Annual Alaska Moose trip

[mdeland]

We identified the bird yesterday from Chris's bird book and it is a Northern Harrier. The book said they were unusual to see in the interior like this but we are both sure that is what it was.
We spent the day down at Portage shooting ducks and are going again next Wednesday. Actually Chris did the hitting and I just filled the air with steel shot but had a ball anyway. He got four Gadwalls and gave them to me. We dressed them out , skinned and rinsed the little guys that look a bit bigger than a game hen.
I'm looking forward to eating them and going down to try again next week. This is a great spot as it is a natural choke point for water foul that gather up and make a run through the pass over to Whittier and down the channel to Prince William Sound, when the weather clears for a bit. We hope to intersect the Canadians when they head down and over the pass one of these times.
Chris found a perfect spot on a little peninsula covered over with alder brush almost to the water line. We have to canoe into the area and with the surrounding panorama of mountain scape it is a true joy to set comfortably in our blind on dry ground and await the passing water foul.
We also saw some Trumpeter Swans fly by and looked like B-17s compared to the Gadwalls and Mallards we were seeing.
I only shot three times but think I was leading them to much as I noticed one drop his bill down just after I shot and think I pecked him on the beak with the tail end of my shot string.
I need to go shoot some skeet and get back in shot gun trim again as it has been nearly 20 years since I have hunted water foul and finding a new friend that likes to hunt them with me is a blessing.
He says he feels fine now and has had no more attacks of vertigo that fell him on our moose trip. MD

[mdeland]

Why are ones spelling errors so evident after you come back and read it later? I meant "fowl" and "intercept".

[mdeland]

Boy was that duck good eating! I kept one and baked it with some bacon strips over the breast to keep it moist night for last and last night my daughter and son-in-law invited us over to eat the three I gave them.
Scott got a recipe out of one of his outdoor books that was outstanding. He put the three Gadwalls breast up in the bottom of a #10 dutch oven, put in some onions and polish sausage, dumped in a 12 ounce can of coca- cola and baked it at 300 degrees for 3 hours.
You know it's good when you suck the bones to get all the meat off !
Next time I'm going to use this recipe an add some carrots and potatoes as the broth was sensational as well.
I liked it better than chicken and it had just a hint of wild taste which was fine with me. Even the grand kids ate it up with great gusto. MD
Sure would like to try a Sand Hill Crane or Canadian goose this way. We can take 2 Cranes and 4 Canadian geese.