A Good Weekend

[Magicman]

I didn't get a picture of my SIL's buck, but I did get these.




Two woodducks on Thursday.



Three woodducks Friday



This Bobcat had a bad day Saturday AM.

[Jeff]

Two woodducks on Thursday.

I looked at that 3 times before I realized it didn't say woodchucks. ;) DanG Woodducks!

[fishpharmer]

Jeff, I thought the exact same thing.

Nice wood ducks, some of my favorite hunting was for them.

[Magicman]

Da bobcat was ah tryin' ta catch n eat da woodchuck.     So, I had ta shoot im ta protect ma wood.  Ya see,  ah knows da place whare deys ah hidin it.   ;D

[WDH]

The little bobcat was just trying to make a living  .

[Magicman]

Yup.  The reality is Danny, that they probably catch more mice, etc. than they do turkeys, although they do catch a few.  I've found too many piles of turkey feathers.  I've had several of them come in to my turkey call.  I'd hate to think how bad it would be if you didn't notice it and it pounced on you.  Those claws give me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.

[ErikC]

 I catch a few bobcats hound hunting every year. Hardly ever kill one though I have killed some nice big toms.
We caught a couple alive one time, kittens that were just a few pounds. That's no joke about the claws. I Think a bobcat kitten could whip a pretty mean house cat. Ever grab a friendly old house cat, startle him, and have him turn on you? You can't let go fast enough.  :D

[SwampDonkey]

Don't hardly see a bobcat around here, I did see a lynx this summer in the deep woods away from settlement. Three big leaps across a forest road and he was gone.

Are the wood ducks big enough to get enough meat off them for the cleaning work that is involved? Maybe they are easier to clean than other ducks. I've never seen one around here because I'm not near much water. Mostly geese, mallards, blacks and teal. A few other kinds on the main river.

[doctorb]

Is there a season on Bobcat?  While we have them here in Maryland, my deer hunting friends can count on one hand the number of times they've spotted one in their lifetimes.  Saw one up close at a Maryland zoo.  Beautiful animal.  I think here they are mostly nocturnal and therefore impossible to spot.

[SwampDonkey]

There is a season on them up here, I think until the end of this month.

[Jeff]

Bobcats are thought by our DNR to be our biggest predator of white tail fawns.

http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10366_46403-247869--,00.html

[Magicman]

I have a huge old tom cat that has given me the slip a couple of times this year.  I'll bet that he stands 18" tall.   My Grandson Ben, got rattled and shot and missed him.  We have one more week of rifle deer season, and then primitive weapon, muzzleloaders, 45-70's, and archery until the end of January.

It will be time to get some cottontails then.   ;)

[SwampDonkey]

Jeff, are the numbers of bobcat high? I have not heard they were particularly hard on fawns myself. I suppose if the opportunity exits, they'll take it. I have heard that they certainly will kill a young deer. My grandfather and his brother were trappers most of their lives. His brother skinned and stretched fur for a lot of folks. Some people like to trap, but don't like the rest of the work, or lack the skill.

[Magicman]

Are the wood ducks big enough to get enough meat off them  

Donk, they are a bit larger than a teal, still a small duck.  With the fixings, one duck makes a meal for one person.  Well, for us anyway.  Our Woodduck season goes until the end of January, with a 3 bird per day limit.

[SwampDonkey]

I've never eaten duck, but grandfather loved it. He hunted ducks before my time. Then mostly grouse and woodcock.

[ErikC]

 Bobcat #'s are pretty high here. I see several a year just driving around. And hunting in snow, I could probably run at least one every day if I wanted to, spotting the tracks. I think the ones in the eastern half of the country are a bit bigger than what we often see. I have seen just a couple 30-40 lbs, that was huge, most grown adults are 15-20 here. They are a top notch predator and I would expect them to hunt fawns, especially the bigger ones. Quail, rabbits and tree squirrels are a few of their favorite snacks. Bears are a lot harder on fawns here than Bobcats from what I have seen though.

One of the neatest things I have seen was for a couple of weeks one year we had over 100 wood ducks on a pond right by the house, they would fly away every time we drove in or out, or walked that way. Pretty spectacular little ducks.

[Magicman]

I've never eaten duck 

Since it is a flier, it is a dark meat breasted bird.  Roasted is wonderful, and we also like duck gumbo.

[Magicman]

Here is a picture of a couple of drakes that I took a few years ago. 



They are beautiful ducks.

[Woodwalker]

I use to deplete the Wood duck population around here every year. Duck dressing, smoked, wrap the breast in bacon, batter fry the breast, gumbo, duck and dumplings............

