While most normal people were sleeping this morning and awaiting a visit from Big Red, my younger son and I hunted Wescoat Bogs.
It was crisp morning with no wind and a brilliant moon.
We set out across the bogs and headed for an old favorite spot of mine.
To my surprise, the spot was no longer a pond within the bogs but was now a wide open meadow with a stream down the middle.
Apparently, whatever held that area back had blown through.
We walked south a little toward another spot I knew and we flushed a 2 flocks of geese out of a bog in the dark.
We hurried and set a few decoys in a run and nestled in on a little grove of white cedar at the base of a dike.
At a few minutes into legal shooting my son took his first shot and missed.
I kept calling a lone mallard and within a minute he made a high pass but no shots.
We had another group of three that my son took a two shots at without a feather lost.
I called another pair in but they flared before settling in and that was it for the morning.
The old man (me) never fired a shot. I was hoping to because I was carrying my father's old gun for the memories it brings to me.
It was a beatiful morning on the bogs and we certainly had the woods and water to ourselves.
A unique way to spend the first few hours of Christmas morning.
We were back in time for breakfast and presents at 9.
Here are a few pics.
The pre-dawn moon.
http://gallery.njpinebarrens.com/showphoto.php/photo/6973/ppuser/177
Standing at the edge with the eastern pre-dawn sky in the background.
http://gallery.njpinebarrens.com/showphoto.php/photo/6974/ppuser/177
Last, a not so Great Blue Heron. It looked like a fox had an early Christmas dinner.
http://gallery.njpinebarrens.com/showphoto.php/photo/6972/ppuser/177
Scott
It was crisp morning with no wind and a brilliant moon.
We set out across the bogs and headed for an old favorite spot of mine.
To my surprise, the spot was no longer a pond within the bogs but was now a wide open meadow with a stream down the middle.
Apparently, whatever held that area back had blown through.
We walked south a little toward another spot I knew and we flushed a 2 flocks of geese out of a bog in the dark.
We hurried and set a few decoys in a run and nestled in on a little grove of white cedar at the base of a dike.
At a few minutes into legal shooting my son took his first shot and missed.
I kept calling a lone mallard and within a minute he made a high pass but no shots.
We had another group of three that my son took a two shots at without a feather lost.
I called another pair in but they flared before settling in and that was it for the morning.
The old man (me) never fired a shot. I was hoping to because I was carrying my father's old gun for the memories it brings to me.
It was a beatiful morning on the bogs and we certainly had the woods and water to ourselves.
A unique way to spend the first few hours of Christmas morning.
We were back in time for breakfast and presents at 9.
Here are a few pics.
The pre-dawn moon.
http://gallery.njpinebarrens.com/showphoto.php/photo/6973/ppuser/177
Standing at the edge with the eastern pre-dawn sky in the background.
http://gallery.njpinebarrens.com/showphoto.php/photo/6974/ppuser/177
Last, a not so Great Blue Heron. It looked like a fox had an early Christmas dinner.
http://gallery.njpinebarrens.com/showphoto.php/photo/6972/ppuser/177
Scott
