Moose Droppings

This Saturday seems the things I had planned got change around so at the last minute I had some time open up for me so I decided to go check out the Ducks Unlimited Waterfowl Hunters Party. Noon time on a Saturday seems a bit odd timing to say the least but at was at Howell Woods a place I’ve wanted to check out for a while now.

They advertise the event as “not your daddy’s DU banquet” and after attending I would agree it is not the typical banquet event that many of us have come to expect.

Are you a hard core duck hunter? If so you will not want to miss the Waterfowl Hunters Party.

These Ducks Unlimited fundraising events feature over 60 dozen Greenhead Gear decoys, Avery blinds, and of course, guns! This is a one of a kind experience.

Tell all your friends - this ain’t your daddy’s DU banquet!
The atmosphere is pure hunting. Hey, if you wear camo not only will you be dressed like most everyone else, you’ll be eligible to win a Benelli Nova 12 gauge Max-4 camo shotgun!

Howell Woods is owned and operated by Johnston Community College and has a wide variety of educational & recreational activities to participate in. Being practically in my back yard I was over do for finding this place and checking it out. The main thing that attracts me is the feral hog hunting they have at Howell Woods that will be another story.
Howell Woods is in a pretty remote part of the county and good thing I had detail directions otherwise I’m sure I never would of found it.

The DU event attracted a decent crowd 140 or so and there were some real nice prizes for the hunter. Lots of decoys a few guns, and some blinds with a number of different raffles going on. The food was disappointing, hotdog and a soda adding some chips or something would have helped. I guess given how good the food is at the banquet this was a very stark comparison but fitting in with the “this ain’t your daddy’s DU banquet!”

The event moved at a good clip unlike many of the banquets and people were excited as the decoys and other prizes were given out. I won two sets of decoys (had my lucky hat on) and had a pretty good time. There is another one of these events coming up next month in Fayetteville NC I’ll try to get the details and post them up.

Story & Photos by Dan McLaughlin AKA Moose

In the past sportsman who wanted to make comments on the early season the only way to do this was either through a letter or a phone call. Starting this year on line comments is now an option.

For the first time, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is inviting citizens to provide input on the early waterfowl and webless migratory game bird hunting seasons.
People can comment on proposed dates for the seasons, which begin prior to October 1, by going to www.ncwildlife.org and clicking on “Submit Your Comments!” Comments will be accepted until the end of June.
“In the past, people could always write a letter or make a phone call to tell us what they thought of the options for the early seasons,” said Joe Fuller, the Migratory Game Bird Coordinator for the Commission. “But there wasn’t a formal way for people to give us input. This tool gives us that option, and allows people across the state to easily and quickly let us know what they think.”
Each year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Provides frameworks from which to choose the seasons, and the Commission selects the actual dates within these guidelines. Public-input meetings have traditionally been held to receive comments on the late waterfowl seasons,
However, before this year, there has been no formal way for the public to comment on the early seasons, which includes early seasons for waterfowl and for species such as mourning doves, woodcock, snipe and rail.
Members of the public can log on to www.ncwildlife.org until June 30 to comment on the proposed season dates.

Here is the Federal framework that the season and bag limits will be set up around. So if you want to make comments click here to go directly to the special page NC Wildlife Resources Commission has set up.

Story by Dan McLaughlin AKA Moose

Yesterday I gathered with a group of sportsmen and conservationists to support the great work of Ducks Unlimited. It was an enjoyable evening and hopefully a lot of money got raised to support many of the efforts of DU here in North Carolina.

I’m afraid that the down turn in the economy may have suffocated some of the fund raising as seen by the signature item, DU Edition “Gun of the Year, not having its reserve met. The Beretta White Onyx 20 gauge Over and Under was a very pretty gun and it was surprising that it fell short of the reserve by just $50 and no one was willing to meet the reserve.

Troy Smart, who I met on a duck hunt this past January, is the chairman of Caldwell County DU and he and the committee did a great job putting this event on. Hog Wild BBQ was awesome and if you left hungry it was your own fault.

One of the guys sitting at my table was Bubba and we had some great conversations. At one point he informed me he was going to win the shotgun. I told that be hard because it was riding home with me. Low and behold that is what happened and my Lucky Hat continues its streak, two guns and two turkeys. Bubba was a bit surprised and with my additional luck in the raffle with multiple wins. I think Bubba now believes in the Lucky Hat.

