunting season kicks off, it’s much easier to head to my ence. There are three major ways stand than to the target range. I have to remind myself to practice when I this often happens. can just as easily go hunting. CREEPERS What does this have to do with dogs? Well, we do the same thing with training. Throughout the summer and the pre-season, we put our retriev- I’ve beaten the steadiness drum ers through daily drills in anticipation of opening weekend. After that, all a lot in this column, because it’s training bets are off as we chase limits at sunrise. important. A steady duck dog is a good duck dog, and there’s no way Just like how your archery accuracy can slip without enough practice, around that. But the thing is, a dog our dogs’ skills tend to erode as we ignore training in lieu of hunting. that is rock-solid in the pre-season Now, dogs do learn some on-the-job skills while they are hunting, but might not be so steady in the blind, especially by mid-season. Normally, the first few hunts are where a dog’s obedience really shines, but if the training dies off, 40 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M © TONY PETERSON

eventually that crisp behavior is © TONY PETERSON going to soften. When it does, steadiness is the first casualty. dropper. What I mean by this is and always brings a dummy or a that it’s not uncommon for some- bird back to hand during training. The thing with this is it happens one to have a retriever that has in almost imperceptible degrees. gone through the trained retrieve These dogs put on a good show You won’t take a dog that doesn’t in the summer on the soccer field or break in training who always, immediately breaks in the blind. He’ll start to creep, instead. Where he use to wait for the clear signal to even move a muscle before the retrieve, he’ll now start to antici- pate being sent. He’ll creep to the edge of the blind, or the boat, and prime himself to break free. When this starts to happen and doesn’t get corrected, you’re on your way to having a full-blown breaker. Pay attention during your mid-season hunts if you’ve put training on the back burner, because what starts as a slight creep will get worse over time. DROPPERS Another big one, that tends to happen in degrees but is highly undesirable in a duck dog, is the

the back yard, but when they get to He might assume you’re going to If you wouldn’t (and you shouldn’t) hunt, they start testing out where reach out and take the duck, so tolerate that during a training ses- the line really is on deliver to hand. he’ll stop just short of you. Or, he sion, don’t tolerate it during a hunt. If, in the excitement of the hunt, might decide that he wants to drop a dog figures out that you don’t the duck and shake before deliver- INDEPENDENT STREAKS demand he come to heel and hold ing it to hand. the bird until you tell him to drop it, Great duck dogs always possess he’ll expect that out of you. Another common issue here a mix of independence and fierce is that some dogs just really like loyalty to the team. This balance This will only get worse, and it picking stuff up in their mouths. has to tip toward the team side of happens in a few different ways. The They like this so much, that things to really work. The dog that first is what I just mentioned, where they’ll drop something multiple looks you in the eyes and instantly a dog will get sloppy in his delivery. times just to get to pick it back up. minds every whistle during practice is working for the team. That same retriever, after weeks of hunting, might start to believe he knows best. After all, he’s the one busting through the cattails and swimming through the chop to retrieve the ducks, not you. When a dog starts to believe he’s in charge, you’ll know it because he’ll ignore you. This might not seem like an issue at all, when you’ve got to just reissue a command to get his attention. Yet, over time your verbal commands, whistles, or hand signals, will start to get ignored more and more. This is a gradual slide through- out the season that can lead to all kinds of problems. It needs to be corrected in the field, and certainly during training sessions throughout the hunting season. The key to curbing the mid-sea- son slide is to be aware of your standards. If you ask your dog to be at a certain level in training, you better ask him to maintain that level at sunrise when the excitement is highest. If you don’t, he’ll quickly figure out that the training standards don’t apply to the hunt, and he’ll react accordingly. This, especially when it happens during successful hunts, can be hard to recognize until it’s too late. So, pay attention. If you see him starting to slip, get on it. You don’t want to wait to see how that behav- ior will manifest itself into some- thing desirable before the last of the migration dries up. 42 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 ¥ W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M

