Nov 1st (morning) two "Euro" Shoots at Milton's Blonhaven Game Farm - Kooly & Taffey 1st
                       with Daisy 2nd with Gunny along for the ride
                              note: Taffey & Kooly picked up 24 roosters through 12 rounds, working together
                                       being stead, quiet and delivering without issues was the focus, Kooly was
                                       really focused and high.....at first Taffey needed work on her whining,
                                       it was a perfect situation for training
                              note: Daisy worked in a different spot......and it was slow........not many roosters
                                       made it easier to get her focused......one of the later rounds had her running
                                       four cold blinds and a couple of marks..........good session for her
                              note: decided to not switch out Daisy for Gunny.....cover too difficult for a young,
                                       inexperienced dog.......next weekend's "Euro" at Blonhaven - Orfordville
                                       will be better
                              note: scouted early this morning found some mallards & the geese were back in
                                       the bean field again late this afternoon (no rain on Sunday morning, but rain
                                       in the afternoon)
                             Interceptor (for all)
          Nov 2nd (very early morning) short duck & goose hunt with Daisy  
                              note: they were there yesterday......didn't come back this morning
                              note: several groups of geese came to the bean field after 7:30 am
                              note: Hank didn't recover from his fight with "blasto" - He will be greatly missed.
                                       I will always remember his last four days of hunting in South Dakota....he
                                       was impressive. 
          Nov 3rd (dusk) Taffey, Daisy, Kooly & Gunny ran a set of two pattern blinds (orange bumpers)
                       for exercise.......very warm today
                              note: made a big batch of goose sausage this morning
          Nov 4th (dusk) repeated yesterday's leg stretching exercise - another warm day
                              note: Daisy is in heat
          Nov 5th (dusk) repeated yesterday's "exercise" 
          Nov 6th (dusk) Taffey, Daisy, Kooly & Gunny ran two cold blinds......Gunny & Daisy came back
                       out and ran a long 200+ yard cold blind up the hill into the bean field
                              note: Daisy ran the long blind really well, when Gunny was half-way to the blind
                                       two geese landed about 75 yards off to the left of the blind and were a huge
                                       suction, walked out to close the distance and finally "hacked" him to the blind
          Nov 7th (early morning) Daisy - goose hunt in the bean field - used ATV, 18 Avery Lesser FFD's
                       (12 feeders & 6 actives), 3 Avery Pro Grade feeders and 3 Pro Grade feeder shells
                              note: four geese came in early......and four left....Duh! other geese flew over,
                                       but it seemed they are now more interested in nearby corn
                                                                        (left click on thumbnails)

"loaded ATV"

"hunting equipment"

"Daisy"

                       (afternoon) Gunny ran his first "Euro" shoot with the focus on delivery & control
                              note: picked up about 25-30 birds and improved as the session progressed
         Nov 8th day off for all - rain, wind & cold
         Nov 9th (morning) "Euro" at the Orfordville, WI Blonhaven Hunt Club - run Taffey & Kooly 
                              note: scouted bean field afterwards - many geese in pond which may freeze up
                                       this week - hunt tomorrow
                              note: the first station had Taffey & Kooly behaving so poorly - whining and
                                       "competing" for each retrieve was getting to be a pain & corrections were
                                       not having any lasting effects, so I put them up for the day and brought
                                       out Gunny - he was wonderful for just the second time at a "Euro" & he
                                       remembered how to negotiate the gates and fences, handling improved,
                                       his search for running cripples was noticeably better and his deliveries
                                       were much better........he was fun to work with
                              note: Gunny was a quick study - Friday the horn for starting each round did not
                                       mean anything to him and where the birds were coming from was not
                                       too clear....today - the horn focused his attention toward the tower hidden
                                       in the woods & he "watched" for the flight of pheasants all morning & it
                                       was not long before he was able to figure out which "falls" were his, he
                                       was giving good efforts to do the right things and remained responsive
                              note: with the below freezing temperatures, concern for watering the chukars
                                       had become an issue, checked with Dawn at Blonhaven Game Farm and
                                       they water once a day, game birds do very well with this routine....so
                                       my "water tower" will be placed in the Johnny House during the above
                                       freezing times of the day or for short periods when the chukars will be
                                       able to get their daily "hydration" before the water freezes in the "tower"
        Nov 10th (morning) Gunny's first goose hunt at the bean field pond, 1st time wearing a neoprene
                                       vest, first limit......used the Kwick Raffia "Halo" Blind and geese never saw me,
                                       until it was too late, wore it sitting on a bucket in a small area of  waist high
                                       shore weeds and it worked like a charm, scored an easy double for Gunny
                                             note: Gunny was steady and waited for me to break out the camera,
                                                      he stayed nicely in the blind 15 yard behind me with his hide
                                                      hidden by large pine trees, mostly he was steady because he
                                                      didn't quite know what was going on   
                                                                          (left click on thumbnails)

