Closing day

High Tea at the Laingham on Saturday old bean... a small concession to pay for getting in a final duck hunt on Sunday. I launched The Booger at about 7.45 on Saturday night and headed down to the hut. There were a fair number of hunters out and about judging by the parked cars. Got to the hut and had a beer and a bacon wrapped pheasant breast - YUUMMMM. Discovered a hole in the floor where some assholes had attempted to break in. Ass wipes. After the lads had scoffed their dinner, me Tim & Andy headed out for a possum shoot with the.22, silenced and using sub sonics. We got up to the end pond and promptly disturbed quite a large pig. It got away as we tried to close the gap - would have needed to shoot it in the eye anyway, not an easy feat with a rifle with no sights! We got a fat buck possum at The Willow, after a small fusillade of shots including some interesting ricochets...

Next morning was the first real winter's morning of the year. Cool and clear. The ducks moved at about 7, and it really was half light. The Hollands and me were at Puru. We had a reasonable shoot, knocking down 5 birds. We retrieved 4 of them.

Then one of those special swamp moments. Bitterns are pretty rare, we see them from time to time but this morning we had a pair flying around...

And then another pair... dear reader, if you are sensitive to terrible language, please don't watch this.....

You were warned. We packed it in and set about cleaning up for another year. The weekend's bag was 14 birds, taking the total past 200 for the seaon off the ponds. Home by 3, cleaned up and stowed away by 4.

A mint closing day. Now for the pheasants and geese....

Where there's a Will...

Every post needs a heading. Will is Andy H's mate and we had arranged for him to grab a ride down to the ponds. By the time he arrived on Friday evening, The Booger was loaded and ready, and all he had to do was get changed and chuck his gear in the car. It rained most of the way down, but the trip was uneventful. Launching was easy, in fact everything was great. Visions of steaming down the river triumphantly soon turned to custard when I couldn't get the motor started. Aha! But I had packed the operating manual, so I was fine! I giggled smugly to myself that I had it sussed. But no, after re-tweaking my arm that Simon ripped off a month ago I had to pull out the cell, Call Andy, and ask for a tow. He arrived soon after (I was still cranking the motor) and then Will jumped into the Rocket, we got the boats tied off and away we went. I sat in the stern steering and making buddabuddabudda boat engine noises. Embarrassing. Anyway I gave the motor another pull and .. the motor started! Yelled to the boys, untied, and off we went. Anyway, enough boat stuff. The hunting party was dad, Andy, me, Will and a chap called Benno from Germany, and his dog Tana. Me and Andy headed out to the Willow Pond to set some dekes and came back in for a late dinner (10pm). Hit the hay and had a damn good sleep. Got up at 4.30 (Was wide awake) and got the kettle on. Made breakfast, then dad and me headed out to the Willow Pond to get set up. My Robo had tipped over in the wind overnight so was quite surprised that it came to life first flick of the switch. We had quite a wait until it was light enough to see ducks. The Thames boys were in their pond. The wind was howling up high, and the ducks were answering the call and diving in at us. Not a huge shoot, but our bag was pleasing, made up completely of Grey ducks.

Willow Pond

We headed in to the hut at 11.30 and had lunch, the went for a walk under the trees to check out some old hidey holes that used to be so good before DOC came along and poisoned the willow trees. Andy and I headed off to find a particular little spot and picked up a jumping Grey on the way. Andy did a blood hound impression to find the bird. Finally we turned around after we realised we must have missed the spot and then inadvertently found it, marks went into the GPS. It was getting on for 4pm, so we headed back down to the hut and got ready for a night hunt. Dad came with me and we went across to the night spot. The evening was great. We picked up another Grey, and had a few more shots. As it grew darker a huge thunderstorm approached. The lightning show was amazing, orange and purple blasts streaked across the sky. It was coming our way. i knew that as Will and me had to leave we were going to get some weather, and it unleashed as we got in the boat. The drive up to the ramp was like driving through a wall of water, we got soaked. We pulled the boat and no more than a minute into our car trip the rain stopped and the sky cleared.....

German Visitor

Whoop Whoop - Honking good duck weather



Report will follow.......

Some liquefaction

A bit of footage, not that impressive I suppose.

