Date: 1/5
Time: morning
Location: mudhole
Cloud Cover: clear
Wind Direction and Velocity: NE light
Temperature: low 30s
Barometer: 30.4 flat
Moon phase: 19% waning
Special Notes: Waterfowl Activity: Saw a few more teal than yesterday, but again very little but local big ducks
Waterfowl Responsiveness: Again it seemed like everything working the marsh knew it too well and our best bet was breaking mile high trafficking birds, of which there were next to none.
Hunters: 2, father and son, Sheldon and John on the later's first duck hunt
Guns: Malfunctions: Had an O/U that was acting up.
Dog(s): Peake's really showing his mileage and acting all used up unless working a scent trail.
Special Equipment: spinner and mmm
Curses: Badly need some sort of wind or weather change to stir the pot. Ours was the marsh's big hunt, and that's not good.
Kudos: Nice folks who could have done much worse with what we were given.
Birds By Species: 2 gadwall, 5 gw teal and 4 mallards
Photo Ops: A mallard we had to close the distance to by boat after what should have been a slam-dunk op as it landed:
An easy-for-me one, but the guy doing the work seemed to question the notion of having get back in the cold water to deliver it:
Finally did:
Lagniappe: One of my all time favorite guests was in camp and informed me of another's passing. Fob James, a past Alabama governor, is now 83 and a much less robust version of himself, on the left, when I first met the seemingly inseparable pair of he and the late David James, no relation, on the right:
What made the pair so endearing was their close lifelong friendship and the rapport that had grown from it. Each addressed the other formally as "Mr. Jones" or "Jonesy," and the easy banter between them reminded me of the old American Sportsman shows where Bing Crosby and Phil Harris bird hunted together. Neat as could possibly be just to be in the gentlemen's audience. I barely knew David and morn his passing and can't imagine what it must be like for Fob.