1/6/2006

I hunted today with Jim Conte and Pete Johnston. We set up the "layout" rig and added a string of oldsquaw decoys to the broadbill. The oldsquaw came real good and we had a good shoot. This is Pete and me with a few nice drake birds. It was a fun day on the water.

Captain Al Lorenzetti

This is a good shot of Bridie patiently waiting for us to take down a bird so she could fetch it. She made a couple of tremendous retrieves swimming almost a hundred yards out from the beach and bringing the bird right to our feet. She is a really good dog and Bill takes good care of her and has trained her well. She really loves to hunt and is good company.

Captain Al Lorenzetti

12/23/2005

I hunted today with Pete Nowinski, Bill MacDougal and his dog Bridie. We had a great day of hunting under pleasant conditions. We bagged our limit of broadbill, bufflehead, mergansers and also a nice drake pintail. We hunted both from the shore and from a layout "scooter" on the open bay. The birds were really flying in the morning and all had a good time. This is a shot of us heading home towing the "scooter" with a beautiful sunset in the late afternoon. Another great day of outdoor adventure.

Sometimes the ducks win. Here is a shot of a bunch of mallards coming into our decoys. We really had it wrong. We should have waited just a second or two more. The ducks were dropping into the rig and we tried to take them on the way down. It could have worked but I know I missed by shooting above and behind the birds (if you look closely you can actually see the shot pattern behind and above the birds) on thinking about it afterwards. We should have waited until they landed and then took off or tried to take them when they headed out and would be on the rise and moving more slowly. Also, here is another excuse, they were very close and the pattern out of a modified choke at 15 yards is about 6 inches across. In any event, regardless of the excuses it was still fun. We did bag a couple of ducks on that day and you can't be perfect all the time. I hope you get a laugh out of it.

Captain Al Lorenzetti

11/23/2005

Jim Conte, Pete Johnston and I had a great opening day of the new duck season at the Peconic River Sportsman's Club. It was cold and windy with snow flurries and the ducks were flying. Here is Jim and Pete with our bag for the morning. 3 black ducks, 3 wood ducks and 4 mallards.

We had some great shooting by the group and of course we missed a few also. We could not retrieve two birds that made it into the impenetrable swamp across from our blind. We tried but could not find them. I hate it when that happens but we did our best. Pete and I also posed for a photo that Jim took. As you can see, Jim cut off the bottom of the birds. He can't see the viewfinder. Pete is breasting the birds out and we will have a duck feast when we hunt from our camp on one of the islands in the Great South Bay. A memorable day of hunting and a lot of laughs.

Captain Al Lorenzetti