Thanksgiving 2016

Thanksgiving 2016

Times Outdoors Columnist Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year. The trees are beautiful, the air is cool and feels good, a fire in the fireplace makes the evening feel complete, and best of all, the hunting seasons are in full swing.

Deer season is on and duck season is just getting started. There are even some bass and crappie fishermen catching supper. This time of year is made for outdoor sportsmen!

Out in the country at Lakeside in Proctor, we have traditions that we have kept for many, many years. It starts well before daylight with the trip to the duck hole for Dr. Keith and Papa Duck. Hopefully after a good duck hunt, its home for that Thanksgiving dinner with all the family and grandkids that Colleen started about the time we made it to the duck blind. After way too much turkey and all the great dishes that go with it, its time to head to the deer stand in hopes that the “big one” shows up.

Back at home, we head to the Christmas Tree Man on Missouri Street for our tree. If you want a good selection of fresh evergreens, visit the Tree Man on North Missouri Street.

We always get a “real” tree and take it home for its waiting tree stand and the start of decorating it. The rest of the week is spent decorating the tree and hunting. By Sunday we are all exhausted from getting up early in the morning and the local ducks have been shot out and the deer are tired of seeing hunters.

The next work week is welcome to get some rest.

Duck season opened last Saturday with cold and clear weather. Perfect conditions for a good hunt, however there were very mixed results. There were a few places that had ducks and good hunts, but the majority of the reports tell of only fair or poor hunts on Saturday and bad hunting on Sunday. There are just not many birds in the area due to the unseasonable warm and dry fall.

We need several inches of rain and for it to turn very cold up North. Many experienced hunters feel that this first season is for Stuggart and their duck festival and that we really do not get “OUR” ducks until around Christmas time. The post Christmas portion of the season brings on the major migration of mallards.

Papa Duck had a very nice opening morning hunting with Jeff Webb at his club near Parkin. We hunted an old cypress lake and got full limits for 6 hunters. Only about a dozen of the ducks were mallards, with gadwalls and teal filling out the limits. Jeff and I go back thirty plus years and we have seldom ever had a bad hunt. When we get together, the ducks come flying in.

Send me some duck and deer stories along with pictures. When that young hunter gets a trophy, take pictures. We love to put the kid’s pictures in the paper.

While you are doing pictures, don’t forget that Lakeside Taxidermy does a beautiful mount at a reasonable price with very fast service. Let’s enjoy these holidays.

Papa Duck, Lakeside Taxidermy, ( 870) 732- 0455 or ( 901) 484- 3430, jhcriner@ hotmail. com

Photo courtesy of Facebook

Trophy Buck

Jacob Langley killed this 10-point buck Saturday morning in the deer woods. Hunters will be out in force this holiday weekend looking to bag a winner.

By John Criner