The shaken city

Ok so this post isn't about fish, pheasants, ducks, dogs or mates but because I experienced some weird shit I'm going to have to write about it. First of all, I say RESPECT to the people of christchurch, who have hung in there through the series of earthquakes that have cut their city and homes to the bone, these people deserve a medal for standing up and fighting. Yesterday me and another pair of amateur comedians flew into ChCh. Our travel was pre-booked on Air NZ; as it happens they were the only airline operating due to the volcanic dust cloud from Chile's exploding Puyehue volcano. Personally I long ago feel that I learned not to mock god, so when Amateur Comedian #1 (let's call him Malcolm) said as we drove to the airport "let's roll the camera forward, and not be able to get home because of a big earthquake..." I should have just claimed mild to serious sickness and gone home. But he was driving. I guess I'm AC#2. AC#3 we'll call Stella. Stella was quiet, eerily quiet. Well, we landed in ChCh no problems. We got to our conference venue. Being the organisers meant we got quite busy setting out info packs and what not. 1pm was kick off. Guests and delegates were arriving. I got settled in and was chatting to some old codger about this and that when I heard what I thought was a low flying plane approaching, sort of that low turboprop hum like a C-130 is coming over. Seconds later it was all on as a quake hit. Old codger yells "FUCK!!!!!!" and leaps up. It would have been amusing under normal circumstances but I actually thought he was rather restrained. We sheltered in a doorway through to the kitchen area, luckily at that point the conference hall wasn't very full. As always, the show must go on, but some of the guests were slightly fretful and a couple were full on basket cases. News came through that it was a 5 point something on the Richter Scale. Guests and delegates filed in. We kicked off. Our guest speaker, Sir michael Hill wasn't able to land as the airport had shut down while the runway was checked. The organiser kicked off the speeches. Then the National Bank bloke welcomed the crowd. Told us how Chch was resilient, the people proud and staunch, and how business was growing again. The Microsoft bloke gave his presso, and then Sir Michael arrived and started up his chat. 160 odd people began to warm to his life story. What happened next was totally unannounced.... The whole room just began to lurch sideways, up and down, the roar was not quite deafening but pretty loud, stuff was falling & breaking and people were genuinely panicking to get out. The human condition is interesting. Personally I could see 200 odd people running towards big glass windows and all I could think was "idiots you're about to be turned into mince", but that didn't happen. The building was oldish, build of timber and flexing like a crazy thing. I was looking at the ceiling, wooden beams and boards and it was twisting like a demented possessed building... I was in a service doorway through to the hotel kitchen area and it was getting the bash, glasses and crockery flying and something hit me in the head. Still don't know what that was.

And then the craziest things... I walked outside and people were running this way and that, getting in their cars and departing (some were laying down rubber, kid you not). Took me a while to figure that they were simply being smart and geeting home before the roads gridlocked. We stood around and watched the most bizarre thing ever - liquefaction. Unheard of 10 months ago, but now a common descriptor of this silt laden water that simply oozes aout of the ground.

Check this out.

I got sent some vid by a colleague but have lost it, when I get it back I'll post.

As I said, RESPECT to the people of Christchurch, I'm pretty sure the novelty has worn off for them.

Footage of that big kingi from last october

Freakin big kingfish on flyrod - 8kg tippet

Some colourful language in there.... rates as NZ's best fly rod capture of a kingi

Rain, wind, weather & timing

The weather coming up to the long weekend was looking good for a duck or 2. North to north east winds, gale strength, a bit of rain (just a bit) and almost no moon... it would be fair to say that I was looking forward to getting to the swamp just a teeny bit.

Metvuw made it look quite appealing, if you're into crappy weather.