I had a fun evening and met some great people who care about the habitat and the future of wetlands.

Young man Wins a Red Ryder BB Gun

Auction Items

Story & Photos by Dan McLaughlin AKA Moose

As I talked about on my Radio Show today this Saturday evening I plan to attend the Caldwell County DU Spring Fling. Troy Smart has invited me, if you recall he and I met duck hunting this past January. As a matter of fact Troy be happy if all of ya’s showed up and seeing it’s for a good cause and all. The doors to the Club Cola in Granite Falls NC ( 30 S Main St) open at 6pm with Tickets available at the door. (Tickets $25 under 16, $35 Single, $60 Couples) There will be a silent auction as well as regular auction, raffles, games, artwork, sculptures and who knows what else. The event is being catered by “Hog Wild BBQ” and I can hardly wait to get some of that good mountain BBQ. Sounds like it’s going to be a great time so join us if you can.

Story by Dan McLaughlin AKA Moose

Many of our winter visitors have left the area to return to the nesting grounds in the north. Up north as the snows begin to melt away and the ice melts opening up lakes and ponds the various waterfowl will seek out places to raise their young. In honor of the great migration this week on Moose’s Wild America I’m featuring waterfowl photos I have taken. Check them out if you get the chance and enjoy the spring.

This week’s show will be the 2nd part of the presentation that Allen and his pro staff gave at the Dixie Deer Classic. This week the focus is geese and swans so join us at 1pm on Skinny Moose Radio. Both shows will be available for download in the near future for those who can’t hear it when they air.

This week on my radio show I’m featuring part one of two part series featuring Allen Bliven and his pro staff. I recorded this at the Dixie Deer Classic so if you missed his presentation this is a great opportunity to hear how he got into call making and to hear his presentation on duck calls. You’ll also get the opportunity to hear a young lady, Candace who just won the NC Jr. Goose Calling Competition. Join us at 1pm on Friday or check the show achieves by the end of the weekend for the March 14th Show.

Packing Up & Heading Home

After many miles on my feet, a lot of handshakes, and a lot of stories the 28th Annual Dixie Deer Classic has drawn to an end. I’ll tell ya up front that it will take me a few weeks to get all the great tidbits and information I gathered from this years show. So for my initial post about the weekend I’ll give you some of the highlights but you’re going to have to stay tuned for all the great stuff I got.

Old Friends

The great part of the show is the friendships you can develop over the years I’ll highlight a few;

Away Outdoors

Fred & his son Greg are some of my favorite outdoor personalities and they have a great TV show. They also have some great products including great calls. This year’s new product is the turkey skinz but they are already sold out of them but you might find them still at Gander Mountain or Cabela’s. Greg was at another show but I’m hopeful that one of these years that the powers to be at the Dixie Deer Classic will invite Greg to speak.

Conman’s Guide Service

I’ve hunted a number of times with Mike and Connie and they have a top notch operation. They run a guide service on Lake Phelps in Washington County where they guide for bear, turkey, deer, swan, small game, and they have some unbelievable fishing on Lake Phelps.

Rac Plaques

I’ve known the Dorsett’s for a while but they have just started this business Rac Plaques which are plaques for putting your European mounts on. These guys have a quality product and it showed with this first show and how busy they stayed throughout the show.

New Friends

Allen Bliven Calls

I met Allen for the first time this weekend and what a great guy. He makes some sweet waterfowl calls and has some impressive young folks calling for him. He knows his stuff and he even took some time to help O’le Moose here try to learn to blow a duck call. I got like 6 months or so to practice before waterfowl opens back up and boy do I need some practice. In the near future I’ll bring you the story and hopefully some of the sounds from these champion callers.

Now a bit of a teaser one of these guys pulled a Bobby Knight on me and hit me with a chair during their lecture. You’ll have to tune in latter this week to hear that story.

I met so many friends and had a great time. There was some great deer on display and it looks like many of us had a great season. I didn’t buy much of anything just a few odds and ends, renewed my NRA and my subscription to NC Sportsman. I’d be curious to hear if any of my readers found any good deals or picked up some new equipment.

Overall it was a great show and I can hardly wait for next year.

The Bush administration is pushing to raise the cost of a duck stamp from $15 to $25 the first increase in almost 20 years. In case you don’t know duck stamps are a federal issued stamp that hunters must have to hunt migratory birds each year with the funds being used to safe guard habitat for the birds and other species. Hunters have happily bore the vast responsibility for monies generated through this program and I suspect this will continue.

