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Today I:

Disassembled the 870 and cleaned it thoroughly, added some polish to the stock and cycled through a few rounds.

Cleaned and lubed the Mag-10. I don't disassemble it because it is a complicated piece, and believe it or not in 25+ years of using it, it's never misfired. If it ain't broke I don't fix it and frankly i'm afraid to tear it down because I may not be able to get it back together.

I rigged a couple of G&H B2 Bluebills to add to my spread. Used 1/8" diamond braid ( I got a whole roll a couple of years ago) and 16oz weights. These are for use at Presque Isle where you need a lot of weight.

I carved a path to my stuff in the garage and sorted out my silly's for goose hunting and moved things over to some new decoy bags that I have laying around.

Ckecked my waders for obvious rips/tears, which there were none, but a water test will be on opening day Oct 7.

and finally

Sorted through some of my hunting clothes to see if there is anything I want to try to sell or give to someone. I found a couple of nice Columbia jackets with liners that are size large (I can dream can't I) that may have to go to some needy young hunter. I hope they like Brown Camo because that's all I have.

That's it for today, but I still have plenty of stuff to do.

C'mon duck season!!!!!!!

Prep is in full swing!!

October 7th is the day. Unfortunately I took a tumble down my back stairs last night and probably broke or cracked a few ribs and smashed my face on the sidewalk. Ouch. Feels better this morning but I could live without another fall. Getting old sucks.

Ouch.........and know that every breath is a reminder when it comes to the cracked ribs, Good Luck, hoping they heal quickly, and that you didn't do too much damage to your face as well.

don novicki wrote:October 7th is the day. Unfortunately I took a tumble down my back stairs last night and probably broke or cracked a few ribs and smashed my face on the sidewalk. Ouch. Feels better this morning but I could live without another fall. Getting old sucks.

Bound to have happened, things were going way too smoothly for you. Hope it turns out nothing more than a bad bruising.

I sneezed this morning and thought I was going to die. Feeling incrementally better this a.m. at least. Thanks guys for the support. I love this site and the people on here.

Well at least the tumble came after the prep was done, don't have to worry about that... Those cracked or bruised ribs sure can hurt, I understand about the sneezing... Take care buddy hope you get to feeling better...

don novicki wrote:I sneezed this morning and thought I was going to die. Feeling incrementally better this a.m. at least. Thanks guys for the support. I love this site and the people on here.

Get well soon.

I'll be heading to Virginia tomorrow. My mother-in-law took a much worse tumble than you did. She broke both wrists, her left shoulder, her nose, and had at least a concussion which is looking more like a more serious traumatic brain injury.

It's not funny, but it is funny. She's furious at my father-in-law. She's in rehab now and want to get the hell out of there. Depending on the day according to her he's just keeping her there so he can steal her money. There are other statements but all are versions of that she doesn't belong there and she's ready to go home. She can't walk or even get out of bed. She's not even close to ready and my 78 year old father-in-law can't get her in and out of the car, up the steps, or really even out of the chair and into a wheelchair.

Oh and she also told him that she's going to divorce him and is coming to live with me and my wife as soon as she gets out My wife and I are in full agreement. No f'ing way. And that was before she hit her head and turned into a really mean cuss.

That's sad Spin. Wishing her and her husband the best. Those head injuries can really cause havoc esp. in the elderly. Hope she can go home at some point but it sounds like she might need some short/mid term rehab. Poor woman, nothing beats being at home.

Will be keeping both you guys in my prayers.

Thanks guys. My MIL's brain seems to be healing. She's been her old self for a couple days now. I was hoping for better than that , but that will have to do. Really good news. So let's hope it lasts and just her body has to heal.

On a different note, our weather is taking a turn for the better with colder temps this week and next. Daytime highs in the 50's with night time lows in the 40's. A couple of rain showers next week and West winds should help out the opener and beyond. I can't wait to get out there and get a few squealers in the bag. Hope everyone that is already hunting is doing well and let's not have any more falls or accidents while we are at it.

Good luck.

I wish we had a split season, but we are stuck with one continuous season that starts too late and ends too early. Opening day is the 21st. There were a lot of wood ducks around during early goose. One cold snap and we'll lose most of them before the season opens. If we have nice weather for the next month, we should have a fun opening week or two.

If I could program the weather,

One good cold snap first week of September to bring back the molt migrators before early goose arrives.

Then nice weather through October to keep the woodies around.

Then cool weather through the first 3 weeks of November for archery hunting during the rut.

Then cold and nasty as it can be through the end of January to bring down the mallards and geese to the cooling lakes.

Then Feb 1, spring arrives because hunting season is over and the cold nasty weather serves no useful purpose. Although, I'm in Florida so doesn't impact me as long as spring arrives by May 1.

While you're programing weather send us torrential rains.

Rick wrote:While you're programing weather send us torrential rains.

I wish i could. We got hit by Ophelia here in Richmond shortly after we arrive this past weekend. We got several inches of rain I suspect. Would have been perfect for you all as I don't think it was too destructive when it came ashore and here in Richmond it was a lot of rain but not even much wind.

Here's wishing for a benign slow moving tropical system to fill up your marshes

It's go time tomorrow morning. Dragged my decoys and swamp chair out to the swamp yesterday and kicked up a few Woodies at about noon. Tomorrow is rain, cold and W wind at 15 mph. Good luck to everyone and a full report will follow.

Good luck Don! Great timing on the front for opener!

Sic 'em.

Thanks guys.

Good luck to you! I hope you get into them good!!!

After dragging all that s*** out there, I hope you shootum up in the morning, looking forward to the full report...

It's 4:23 a.m. and although it is colder, 46 right now there isn't a breath of wind. Oh well you work with what you have.....

Good Luck Don

Time of day: 0645

Weather: Clear skies with plenty of stars out. Around 10:00 clouds moved in and I thought it was going to rain but it didn't.

Temp: 46 degrees

Wind: SW 10-15 mph was supposed to be W

Place: private property swamp in Cranseville Pa. , which I have been hunting for 20+ years

Other hunters: none I usually don't take people to this place. I guess I am selfish, but it is a death march in and out battling chest high grasses and poor footing and I don't know too many guys that are up for it.

Birds seen: probably 200 Honkers on the water when I got there, and maybe about 6 ducks.

Shots fired: 3, all pretty much wingers but I had to try

Birds bagged: zero, but I'm thankful that I can still get out and bagging a bird is now a bonus.

Decoys: about 2 dozen old Flambeau mallards

Gun: my trusty old 870. I love this gun, and it's old like it's owner.

Really didn't see many ducks this a.m. and didn't get many opportunities to shoot, but who really cares. I'll be back out on Monday if the weather holds and we don't warm up or continue with a SW wind. Geese come in Oct 24 so if I am lucky some of the corn might start to come down. Anyways fun to be out and I needed the exercise.

Some other shots fired fairly close by but it really died after 8:00 or so.

More to follow soon I hope.

Enjoyed your report Don, looking forward to more to follow...

Gonna give it a go in the morning. Raining pretty hard right now. We shall see what happens.

Don - you had a SW wind that is usually a good wind for us in our marsh in SW Louisiana

MARSH BEAR wrote:Don - you had a SW wind that is usually a good wind for us in our marsh in SW Louisiana

Not in our part of it. Anything westerly is usually slow.

For us the east wind is the kiss of death