Me, dad, Tom, Paul and Paul's mate Bryan were there, dad picking us up from the landing at about 8.30. We got our gear in and then set out decoys, my job wasn't that big as dad had put dekes in at Park. The wind was howling and spits of raim came blasting out of the darkness. Back to the hut for a few drinks and a bit of chit chat before settling in to listen to the rugby. Buggered if I could sleep, the bottle of V that I drank on the way down stayed with me. In between dad's snoring, the rats squealing at each other (a fairly playful pair) and whatnot, I only managed a couple of hours sleep. Up and at em at 5, I felt pretty seedy but we got out in time to turn the electric dekes on. At 6.25 a couple of ducks apperaed on set wings then hit the afterburners. 5 minutes later, they or another pair blasted out of the dark and set wings into the pond behind the Park maimai. I fumbled around for my headlamp - it was darker than the inside of a whale's intestine. I slid out of the maimai, hit the headlamp and scanned for the ducks... no burst of wings until I found them right at the back of the pond. They jumped, I fired where  thought they were jumping and  got a scotch double, then had to finish the hen which was not well hit. 2 ducks in the bag, a promising start! Dad cleaned up the next couple and my shooting just deteriorated. Paul Tom & Bryan had a couple of chances, but despite the promise of the weather (still the wind blasted and the rain fell) the ducks simply failed to materialise in any numbers. We stuck at it until midday, dad and I bagging 5, the others getting a single.

After lunch the boys set off for a walk with dad to see if they could drive any birds from the Western Front; tom and I elected to stay back for a nana nap. I couldn't sleep at all. So after a while I got ready and headed out to catch up with dad and see if anything was up. Not much doing, just hundreds of Grey Teal milling about. At 4pm I headed over to the night spot, and logged its position into the GPS... with no moon and incessant wind the usual navigation signs were absent. Ducks started moving at 5.15. Nothing would come to the call at all, so it was a matter of staying vigilant. At 5.55 out of the dark a pair pitched in just above the willow line. I hit the first and the second dived in and landed, putting a small willow between us. I stood and walked into the darkness and up it got, but no way could I see it until it got over tree height, and 3 shots followed it out. Headlamp on I picked up the dead bird and stashed it in a tree. 3 minutes later a pair raced over on set wings - I knew they would circle back and as they did I pulled on the lead bird - miss, miss, pulled on following bird, killed it and the killed the lead bird with the 4th shot.

I lamped around and found the birds and then resumed but at 6.15 knew the hunt was over - a couple of frantic minutes, pure gold. On the way back I tried self navigating but the GPS revealed that I was circling.. doh. Got back to the hut absolutely stuffed. The Kobuk neoprene jacket was great in the conditions but the walk back soaked me. At least I was warm. Fish pie for dinner -yummmm. Sleep came easily.

Sunday was quieter than Saturday. The weather was clearing but little (apart from teal) was flying. The boys down at Puru cleaned up a nice mallard drake but that was the finall tally for the morning.

Another sweet couple of days at the ponds... someone should have told the ducks they were supposed to be flying though.

No photos, a bit too wet to take out the camera.

What do you write about, when you've had a quiet weekend at home?

To be fair, I really enjoyed a quiet weekend. Blistered skin off my soft office hands trimming hedge. Got a lot of satisfaction getting in and chopping a new pile of firewood. Dug over Vege garden (exposing last weekends pheasant remains - PHOOOOOEEEEEYYYY!). Cleaned dekes. Checked a zillion web sites for the perfect camo for The Booger. Went out to dinner. JB Fan Club went and stayed at Oma's house. Peace, quiet, tranquility.

Anyway's this blog isn't supposed to be about the languid lifestyle of the suburban middle aged dad; oh no, it's a Fish'n + Shoot'n blog. So here's the wrap up from the boys:

Cock
"Tally was 42 to the hand with a few MIA. After the rain on Thur’s, water was right up to and under the hut. The pond’s were right up with water flowing over the dam, I think this was the problem with the lost birds as they just kept swimming away. Average shooting didn’t help the cause either, but all in all was a good effort considering how much water is lying around the district and in the wangamarino.


There were some good flights mid morning, but high birds. We only got some good decoying birds on Fri when the weather cleared a bit and rain stopped.

The chimney leaked really badly, but Dick managed to affect a good temporary repair, looks like it needs some proper flashing to water proof it.

When are u planning on heading back in nxt? Will u be taking the bogger?"

AndyH
"Swamp was very full of water, up to the base of the boards under the hut. Got into the hut Friday night to a feed of orange and sherry duck, eye fillet and veges. Plenty of birds down from the previous days and about 6 down but MIA due to the water.