"Raffia Halo Blind"	"sans body"	"Gunny's Geese"	"retrieve #1"
"first ever goose"	"easy mark - got it"	"good pup"	"water exit"
"retrieve #2"	"cold blind"	"close & wet"	"A Kwick Two"

     Nov 11th (morning) Taffey's turn for a goose hunt, forecast was for cold rain and/or snow, it was
                    only cold and Taffey had her two geese by 8:30 am.....more geese flying today & the
                    "Halo" blind is deadly   her first was a water retrieve & the next "crashed" about
                    six feet in front of her hide.......kind of like "duck" hunting   
                                                                      (left click on thumbnails)

"setup"

"Taffey's hide"

"retrieve #1"

"better grip"

"Taffey's limit"

          Nov 12th - rain, cold day off - Daisy is in the "bleeding a lot stage" stage of her heat cycle & so
                           far Gunny has not started to go crazy 
          Nov 13th  goose hunt with Kooly (depending on scouting results)
          Nov 14th  duck hunt to Savanna with Taffey - hunted from 6:30 am to 4:00 pm, a few ducks were
                         flying early, high and didn't want to decoy, lots of "skybusting", shot a merganser for
                         Taffey plus want to see just how bad they taste, even then lucky shot as three were
                         really  "trucking" flying in a small V, stood up from very low blind and they flared to
                         my right in a line, shot at the front one and dropped the back one  , no more shots
                         the rest of the day, but the blind was comfortable.....so I stayed all day, DARN tired when
                         I got home, puling the boat through too shallow mud and "doing" 26 decoys in the same
                         mud was tough.......on a positive note Taffey was excellent today.....quiet & continually  
                         and scanned the sky to my back (which helped a lot)
                                                                      (left click on thumbnails)

"Taffey Scanner"

"Close Up"

"Merganser"

          Nov 15th day off - scouted bean field.......geese there......hunt tomorrow with Kooly
                                   note: Taffey was a bit stiff in the left front this morning, walked out of it........either
                                            getting in and out of the boat or jumping into the blind (?) looks minor, but
                                            she is sleeping a lot today....watch carefully  
                                   note: Daisy is half-way through her heat cycle........another benefit of having more
                                            than one dog
          Nov 16th (morning) Kooly did a goose hunt to the bean field pond, setup a little different with 7
                        sleepers, 2 semi-active/resters and 5 feeders (all shells except to Pro Grade feeders),
                        decided to sit in a chair instead of on a bucket, first two groups around 8 o'clock flared,
                        ditched the chair and moved up the bank about 10 yards, next group in dropped two, 1st
                        was a short "crip" in the water and the second was a long shot dropping dead across the
                        pond in the bean field........Kooly gets his two and completes the KwickLabs "goose limit
                        quad" with Taffey, Daisy, Kooly & Gunny each getting a limit of geese this season.......we
                        are eating a lot of geese to keep up......."good stuff".....Big Bird burgers, chili, lasagna,
                        hot meat loaf, cold meat loaf sandwiches.......and spicy jerky.... the best thing is my wife
                        who would never eat any game or fish.....thinks this goose "stuff" is delicious
                                  note: setup at 6:45 am, 28º, 12 mph wind from the west, cloudy with flurries at
                                             10:30 am, but we were back home and unloaded by 9:00 am    
                                  note: the four sleeper heads for my Pro Grade Shells came in the other day,
                                           the online ordering process for Mack's did not distinguish between the
                                           "male" attachment required for my field shells as opposed to the "female"
                                           of their floater decoys........I got the wrong ones (naturally).......needed
                                           them this morning, zip ties & drilling became the mode of attachment,
                                           worked fine (except taking them off and putting back on is a chore), now
                                           I have an excuse to buy four "floaters" which is beginning to interpolate
                                           toward the need for a bigger boat 
                                                                          (left click on thumbnails)

