1/4-6/2007

Pete Johnston and I went on a hunting trip to Arkansas. We got to see thousands of snow geese and ducks. Pictured is a guide Brian chasing down and putting the finishing touch on a goose that got knocked down and landed in an adjacent field. Brian shoots a 10 gauge and puts a hurt on them quick. Notice the bird with feathers flying on the right side of the frame.

This is a good shot of the land owner, Nathan Brown of Wheatley, Arkansas. He and his family farm about 10,000 acres of land. When farming is over, Nathan guides hunts on his land. He has tremendous knowledge about the area and hunting for waterfowl at a fairly young age. It was extremely interesting talking to him about farming such a big piece of land. I can only tell you that our farmers are very hard working people that are not appreciated by most others especially those from big city areas.

Nathan has a great sense of humor and we had a lot of laughs all day long.

This shot is of Nathan, Pete and Brian sitting on a levee behind a layout of goose decoys. We did bag a few birds from this spot. They would fly over our head looking at the decoys. It was mostly long shots and I was using 3.5 inch Federal BBB loads and was able to nail a few.

These are called rag decoys. Just plastic bags with a wing pattern on them set into the ground with a wooden stake. The wind blows them open and they look like snow geese from the air. You need hundreds of these to attract the huge flights of snow geese to your rig. In the distance you can see a huge flight of birds on the horizon, literally thousands up in the air.

This is a good shot of most of the guys on the hunt and a collection of birds taken during the day. On the lower right is Lem Allen that acted as the head guide for the trip. From left to right, Craig, Frank, Jim (guide), Scott, Tom, Pete, Fred and Lem Allen who was the head guide for the trip kneeling next to the Lab. By the way, Lem also operates a fishing charter business on the Alabama Gulf Coast. He and his partner Troy operate a 42 Hatteras and fish the canyon only 40 miles out and also fish the oil rigs and inshore for big cobia and other great game fish. I think next season I might try a trip with them. Check out their website at http://www.distractioncharters.com.

Nathan Brown and Al Lorenzetti showing off a few specked geese we bagged. You can see a bunch of other birds that our party bagged during the course of the day. It was a lot of fun.

A great sunset over the decoys and dropping behind a grove of pecan trees.

Pete Johnston taking a nap on the levee. It was warm in Arkansas just like it was in New York. With such nice weather the birds didn't want to fly very much and it was so nice that we often took short naps just like I caught Pete doing when I took his photo.

A huge flight of snow and speckled geese. Arkansas, at least where we were in the northeast area is very flat and just covered with farmland. There is all kinds of feed for the birds and they come here from up north to feast all winter. It is really a great place to be outdoors and doing things that outdoor people like myself and the other guys love to do.

Captain Al Lorenzetti