Saturday morning was pretty fine, very little wind and hardly any rain. Lots of ducks about but either very wary or a long way up. A few lonely mallards dropped in to us in the Willow and got smoked. Mine was about 8m away so ended up looking like a pin cushion.

Had a few passing opportunities that we could have taken but didn’t for whatever reason. All in all was a good day out. Was knackered so didn’t end up going out in Raglan. Eddie reports a small group of ducks but not within range. Not sure of the goose situation."

The ex-Schwampenfurher

Hi Swamprats,



I went in early this morning to pick up the faulty gene and acouple of things of mine which I'd left behind.Water was nearly up to the 2nd step.Drove boat nearly to batch.I decided to have a look around the ponds and it was huge stretch of water with only the highest islands showing any ground.There were birds on Bollocks,another few down the western side of Puru-Bollocks, another bunch in Watsosns,several at back of Park and some at Willow. An amazing sight. All the green fern weed is gone and all in all a great site.

I've returned the punt keys which I had in my waders and retrieved the chain that was underwater by the winch. A quick reminder to all to remember to sweep out the batch before leaving.I had a quick clean out before coming home.

Nick and I are planning to go in next Friday for a couple of days. I might even go in sooner if there's any possibility of wind.


******

42 birds is pretty freakin good going, for this time of year.

The Booger

Well, after a bit of a wait, lots of talking with the boat craftsman and a few tweaks, here's a brief sneak preview of The Booger....

30 Hp goes on back

Clean space. Nothing for lines to catch on.

Casting platform - removeable

Add caption

Kimbo at work suggested the name. I like it.

More from the lads

Thought I'd do a bit of a wrap up report. Yellow Bollocks, Cock & AJ had a good weekend on the mallards, with fresh birds coming in off the ocean. They got 25 odd over Saturday and Sunday, quite a good return. And the battle barge is back in action, no worse for its dunking last week.

Dad, Russell and assorted guests had a good but quiet weekend in the swamp, taking 4 birds on Sunday.

Craig, Mitch, Mick & Hendrik had a good day at PPP on Sunday, taking 8 nice cock birds.

Hendrik's Merkel

Brutus, Heidi & bag

Mick & Mitch

Brian and Mark went into the Kaimanawa's after a sika. They got a beautiful 8 point stag

It was COLD

Brian, Mark & stag

You want to get ahead? Go hunting! (sighhhh)

Andy and mate sprung a surprise attack on the Raglan geese. It didn't work out as the geese sprang them, but it sounds like the learning curve is being climbed. All in all its looking good out in hunting world.

A second opening

Yesterday was the first shoot day at PPPP, our pheasant syndicate. Tim and I got down on Friday night, arriving late to find Craig, Hendrik and Simon in residence and well on their way. Simon poured us some vodka shots and that stuff ($200 US bottle, all the way from Russia) knocked me over. Hendrik and Simon hit the hay at midnight, me Tim and Craig talked until 1am. My head was spinning so bad that it was hard to sleep. Seemed like I'd only just closed my eyes when 6am rolled around and the mad idiots were up and at em for a pig hunt.

Simon stomps along like some Shrek



We walked up a gulley and across a nice bit of native for a couple of hours.

Looking south



Craig with pig gun

The walk revealed plenty of sign but the dogs didn't hit any fresh scent. They ripped a hare apart though.

I'm a big vicious pig dog :)

We got back (walk had cured hangover) and had a coffee and headed out for a morning pheasant walk. As Mitch & Mick weren't arriving until 2pm we hunted the minor release pen area. Birds were evident but cagey as. I just couldn't put myself in a birdy spot. Craig finally got one with a lovely overhead shot on the bushline. Simon chipped in with a lte cock as we were returning to the cars. My effort was a driven turkey that ate 2 loads of #6 as it flew by. It crashed down but damned if I could find it, until Hendrik suggested looking up.... and 10 feet up the tree, there it was.

Anyhow it was a bit of a slog. We got back to the cars and headed back down to the house for lunch and to await Mick & Mitch. Si had to take off so packed up and went.