[pigman]

I have never eaten a wood duck. We do have some small ones on our ponds sometimes. What I wonder is if anyone has eaten wood geese?  I got a picture of some while I was in the UP a few years ago.

[SwampDonkey]

I have eaten Canada goose. It was very greasy and kind of tough. My grandfather had shot it and we tried it. We told him we had our fill. ;D

[gary]

MM how can you do all that hunting without snow?

[Magicman]

 :D :D  In my lifetime, I have only been able to hunt my place with snow one time.  That was last year.  With our weather, when we do get snow, it gets crusty very fast.

OK, I know that this isn't really snow, but it's about as close as we ever get.  This doe is the only deer that I have ever shot with snow on the ground in Mississippi.

[DonT]

Mmmmmmm.woodduck,my favourite eating duck.My prefered method of deer hunting is finding a track in the morning and trying to catch up to them before dark so snow is kinda important.We rarely get snow for our general gun season but usually get it for our muzzleloader season.No snow this year sucked.

[Magicman]

Mmmmmmm.woodduck,my favourite eating duck  

I agree.  Here's proof.....and that ain't a Woodchuck !!!



Woodduck with the fixin's over rice with marinated carrots. MMmmmmmm.  

[paul case]

looks good and it looks like mine, well the fork is exactly like the ones we have at the ''case'' place.pc

[WDH]

I see the skin is still on, so that was a plucked duck  ;D.

[Magicman]

Plucked duck is better than Woodchuck.   ;D

Our season goes until the end of the month and they have really moved in on my creek potholes.  Gotta get some more.  The limit is 3 per day.

[WDH]

Grilled breast wrapped in bacon..........

[Norm]

Hey those are the ones I raised on my pond last year!

Just to make it fair go ahead and send up the next three you get. I like mine plucked. ;D

[Magicman]

My cook says that I've got to get a couple of bunnies also.  There's not much any better than rabbit gravy on hot biscuits.

[WDH]

I like rare-bit with jelly biscuits  .

[CX3]

Mmmmm bunnies.  It finally came a skiff of snow here so we may try to get a few.  I always wait for some snow it is so much more fun. 

A funny story about duck hunting.  I have 3 ponds and noticed lots of ducks and geese on them last winter.  I dont waterfowl hunt, know nothing about it.  Well I told a friend who duck hunts and he got excited.  He showed me this and that about what to do, and we headed for the bigger pond at daylight.  Shortly after lots of ducks came in and we shot several.  I killed one in particular and waded out and got it.  My buddy was laying in the brush about 15 feet away and when I got back to my spot he says "what kind of duck is it". 

"Well how do I know? But its got a metal thing on its leg"  I said.  Oh man he came running over there like he was on fire.  "Where. Let me see. Let me see." I had to tell him I was just joking and he almost got mad.  I knew enough about duck hunting to know that would get him riled up ;D

[SwampDonkey]

I've had hare in stew, it's like chicken. No lie.  8)

[Jeff]

Chickens have feathers, not hare.

[Norm]

I like rabbit also but we are at the bottom of our cycle for them. Ten years ago when we bought the farm here they were thick but now it's rare to see one. I have one that's living under the straw next to the dog kennel that's driving the dog crazy trying to get at it. The coyote population has exploded so I'm wondering if that doesn't have a lot to do with it.

[Magicman]

Yup Norm, that is the cycle.  With no changes in the habitat, the population is controlled by  predators.  My pines were planted in 2005, so right now I have a very good habitat situation.  Bunnies are everywhere.  In five more years, the understory will open up, less habitat, the coyote population will increase, and alas, fewer rabbits.

[beenthere]

We are experiencing an increase in rabbit population here too. Spruce planting seems to attribute to that increase, and there are a lot of coyote too.

I used to get hare in my soup, but I don't anymore.   : :
But I picked 'em out, didn't want to know what it tasted like.   ;)

[Magicman]

Reminds me of an old elephant recipe.  You cook the elephant only add one rabbit, because no one likes much hare in their soup.

[SwampDonkey]

They are getting thick on my woodlot, I have a lot of spruce. They eat spruce and pine seedlings and girdle hardwood.  : I leave the coyotes and such alone. There may be some bobcat moving into the area to. Have not seen tracks for a bit, but I have not been up to the woodlot for a couple months. I doubt they will be anything significant like the coyotes, but something else to keep the hares on their best behaviour. ;D

[submarinesailor]

Here's a crazy cycle.

We had a lot of rabbets until the feral cats moved in.

Started shooting the cats and got more rabbets.........and MORE TICKS!!!!!!!

Stopped shooting the cats.......more cats, but a lot less ticks.

Commons factor - MICE. 

Less mice, less ticks.

bruce