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The Old Man in the blue jump suit.
Attachment 224999
Fried duck livers, gizzards, and breast filets. Yes sir, it is good. You may wonder how I wound up with such good eating with the hunting being as bad as it is, but since you asked, I will explain. It all started with one duck coming by and me missing. Knowing that I had missed my only chance for the day, I was completely discouraged. About 8am an old man in a blue jump suit came sculling out of the woods right toward the blind and when he got closer, I could see he had a cane pole in his hand. I knew he had to be cold so I hollered and said Mister, would you like to come up in the blind and warm up a bit? He said yes, and pulled up to the blind and climbed in. He said "sonny, have ye killed any ducks?". I said no and explained to him that there were very few ducks on the St Francis, most had been shot at and would not respond to a call. In a nut shell, the hunting was really bad. He grunted and huddled a little closer to the stove and said "Sonny, I see you got one of them black olts around your neck like I usta blow". I said "Yes, but that call sounds terrible and will not work on a duck anymore. I just carry it for sentimental reasons, and don't let anyone touch it." The old man said " for goodness sakes sonny it's a duck call not your girl friend, let me see that call." I took it off my lanyard, handed it to him and he put it to his lips and blew. The sweetest duck sounds I have ever heard in my life came out. I was about to tell him how good he sounded when he said, "Yep you're right, you can't call a duck with it sounding like this." He pulled the old Olt apart took his razor sharp pocket knife and starting scraping here and there on the call. In a couple minutes he assembled it and began to call. Suddenly, I heard the sound of wings cutting the air and there were 5 mallards folded up heading down from the stratosphere. They never circled, never acted skittish, but all 5 lit right in front of the blind. The old man said sonny, hand me your gun, I ain't shot a mallard duck in 30 or 40 years. So I handed him the gun and he eased it out the window and shot it empty (3 shots). I looked out and there were 3 dead drakes on the water. I was just about to tell him how awesome that was when he jumped on me about taking care of my equipment. He said "Sonny let me tell you a thing or two. If you wanna kill ducks, you gotta take care of your equipment. First your duck call was messed up and I fixed that, then you give me a gun that will only shoot three times." I explained to him that the law says the gun has to be plugged to only hold 3 shells to hunt ducks legally. He said "Well I'll be, I've never heard of such. The last time I shot a mallard duck back in the 30s or 40s, we just put as many shells in the gun as we could. You could have given me a couple of "knuckle" shells if you knew it was only gonna shoot 3 times, that way, I could have killed all 5. I figured it was a lost cause trying to explain to him about limits so I thought I would change the subject and I said
"Sir, why are you out here fishing in this flood water with a cane pole, with it so cold. I thought you had one of those new IM6 graphite poles. He said "sonny, I do have one of those fancy poles, but that old woman (his wife), locked it up cause she said it was too cold and dangerous to be out fishing in these conditions. I've caught more crappie on a cane pole than you can even imagine, so I just stopped at the cane patch on my way here and got me a pole. I guess I showed that old woman hehehe, she thinks I'm at Macdonalds having coffee with them old men. You better be glad we didn't have them fancy rods back in the 30s and 40s or you young whipper snappers wouldn't have any crappie to catch today.
I had about had enough of the old man and his "wit" and I told him you need to be at Macdonalds drinking coffee with those "old men". He laughed again and said sonny, that's why I'm here, those old men at the coffee shop said I couldn't catch a mess of crappie in the winter time in the flood water. I said I could and I would bring them proof that I done it, so I gotta hurry, they quit drinking coffee at 9am. I wished him luck and said I hoped he caught a fish. He reached over and cracked the cooler and it was nearly full of fish. My eyes must have bugged out a little cause he said "Sonny, let me give you a little fishing tip, there are crappie under all these blinds cause fish like to warm up in the winter time too. hehehe. One other little tip about that cooler full of fish, you don't need ice when fishing in the winter," and he laughed that little laugh again. I told him not to be in such a hurry getting back to the coffee shop with those fish, and that he could just take a picture. He said "Film is too expensive and that those "old men" at the coffee shop would have forgotten about the crappie catching challenge by the time the film got developed anyway. I said "Mr, don't you have a cell phone. You can take a picture with it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a phlip phone and looked at it and said "Well I'll be. It don't even look like you could get a roll of film in this little thing. First I find out about a plug for the gun, next I find out my phone will take a picture. Next thing you know, they will be sending a man to the moon. Well I gotta go and get this cooler full of crappie to the coffee shop. I may even stop by Walmarks and see if they have any film for my phone." With that, the old man in the blue jump suit sculled off into the trees. I stood there in amazement for a few moments, then realized he had left those 3 ducks he killed, for me. I guess a little token of appreciation for sharing my heat rather than getting mad at someone fishing around my blind while I was trying to duck hunt. I figure I could learn a thing or 2 from the old man, but I'm not sure I will ever measure up to his stature. Yes, the fried duck was extra good today. Thank you "old man in the blue jump suit'.