The boys came in on time so we headed up to the cover crop where the pheasants had been living since release. Mitch, Mick, Craig and dogs worked a ridge while Tim, Hendrik and me covered the gulley. Birds were coming out before I got into position, not sure if the boys could see them all. It was a good manouvre though as Mitch shot a fat melanistic, Tim got one too, Craig nailed a nice ring neck, Mick opened up and Hendrik too. My only shot was a looong one. It was hectic. It took me and Craig ages to find his downed bird, but sure enough he finally found it under a log. His poor old dog Silence was wheezing. We regathered and figured out how we'd work the main crop. We decided to spread out and have dogs at each end and middle. On the way to the crop paddock I got diverted by a cock that I winged. Running him down was certainly not easy and I was puffing... 4 shots to bring him to hand...

The crop was great. Birds were holding and everyone got shots. I closed my limit with 2 more cocks. Craig, Tim and Hendrick knocked birds down. By the end of the crop we had a dozen birds to hand. We then worked the next gulley before I got seperated from the group and ended up working a ridge and went for a loonnnggg detour. It was about an hour before I caught up with the boys and I was shagged. A few more birds were taken, notably a nice cock by Mick. We got back to the cars for a photo shoot.

Brutus and roosters



Me, Tim, Hendrik, Craig, Mitch & Mick

A bloody good day. Final count was 18 birds on the deck.

We had a small drama on the way back. I decided to hit a thick mud patch on the farm track at speed and suceeded in spinning the car so it was nose first into a bank. Luckily Mick was able to tow me straight and we got moving again. Humour.

Sometimes I wonder....

Sealegs, a NZ listed company, build amphibious water craft so if you live by a waterway you can simply drive down into the water, roll up the wheels and away you go. Check out their latest and greatest...

$117k NZD... gotta say that I'm relaxed that I never took any equity in that business....

The adventures of Yellow Bollocks and The Big V

Got a text from Yellow Bollocks (Rick) today "Boat sunk. Waiting for tide".... my reply "Engine ok? Ducks?" and his reply "Limits". Rick and the Big V went into the ponds yesterday to take advantage of the weather. They had a good morning shoot and then Rick went to check the boat to find it had sunk. Dad went down and rescued them, helped them refloat the boat and then towed them to the landing. Sounds like a real adventure, with lots of duck and other action.....

Friday & Saturday

Having left home after dinner on Thursday, I was surprised to make excellent time to the landing, arriving at 7.25 for my 8pm pick up. I had a quick chat with a few Flax Block hunters, who reported excellent water levels and the best shooting in years. Fantastic, some of those guys have stuck it out through thick and thin, with low to no water having been a common recurring theme. Dad and I nattered for a while, spent some quality time and made ourselves at home. We were up early on Friday, and at the ponds early. Lots of electronica to setup. The morning flight was quiet but we were interupted by a flight of 4 mallardsand brought them down and that set the pace for the day. We pulled out at 11.00 with 10 in the bag, having missed not a bird. Dad even nailed a spoonie drake that buzzed the dekes while I was switching off the robos, he had unloaded and only managed to chamber one shell on its first pass, amazingly after the shot it roared off, turned 180 degrees and roared back, thuis time dad took him down with 2 shots. Bird # 10. We went back to the hut, had a massive lunch involving bacon, eggs, hash browns & mushrooms and set about cleaning our morning back and chilling down the birds. After a quick clean up we puulled the dekes off the Park pond; no one else in the party would be joining us it seemed. We brought the dekes in from Park, McLennan's & Watsons and then decided on a tramp thru to Tukes. Amazing what a difference high water makes, the Puru grass had died back leaving a much more open clearing. 2 Greys made their escape on our arrival.



Dad and Geordie with Friday's bag



We still needed a couple of birds and late in the afternoon they arrived, a pair of greys that we smashed. An amazing day's hunting really, not a single bird escaped. Not often we can say that! Steak, onions and salad for dinner, then we turned in pretty early. Hunting is tiring work.

Up super early Saturday, to a brekkie of muesli. Dad had porridge. Second Saturday of the season is normally a very busy day, with lots of shooters out and about. More on that later. We were set up at 5.50 so killed time chit chatting and waiting for legal shooting time. Right on 6.30 3 birds swung over head. We got into them and I dropped my bird, dad missed I think. While reloading another hen came over and I dropped her into the pond. Even in the semi light i could see she was a bit different - a dead ringer of a bird I killed 3 or 4 years ago. The ginger bird!

