A day of listening

We had a couple of guests today, Reed Kennedy, and Monte West joined us for the morning’s hunt. Wasn’t much of a shoot, we took one Canada.

For those of you don’t know just who these two are I will explain. Monty West is the "W" in the K&W decoy company. When I first started hunting out there, Monty was the lead duck caller. Monty also made and sold the Monte West duck and goose calls. We still use Mont's goose calls. Reed Kennedy is the man who assisted Ralph with getting his book (Born to Hunt) published and on the market.

So setting down and keeping your ear, glued to the speaker, listening to the conversations going on over in the boss’s pit, was an easy task. I jacked up my chair where I could see, but was still under the straw, and just listened. I have had the honor to hunt with Ralph, since 1970, and have lived some of the funny stories that they talk about, but Monty goes back almost an additional 30 years of hunting there. I am all ears when they get on some of the old river stories. Of course the river days took place before the corp. messed up the river and there was sand bars where the birds rested and hunters hunted. The story that always comes up, is on slow days they would have football games, on the sand bar. I don’t know if they took a football along or did they use something else for a football. I have asked and never really got an answer that I trusted as being true.

There are names that come up that I remember and names I can not put a face to. I will have to confess, that these stories remain pretty constant, as to the happening and the results of. Regardless of the story, it sure makes a short day out of a slow day like today. I was disappointed when they said they had to get heading back down the road, toward home.

The though of what they claimed were blinds, make me shiver just thinking of how cold you could get, even with the clothing we have today. I know just how cold it has to get to have pack ice in the river, and they were hunting in a willow blind, when the river run full of pack ice. There was no thinsulate or underarmor in those days, or other modern, insulating garments, to help ward off the cold. How did they handle it is a mystery to me. They even used big chunks of ice to make blinds out of. Well wind don’t blow through ice, so I think I could handle that, but willow branches stuck in the sand, don’t stop the wind.

In my eyes, today was not an uneventful day but really a very eventful day. Monty said he was coming back in a few days so we will have chapter two. They didn’t get into some of the upps shoots, they had. Some of then they don’t want out, so it is special when you get to hear one. They were good law bidding citizen, but you know we all speed sometime or other, and they had there slip up in hunting too.

Remember the troops in your prayers tonight and please check back

See Ya
Killer Karl