A Christmas collar

[waterfowlin101]

Spring of 1992....

(somewhere in Oregon)

12 years old....just beginning life as a true hunter. A boy, after walking along with his Dad for years, was old enough to finally carry a gun. He had just finished his hunter safety class and made it into the marsh for a few outings during the 91-92 season...outdoorsmanship was being ingrained in the blood, and an avid waterfowler was born. This young boy couldn't wait till next fall....when it all started again.

(somewhere in Alaska)
At the same time....a cackling goose was hatching, cracking the shell and entering into a world unknown. This goose would go on to survive many a season. Springs and Summers would pass only to bring on the Fall and the season of migration, which this goose had become accustomed to doing year after year after year.


December 20, 2006

Two worlds would collide on this fateful day. A day in which a boy, who was still as possessed as he ever was with waterfowling, now grown into a young man, would fullfill a dream, something he had been waiting for for as long as he could remember......

Cody, myself, and a local farmboy friend of ours went out for a morning of goosin' action. As we sat in our blinds with over 1000 geese circling and landing and filtering in and out of the decoys...8:00 and the dawn of shooting light occurred. I watched geese pour into the spread and looked at each closely, finally seeing the ONE, isolated and hovering above the decoys.

With geese everywhere, I opened the doors to my blind and raised my gun. One shot rang out as Phoenix brought back the one goose that fell....the trophy I had been anticipating.



It was meant to be....and I finally had my Christmas collar, a 14 year old bird banded the year after I started hunting.....Amazing!!

Jon

Note: I am not a collar hunter...I only shoot them when given the opportunity. I do not seek them out nor pupposefully scout for them. That being said, this completes my collection (blue, white, red [harvested legally of course], and now yellow). These are the collars found most prevolent in our state, and now I have one of each. The yellow was the final piece to my personal puzzle!!!!

I am overjoyed

[Super Fluke]

Nice job

[younggun20]

Geez invite the guy on a short morning hunt before he is forced by the family to go hug trees on the mountains, and how does the guy repay you? He shoots a collar. Jealous? Noooooo Nice work on spotting that sucker while I am busy snapping pics on the camera phone.

Let's go get the real trophies today!!!!

[Bill Monroe]

Good for you, John...

[Beaver93]

I thought I was reading Peter Hathaway Capstick for a moment...

Nice collar.

[H20-Fowl-Widow]

so how much does a white collar thing go for on ebay? would the diffrent colors be a diffrent on price??? I found a bunch of those in diffrent colors while cleaning out the junk drawer on the back porch.

[Get Bit]

Nice work on the collar John! We've been chasing a collar and a couple of snows for the last 10 days or so to no avail. Its nice to see someone having some success.

Get Bit

[Keeper]

We won't discuss how old I was in 1992! Great story and way to go on the collar.

[duckboy]

Good for you John.

Looks like you had quite a hunt!

It also looks like Phoenix is getting quite a first year!

[Eric Strand]

Congrats on the yellow Jon. Yellows are some of the most difficult collars to kill. Great band info.

" Shoot em with their feet down "
Eric Strand