"first goose down"	"clean kill"	"better grip"	"first retrieve"
"mark two"	"in the bean field"	"cripple in tow"	"it's on the way"
"flapping wing"	"almost finished"	"2nd mark"	"good boy"
	"this is Kool"	"Kooly's Double"

          Nov 17th - day off - "yard work" = back yard leaves  
                                note: Daisy is still bleeding from her heat cycle and not particularly happy
                                         with her "confinement"
                                note: scouted for geese - no ice on either the swim-by pond or the bean field
                                         pond with about 30 geese using it at 10:00 am....freeze-up any day means
                                         tomorrow will be a goose hunt for Taffey  
          Nov 18th (early morning) goose hunt at the bean field pond, iced over last night and didn't look
                         good, broke some ice near the shore and put out about 18 decoys, ready by 7:00 am
                         saw nothing all morning and stayed until 11:00 am..........it was COLD
          Nov 19-20th days off for all.....cold and goose pattern changing, decided to put boat up early
                         with no more duck hunting, moved it into the shed & set the garage up for upcoming
                         goose hunts plus work on upland training & tower shoots
          Nov 21st another day off......Daisy is still bleeding from her heat cycle & still have a lot of leaves
                        to get out of the yard..........not handling the cold as well as I use to 
          Nov 22-25th more days off with short runs at the bean field - Daisy is finally over the bleeding &
                        going out of her heat cycle (no longer banned from the living room)
                                 note: first snow lasted day & ponds in the area are frozen over
                                 note: large flocks of northern mallards are in the area.....feeding in residentially
                                          "protected" corn fields & not sure where they are roosting, geese are doing
                                          the same thing and roosting temporarily on frozen lakes and ponds (again
                                          where no hunting is allowed)
                                 note: a lull in hunting will proceed until the close-in, safe feed is consumed or
                                          the ducks move on, many geese stay the whole winter in northern Illinois
                                 note: snow covers for the Power Hunter and Avery Ultra Low have arrived        
          Nov 26th (afternoon) Taffey & Gunny ran as a brace on a long walk at the Macktown DTA, threw
                        a bumper and they took turns retrieving in heavy cover, Daisy & Kooly came out and
                        ran hard up and down the narrow road (everyone slept well the rest of the day) 
                                 note: Gunny marked really well, but not very steady
          Nov 27th day off for all
          Nov 28th (afternoon) Taffey, Daisy, Kooly & Gunny ran separately at Macktown - singles
          Nov 29th (afternoon) Gunny ran several short single and a bunch of simple concept doubles in
                         the bean field at the Square Pond DTA.....after he "supervised" raking "bean harvest
                         waste" into three areas where a layout blind will be placed for goose hunting
                                note: Gunny is getting steadier and "counts real good"
                   Four KwickLabs Goose Hunting (Link) - musical montage of 2006 - 8 seasons
         Nov 30th-Dec 4th snow, cold and just a few walks to stretch legs
                                note: Dec 1st Interceptor for all