Ginger bird - too many Gingernuts?




Gingernuts - yum



The ducks played ball, quite a number came in chatting and with a decent breeze were quite sporting birds. I had a great chance on a flock while dad was away searching for a bird. Hit the drake with the first shot, pulled on a hen and bang, bang, bang, bang she was gone without losing a feather... along with another half dozen birds.

We needed 2 birds and at 10.30 after a decent lull another mob came in to our calling, We dropped one each and high fived. Another limit apiece, good times. We pulled in all the dekes, dropped the dekes back, went out to Willow for a check on the pond, came back in for a legendary meal, cleaned and chilled the birds and then set about tidying. Amazing how much crap we took out with us when we pulled out at about 3.



Saturday's bag



Monday & Tuesday

Monday morning saw me and dad at Puru, Greg & Tom at Park. It would prove to be a long morning. Ducks were about but making themselves scarce from the ponds, although we had one unprompted flock come in with landing gear down while we were both out looking for a downed bird. It was seriously quiet - where are all the ducks? One observation with having all the water around was that shooting seemed to be coming from all directions. We packed up at 11 and headed in to clean birds. Greg and Tom got a couple.

I spent some time moving decoys around as the wind was getting stronger - hopefully an evening flight would eventuate? It didn't really, but I knocked down a mallard hen that came too close. That was Monday over.

I woke early Tuesday to notice that the temperature had dropped, and the wind had moved around to the South. Not quite what I was hoping for as the fog was heavy. I sat in the mai mai listening for birds. Early on a flock came over cahtting quite happily and that was it for the next couple of hours. All was quiet, except the sounds of the electronic decoys. By 8.30 I was wondering if I'd get a  shot away. 8.45 the fog began to lift. At 8.55, 4 greys appeared and I took the near bird, figuring 1 in hand... at 9 I dropped a pair of mallards, and at 9.30 another pair. Suddenly it was a reasonably good shoot. Limit bird eluded me but I was pretty happy all the same.

Back home for the afternoon, just as the weather really began to pack up.... swapped watch duties with dad, hope he's doing ok.

Opening Weekend

Roll call:

Dad, me, Tim, Tom, Rick, Andrew, Cock and Paul from the core group (Paul turned up with Cock near midnite), Greg came in from Au, with Bill & Marc as the guests. Dinner and drinks ensued after a big day of setting dekes and getting things just so. Plenty of birds were in the air so we were all feeling confident. Marc and Bill slept in a tent outside, man it was hot with the Northerly and the mozzies were out in force so we were all slightly drained when breakfast rolled around. I was hosting my cousin's husband Marc on the Park pond, dad had Greg & Bill at Puru, Tom & Paul were at Willow, Tim at Bollocks, Andrew at Watsons and Cock & Rick at McLennans. Fair to say that the predicted weather didn't arrive, so it was a blue bird day. Marc and I had a ball, limiting out later than I'd have thought, and enjoying ourselves. He's a moose hunter so knows his way around guns, no safety issues there. Once he got his eye in he was away.



Marc & ducks



 Rick & Jase had some really good shots, Andrew set himself up for a limit, Tim got his bag, Tom & Paul struggled and the Puru lads put up quite a few shots.

I think the group total was something loike 47, so all in all not a huge burden to clean and ready for eating.

Rick called in his mates to see how things went; AJ limited, his dad struggled, Guy had a slow time.. all in all it seemed as though the Waikato ducks had spread out. With duck shooting over, the duck hunting began....

I had Bollocks on Sunday morning and managed 3 birds including a spoonie hen. Rick & Jase smacked one each as well. Jase and I hunted Puru in the evening and I rounded out my limit. Andrew, Tim, Bill & Marc had left in the afternoon after cleaning the bag. All too soon another opening over, and it was great.

A week to go

Well, less than a week to the duck season... things have gone skewiff with the big Nthland but it puts me in a place where I can hunt the first week of the season completely - this hasn't happened in years so I'm pretty keen to get stuck in. dad's been a pretty regular visitor to the ponds, keeping the birds fed, warding off pigs, getting things ship-shape and care-taking. Lots of SE wind and rain over the weekend, almost perfect duck hunting weather.