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BY TONY J. PETERSON SAFE TRAVELS WORTH THE COST? THE STORIES ABOUT unlucky hunters capsizing their duck boats in the An obvious downside to a quality dark, or of retrievers dead-set on grabbing wounded divers as they paddle crate is cost. With most of them farther out into big water, abound. They stick with us. They represent the running in the $500 range, it’s not an scariest scenarios we can imagine. insignificant swipe of the credit card. This can be hard to justify, especial- There’s no reason to underestimate the danger of cold, rough water ly if you ask yourself what the odds combined with frigid air temperatures, either. But the biggest threat to us, are of an accident happening while and our retrievers, might just be the drive to, and from, our spots. This is you’re en route to your favorite true whether you hunt local ducks 20 minutes from home, mallard honey hole. or plan your season around a road trip that takes you to far- flung destinations in search of a duck fix you just can’t get The good news here is that it’s in your neighborhood. a buy-once-cry-once scenario, with There are a few agencies like the National Highway today’s better crate options capable Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Centers for of outlasting a few generations of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that track traffic duck dogs. accidents. Here in the U.S., roughly 35,000 to 40,000 people never make it home every year due to fatal crashes. For It might never happen. You obvious reasons, those agencies don’t track dog deaths, but might go through life without ever they do track circumstances around the human fatalities. experiencing a serious car accident. Unless you have the brainpower The list of the most common circumstances around of a brick, you probably wear a crashes reads like it’s a narration of an average duck hunt- seatbelt just in case. After all, why er’s life. Saturday nights, after dark, with numbers peaking wouldn’t you protect yourself in October, and a high prevalence of rollovers involving in the off-chance that you could light trucks (not semis), all make the list. become a statistic? We have seatbelts and vehicles built to ever stringent Extend the same courtesy to safety standards. But what do our retrievers have? your retriever if you have the option. While a serious crash PROPERLY CRATED will probably never happen, if it does, your dog will appreciate not At this point, the understanding around a quality crate is ubiquitous becoming a furry wrecking ball across our ranks. Several companies have jumped into this market with with little chance to survive. products and messaging that paints an obvious picture—if you don’t crate your dog properly then it’ll be in real trouble if things go sideways PHOTO © TONY PETERSON while you’re traveling. That’s not just a great way to sell more gear to us duck hunters. It’s also the truth. An unsecured dog in a vehicle is a retriever that will become a flying object during a crash. There’s no way around that, and it’s a huge danger to both dog and man. A crated dog is a contained dog, which is a better option. The rub is that the crate has to be secured, somehow. If your retriever rides inside your vehicle, the rear seat belts are the ticket here. If your retriever rides in the bed of your pickup, it’s time to bust out the ratchet straps. In either case, make sure your crate is outfitted with proper tie-down cleats or other design features. Most of the options marketed toward the hook-and-bullet crowd have these built-in, but many of the general pet market crates don’t. 44 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M

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PUT YOUR LOADS TO PAPER PRIOR TO A HUNT I also like shooting at 50 yards to know what to expect on followup LAST FALL I WAS hunting ducks and geese on a small farm pond. A lone shots. Try different brands and shot honker came skidding into the decoys at 25 yards and I knew it was dinner. sizes, even chokes, to see what But it didn’t come together as I envisioned, in a clean, one-shot kill. performs best in your gun. My first shot busted the left wing of the goose. It landed and was swim- Last year’s shotgun shell shortage ming near some floating honker decoys at 30 yards. My two follow-up shots was unlike anything most of us had didn’t touch it’s head or neck. Rather than sticking in the same loads I’d experienced. To get by, we snatched just shot, I grabbed my standby Browning Wicked Wing, 3-inch 2 shot. The any shells we could find. We learned goose was engulfed in a mist, and when it cleared, the bird was stone dead. a lot about what it was like shooting different brands of loads in a range After 47 years of waterfowl hunting, I learned a lesson: Don’t trust a of shot sizes. Or did we? load just because it’s supposed to be something special. The first three shots I fired at that goose were a hyped-up new bismuth load. I also reaf- Racking up misses throughout firmed my own belief that it’s important to pattern a load before hunting the season, many of my hunting with it, which I failed to do. buddies figured they just had a bad day of shooting. Others thought it was their gun, while some changed 48 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M