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Hunted some Canada's today.
Forecast for the weekend was for gale force winds and torrential rain. They were right on the money with that one. Spent the morning watching the orchid houses tearing themselves apart in the gale force winds from the comfort of the house. Lost 2 sections of roof in 2 hours. Cant do anything about it until the winds drop so rang Bloodhound and we decided to head out and deal to some Canada's.
Were set up by 4pm over the decoy spread and found a place to sit on the edge of a drain out of the wind. BH graciously elected to go walk the paddocks and chase up a pair about 500m away. When they got up, they struggled into the 40+knot wind and made a beeline for the dekes, landing about 50m out. After crawling on my belly under the fence and about 15m through the wet muddy grass into the paddock, I figured I was close enough and stood up. Got them both. While retrieving them another pair came in so I dropped face down full length in the grass. As they flared over my position I rolled over, sat up and dropped them. Another single came in shortly after that and he too accepted an invitation to dinner.
BH came back and everything went quiet for a while. A couple of Spur winged Plovers made the fatal mistake of coming within range and paid for it with their lives. Shortly after that, another pair of Canada's honked a warning that they thought our windy decoy spread looked like a nice place to visit and when they flared over the dekes, I elected to leave them to BH to deal to them which he did.
Next up was a non-native parakeet that flashed past...........BH was quick enough to reach his gun and drop it about 45m out.
Things went quiet for a while and despite the wind and rain we enjoyed watching mallards fighting their way into the wind and trying to drop into the pond behind us. A couple more Plovers snuck into the decoy spread just on twilight and elected to become Hawk food before we decided to pack up and head home. The big resident mob of geese didnt turn up although while picking up the dekes we could hear a few flying into the next paddocks.
All in all it was a pleasant afternoon watching the wildlife in the area, dispensing with a few pests and adding to the freezer while talking and solving the worlds problems between us.
Was supposed to head out tomorrow to pick up a feed of fish using the 16' centre console duck boat but with 40-50knot gale force winds, 4-5m swells and more torrential rain forecast I may just sit at home and listen to the wind tearing up a few more roofs....................
Apologise for the lack of pics, had the video mounted on the 1187 but cant find the cable to download the video. Maybe tomorrow........
Were set up by 4pm over the decoy spread and found a place to sit on the edge of a drain out of the wind. BH graciously elected to go walk the paddocks and chase up a pair about 500m away. When they got up, they struggled into the 40+knot wind and made a beeline for the dekes, landing about 50m out. After crawling on my belly under the fence and about 15m through the wet muddy grass into the paddock, I figured I was close enough and stood up. Got them both. While retrieving them another pair came in so I dropped face down full length in the grass. As they flared over my position I rolled over, sat up and dropped them. Another single came in shortly after that and he too accepted an invitation to dinner.
BH came back and everything went quiet for a while. A couple of Spur winged Plovers made the fatal mistake of coming within range and paid for it with their lives. Shortly after that, another pair of Canada's honked a warning that they thought our windy decoy spread looked like a nice place to visit and when they flared over the dekes, I elected to leave them to BH to deal to them which he did.
Next up was a non-native parakeet that flashed past...........BH was quick enough to reach his gun and drop it about 45m out.
Things went quiet for a while and despite the wind and rain we enjoyed watching mallards fighting their way into the wind and trying to drop into the pond behind us. A couple more Plovers snuck into the decoy spread just on twilight and elected to become Hawk food before we decided to pack up and head home. The big resident mob of geese didnt turn up although while picking up the dekes we could hear a few flying into the next paddocks.
All in all it was a pleasant afternoon watching the wildlife in the area, dispensing with a few pests and adding to the freezer while talking and solving the worlds problems between us.
Was supposed to head out tomorrow to pick up a feed of fish using the 16' centre console duck boat but with 40-50knot gale force winds, 4-5m swells and more torrential rain forecast I may just sit at home and listen to the wind tearing up a few more roofs....................
Apologise for the lack of pics, had the video mounted on the 1187 but cant find the cable to download the video. Maybe tomorrow........
Still enjoying the trip of a lifetime and making the best of what I have.....
Replies
Little known fact: The species we have are Giant Canada geese. They were thought to be extinct in the USA at one stage and in the 1960's we exported live ones back to the US to add to the gene pool of those few that were still left. From what I have read, they have recovered in your neck of the woods and are once again relatively common.............
Jerry
Thanks Chiro........beats sitting at home watching the place falling down around my ears.
Parakeets taste like..................................chicken.
Another little known factoid: A 'Keet' is a 'down under' slang term for a female mammary gland. It allows us 'down under blokes' to shout out "LOOK AT THE PARAKEETS" when accompanying our families on summer trips to the zoo's and wildlife parks without running foul of the PC brigade when we see a 'pair' that are worthy of admiring glances.................
It is also not uncommon to hear that being shouted out at beaches in summer when there is not a bird ( of the feathered variety) in sight.
Just keeping up the tradition of Kiwi hospitality and inviting our 'across the sea brethren' to visit for dinner Jerry........
In that case, you should really appreciate this little song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kA-Z4VEmoA
LOL!
Jerry
Just tell him you thought they were winged hogs and that the day had finally come.
When pigs fly.