Catch ezine is out again, fine photography indeed.

Lots of last minute fiddling going on in the snuffit household, getting stuff prepared for the swamp stay. Man I'm looking forward to it.

This year we have quite a party:

Der Schwampenfuhrer (dad), my brother Greg, Uncle Bill (dad's bro), Uncle Tom (mum's bro), cousin Paul (son of my mother's brother and child of my mother's brother's lover), Tim & Andy, Uncle Rick (best as I can tell he's no one's uncle...), Cock, me and then my cousin Sarah's husband, Marc. With a "c" as in there's some frenchy stuff going on. (He must be the son in law of my mother's lover's brother).

PARTY!

Big weekends

Last weekend was quite busy, starting with an AWF&G council meeting from which it became further apparent that there's not much new thinking going on. Leaving the meeting at 3 I followed AJ over to Napier, arriving before guy & Dickie. AJ was on business in his Beretta role; having to attend a H&F shoot. Guy, Dickie, me, Clive & James Needham were on a different mission - to shoot the first game birds of the 2011 season. Hawkes Bay had moved the opening of their upland season forward two weeks. Given time between picking up the gun, I was only too happy to get an eye opener on high fast flying Tuna Nui pheasants. Last year I promised myself that Í'd return and return I did. What a fantastic place, steeped in history, lovely terrain and massive drives. I seemed to do quite well with my pegs too; some days you win, some you lose. I started quite well too, was quite chuffed to begin the day with 3 doubles, then well... you know, I got a bit ordinary before scraping myself up and getting it back together. Highlight for me was a new drive they'd put in, I dropped 6 doubles in a mad mad 7 or 8 minutes of mayhem. There was quite a pile of dead birds behind me by the time I'd finished. Monday and I worked in Napier before hitting the road, just ahead of a fast approaching front that dumped snow on the Desert Road - I had visions of a chilly night on the Kaimanawas, but got through sweet as.

Yesterday was maimai dressing day, always a biggie. With many hands we managed it quite nicely and all the maimais are looking good.

Only 2 weeks to go now. Batteries for flappy dekes are being recharged now, and final presps being made. May have to try some of this Remington HD that seems to be the big thing, apart from "Hypersonic".....

Roll on 7 May.

JB Fan Club prepping the field dekes

15 years between drinks - reminiscing

Shame I didn't get a photo really. 2 weeks ago on a wet windy Mt Maunganui Friday night, we realised that it had been something like 15 years since we'd all been in the same place. We were there to celebrate Brian's Stag Do and when I arrived to big old fashioned man hugs and back slaps, it dawned on us that it had been a long long time between drinks. "We" being Andre, Milo, Brian and me. After uni our lives sort of diverged, Brian heading to the UK where Mother of JB Fan Club and me caught up with him in 2001; Andre comes and goes as he's pursued a career as a top notch crew man on international yachts, Milo setting us his guiding business in Tauranga and me pursuing some sort of corporate career thingy in Ak. At one time or another, most of us had been in one place or another; combinations of me & Miles, Brian and Miles, Miles and Andre, me & Andre, me & Brian... most of these gatherings centering around a pursuit of some sort like fishing or shooting. It was really good to catch up. Long may the catch ups continue.

Wedding is this weekend. Looks like another catch-up, can't wait!

The BIGGEST week

Preparations for the biggest week are underway, starting with filling up my saltie flyboxes. The biggest week? Yep, its going to go something like this.

Friday May 6, arrive at swamp, set dekes, prepare for biggest day of the year. (In the world of the waterfowler, this day sh*ts all over Xmas)
Saturday May 7, the biggest day of the year
Sunday May 8, leave swamp, arrive home, pack car with gun, goose dekes, rods, reels, stuff... so much stuff
Monday May 8, pick up Ian's boat and maybe Ian, head North. Arrive at Parengarenga.
Tuesday May 9 to Thurs May 12, fish Parengarenga, hunt geese
Friday May 13, arrive home
Saturday May 14, Sunday May 15... well if I'm lucky I'll be duck hunting.

I'll certainly be tired....