BusterAZ

This makes sense. I actually want to mount the gun to the waist belt of a pack.

Thanks for the advice!

Nice looking Brit! This is a great year to have a young dog to train and gain exposure to the birds!

Pattern your own gun with the exact shell you plan to hunt with to be sure. I’ve learned this the hard way. Ideally, at the temp and elevation you intent to hunt. That being said, I’m shooting The federal #6 upland steel that is patterning great with an IM choke! I’ve even taking mallard with this shell, so I have a great deal of confidence in it.

I used a sweet and spicy rub and put it on a day in advance so it would soak in. The meat had great flavor. My wife ate it with me and did say it was a little “irony”. I may try a brine like I do with whole duck to mellow out that flavor profile.

Coot are bigger and have white on the beak. Moorhen are considerably smaller and have red, sometimes yellow on the beak.

Any waterfowlers on this site? I can’t wait to scout this weekend in preparation for the opener next Friday! Who’s heading out this year? All this rain should create some decent habitat this year.

Pond jumping is fun! I like to quail hunt and bring some 3” ducks loads too! I hunt with no tox for quail when I’m going for mixed bag, so there is no potential for a ticket!

Opening morning, I had a great hunt. Saturday, I had to deal with ameatuer hour across the lake. A guy in a silver john boat cut the bird flight path off my spot and was skyblasting. The joys of public land hunting 😫

Boy, I foolishly tried a popular effluent last year for the opener and encountered a lot of poor etiquette. Never again! Looks to be a lot more options this season. I enjoy meeting like minded folks, so if you see me out with my GWP, feel free to say hello. After the morning hunt please!

How’d this event go? I can’t wait till my kid is old enough to attend!

How long do you cold smoke for? Does the bacon crisp up at that temp?

Hunted near PHX instead of Yuma for the first time. A lot less White Wings, but still good shooting.

Nice rack of Collareds! Reminds me of when I lived in Yuma and the farmers would almost beg for someone to come and kill them for free vs. paying a farm hand!

Dove is a liver-flavored meat that can be made palatable with some basic culinary skills 👨‍🍳

Hopefully a few doves stick around the Valley. Was hoping to avoid the mega crowd in Yuma, but know the birds numbers are off the chart down there!

Is anyone a waterfowl member at DC here?

Do you know of any farms in the area? I don’t think the forest holds too many doves.

Looking like only a slight chance. We had a great breeding season for them, so hopefully some stick around. Friends in Yuma tell me the numbers are beyond outstanding!

With less than 2 weeks to go, numbers are looking great 🕊️

Looking for some new recipes or techniques to spice things up this year! Usually, I make poppers and kabobs. Both are great, but looking for a change up.

I’ve plucked, brined in buttermilk, and fried them before. It’s okay, but I’d like to maybe try smoking them all! I did some green teal on the smoker that way I really liked them!