Living the Dream

[hps1]

They were both in their mid 70s. I'll turn 65 this year. That was a tough, muddy trek back in to the spot they were hunting, but they just took their time and did it. DANG, that was inspiring!

Me, I'll do it until I drop. I am hunting ducks less anymore and doing guided goose hunts and hunting in my back 40 a lot more now days, but I'll make one or two duck hunts a year just to make my dog happy if nothing else.

You should be in a good place for goose hunting, Mac. My son did a lot of waterfoul hunting not far east of you around Eagle Lake.

As for the "aged" hunting, the first year after I retired in '99 I hunted over 200 days (lots of that was ADC) the first year. Continued to hunt a lot but gradually slowed down in my late 70's as numbers for 2014 above indicate. Unfortunately, my wonderful wife, who has put up with my nonsense for 61 years (did I mention that she's a saint?) developed a pretty serious BP issue in '14 and I'm staying pretty close to home now. I do make day trips (no more overnighters) to one of the closer ranches (only an hour away) when things are going well, but not near what I had been able to do in the past. So, don't put off until tomorrow, what you are still able to do today. There were a couple of hunts on my bucket list that I always wanted to do, but kept sayin', "maybe next year". Shouldn't have procrastinated, we never know when that bucket might spring a leak.

Regards,
hps

 

[MCgunner]

Yes, the duck and goose hunting are very close to me. We hunted out of Garwood last year. Colorado county is sorta famous for snow geese. The hunting, and I've done it all, is from Katy down through Eagle Lake/Garwood, to El Campo/Wharton....then on down the coast. Lots of geese center here due to the rice. It's friggin' heaven for a waterfowler and I don't really wanna waste a minute of it.

I'll pray for your wife. hps. You take good care of her. It's a rare woman that'll put up with a hunter during hunting season. We're all blessed when we find one.

 

[hps1]

I'll pray for your wife. hps. You take good care of her. It's a rare woman that'll put up with a hunter during hunting season. We're all blessed when we find one.

Yes we are! Thanks for the prayers, Mac. Really appreciate them. Chased lots of avenues the past 3 years, none of which have paid off yet. Still hoping! In fact have an appointment tomorrow to get results of a sleep apnea test, for which I am holding out a lot of hope.

My son has mentioned all of the above areas over the years. He doesn't do as much WF hunting as he used to, but what he does is in Lavaca county now.

I don't hunt WF, not much of a shotgun shooter any more, but used to and still love to watch them. We didn't have hardly any snows this year, and they are the major type of goose down here. Went to Houston one time during prime time and didn't see nearly the snows around El Campo that we usually do. Was it that way all winter or did I just hit a bum day?

Regards,
hps

 

[MCgunner]

Birds were here. We didn't shoot THAT many, but everyone got a few. We hunted on not so prime days, though, and especially Saturday (the first day), it was rather windless which is never good. We did better Sunday. There were lots of birds, it's just getting 'em to decoy that takes the right conditions.

Now, two years ago, most of the birds held up north due to all the rain we'd gotten. We had a bad year that year.

Sleep apnea is serious. My first wife passed away from it. Don't take that lightly and don't let her keep knocking her mask off at night.

 

[hps1]

I was wondering if the lack of birds wasn't due to our drought down here. Lots of stock tanks, ponds, etc are dry.

Regards,
hps

 

[RPZ]

Really cool! I haven't had the opportunity to hunt in years, I'm green with envy