I’m not opposed to raising the costs I’m just concern with the politics that have gotten us to the need to raise the costs. Many acres of farmland over the years have been set aside in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) that has put aside land for wildlife habitat. Efforts by the Bush administration to boost ethanol production have basically destroyed the CRP by raising the price of corn to a level that has put lots of habitat land back into crop production. Not to mention the impact on our own food production.

Habitat land is now more expensive because what would have not been cost productive to plant now is. When we have all kinds of untapped oil reserves in Alaska and off our coasts that we won’t touch because of the “impact on nature” so will destroy habitat and our economy to create a much more costly fuel.

I’ll buy the stamp but at the rate we are going the additional $10 won’t be enough.

Tune in today to my radio show at 1pm to hear about my Tundra Swan hunting adventures as well about Conman’s Guide Service. Mike and Connie run the guide business on the shores of lake phelps in Washington County. This was my third tundra swan hunt with them and it was a great time. In addition to the Tundra Swan they have bear, deer, turkey, and small game as well as access to the lake that has some phenomenal fishing. I’ve personally hunted deer, swan, turkey and rabbits with them and have never been disappointed. They provide quality service as well as some very nice accommodation’s that they refer to as “cottages” but feel more like home.
So join me for this week’s show.

A successful hunt and a great trip to Washington County NC but its good to be back home. It was a bit hectic leading up to last Thursday when I left for Washington County but I soon felt relaxed as I sat in a muddy ditch on Friday morning in full camo watching tundra swan circling the decoys.
This morning I didn’t even have my gun opting for the camera and the opportunity to see a young person bag her first swan. But that is another story that I’ll post latter.
Friday afternoon Billy, Nicole, and I bagged our swans as we slipped back into the field after lunch. Tundra Swan unlike many of the other waterfowl seems to fly best on blue bird type days. They also fly all day so hunts are not necessarily limited to the hours around sunrise and sunset.
We went back into the field around 1:30 and we each had our bird by 3pm. The field we were hunting was an old corn field that had been reseeded in winter wheat. The tender wheat as well as the old corn is a tempting meal to the swans. The land is very flat so it is easy to spot the places the birds are working because once a few hit the field it attracts even more in. We saw fields with thousands of birds in them so the decoy spread of a couple hundred goose decoys painted white lured these birds in.

In the coming days I’ll share some of my photos on both of my blogs and post additional stories about hunts I photographed on Saturday and Monday before I returned home. It’s good to be back home and maybe I can stay ahead of the chaos.

Thanks to Mike, Connie, & Andy at Conman’s Guide Service for a great time.

Troy & Lil’Bit
Photo by Troy

I just received a bit of sad news that Troy lost his hunting dog, “Lil’ Bit” today rather suddenly. Troy as you’ll recall hunted with me just the other week when he and Billy traveled out to join us on a waterfowl hunt. This is a photo of Troy holding a duck he killed and Billy and his dog Hershey looking on.

Lil’ Bit died on the operating table just after the vet had completed an emergency surgery to find out what was making her ill. Here is Troy’s post about what happened;

Sat, she acted “off”…. but I took it for being a switch in dog food brands. Sunday, she refused to eat. I took her to the Vet Sunday afternoon….. no Parvo, no worms, she was clean. Blood test revieled low potasium, slight temp, and low blood platlets. She was started on an IV of Potasium and antibiotics yesterday, and kept for observation - the vet suspected a possible uterous infections (her last heat cycle was 1.5 months ago). They done an x-ray this morning, and it revealed she had a blockage (gas pockets in her small intestines), but the blockage was not visible. My options were an ultrasound tomorrow…. or exploritory surgery now. I drove straight to the Vets office, and could see she was getting worse….. so I knew the surgery would be the quickest and best hope. They took her in at 10:30 am, and I got the call at 11:45. There was a piece of mulch that she had ate, and it had punchered her small intestines…. and was still blocking them. They removed the piece of mulch, removed the damaged intestines (9 inches of it), re-attatched the small intestines, cleaned her abdominal cavity, and started to close her up. As they were closing, she slipped away. She quit breathing less than 15 min’s before they were going to wake her up…. so close, but yet so far away.

Our heart goes out to Troy and his family the loss of a dog is like losing a family member. We don’t know why these things happen but maybe God had a duck hunt scheduled for the morning and needed a good dog. Hang in there Troy and cling to the good memories.