3/18/2008

Just a little change in pace from fishing. I had the pleasure today of hunting with Dick Orlandi and his son Jim of Babylon. It is just about the end of the preserve hunting season and Dick and Jim invited me for a walk up hunt at their club near Riverhead with their great dog "Coal". We had an excellent afternoon hunt and coal really worked hard and found the birds. Here I am with Dick on the left and a bunch of nice pheasants.

Here is Jim and his dad Dick with their dog "Coal" with our birds. Jim really worked the dog well and we all had a great day in the field. Thank you for a memorable day of hunting.

Captain Al Lorenzetti

1/18/2008

I had the great pleasure to hunt to day in a special place, Ed Tuccio's "Buffalo Farm" in Riverhead.

It was a very memorable day of hunting and enjoyment with great people that love nature, the thrill of the hunt, and are gracious enough to share it with others.

Here is a shot of some of the 300 bison that Ed has raised on his farm.

Ed owns the restaurant "Tweed's" in Riverhead which is the only restaurant that not only serves Buffalo steaks, burgers and every other way you can prepare it but also raises them as livestock to supply the restaurant. Buffalo is not the only thing on the menu but many special fish dishes and other notable preparations. Visit his website at http://www.tweedsrestaurant.com. Make sure to pay a visit to this unique restaurant when you have the opportunity.

As you can see it was a great morning hunt. In the photo you can see the results with a limit of geese and a bunch of ducks including pintails, black and mallards.

I am on the left, our host Ed in the middle and his good buddy and guide for the day Rich LaRocca on the right.

Rich really did the work with setting the rig, calling the birds and calling the shots.

On the left is Julien Libaire. Julien and I hunt a couple of times a year and he is a great sportsman. He loves to hunt and fish and has a ton of enthusiasm about everything to do with the outdoors.

He works hard all the time and is a pleasure to be with whether it be hunting or fishing.

Here is Rich in his element. In the pit blind, calls around his neck, wet, muddy but having a great time working the birds for us.

A good shot of Ed with Julien running to retrieve the birds we downed before the next flight got to our rig.

It was fast action and a top quality set up. We got in, had a great shoot and got out early to let the birds rest.

We then retreated to Ed's home for some great breakfast and some story telling which is always the best. Savoring the hunt and some old stories about outdoor memories puts the finishing touch on the day.

It just doesn't get better than this!

Thank you all for a great day.

Captain Al Lorenzetti

1/17/2008

I hunted today with Julien Libaire at the Pattersquash Club on Fire Island.

We had a good day of duck hunting bagging a pair of mallards and a beautiful drake pintail.

During the course of the day it is not only the hunting which makes the experience but the diversity of wildlife and vistas that really make it meaningful.

Late in the day a seal swam into the cove we were hunting and pulled itself up on a small island. It just hung out seeming to have a great time taking a break from swimming and chasing food. We watched it for about an hour. It was really fascinating. An added bonus to the hunt.

Julien being quite a bit younger than I does a lot of the work chasing down the birds that we downed. He went a long way for this mallard. Thanks Julien.

Another wildlife bonus was a group of shorebirds that were working around our rig. They would fly back and forth landing and feeding. They were just great to watch and didn't seem to know we were there. I guess Julien's camo hid pretty well. It's neat to be able to watch these kind of things so closely. Most people never get to see stuff like this other than some magazine. I feel special to be able to see it first hand. The joys of hunting and fishing and being in the outdoors!