GreenDrake

Actually...Nala and Dixie

Dixie and Nala

Rapini is wild Broccoli. Usually pick those in the fall. Mustard looks the same, usually referred to as "Luccia", but is very similar. Store versions are nowhere near as sweet or tender.

If I am really lucky I will find a field with wild mustArd greens. They look like little broccoli florets. There is a weed that looks just like them but have rough rather than smooth leaves. Pick just the floret. Sautéed they are phenomenal. If there is even a hint of yellow starting to show in the head don’t eat them. They go from sweet to BITTER immediately

They are alright if the flower bulbs have not opened yet. Once the flowers open, they are very bitter. Funny thing is my wife and I spent over $500 on Weed N Feed this weekend killing all the dandelions on our home property, just to go out to the farms and pick for the table.

We sauté them in olive oil with sweet onions...garlic...salt...pepper. Slightly caramelize the onions and garlic and then chop the dandelions and add. Keep flipping around for 15 mins until tender. We parboil them for 15 minutes first. We freeze about 30 softball size packs a year. Its a ton of work but they are worth it. Have to pick them before the flower or else they are bitter.

First spring dandelion boil of the year

Brian, your strong faith has made you a very strong man indeed. You have given your wife the greatest gift of all, going to her resting place in peace, dignity, comfort and knowing she was truly and completely loved. Most are not so fortunate. Bless you

The should get a few decoys and set up about 100 yards from the barns. Shooting them over decoys is so much fun.

What county and/or township are you located? We have similar daily flights here in Oneida County as well.

I am very familiar with the Auburn birds. Awesome watching them come in at evening. Its close to that here as well. I hunt the flyways and get them coming out in the morning and heading back to roost in the evening. It took me several years to really figure them out and proper set ups and calls. We hit them pretty hard now. Drove me crazy for years. I became obsessed. Wife and I drive thousands of miles finding birds...their flyways...etc. they are tough but fun. Pigeons are just a slaughter-fest. 250 bird shoot averages.

One of our summer decoy shoots

I decoy pigeons heavily in the spring and summer in cut wheat or grain fields. Have 6 Mojo pigeons and 2 dozen assorted full bodies, socks and 8 flock flicks. In Winter we do not decoy them as they are usually going into corn bunkers to feed and onto silos to sit. We get them coming and going. Crows I always decoy. I try to set up in low scrub areas in their flyways. Put some decoys in the trees and a few on the ground and call. They come over nice and low and present for easier shots. We killed 30 last Sunday in an hour.

We killed 25 this afternoon. Hard snow. Heavy wind. Farmers grandson joined us. New to hunting. Very safe and courteous but moved around a little too much. He will learn.

I am a 16 gauge junkie. I have 6 Belgian sweet 16s...savage 720 which was my fathers from the 40s....2 grade 7 Citoris....stevens pump which was my fathers first gun in the 30s...and a battle cart side by side. My fondest memory as a child was watching my father load those purple Federals while pheasant hunting. Since then I’ve been a 16 gauge fanatic. I own over 30 12s...20s from Perazzi to Baretta...and everythin between. I always go to the 16.

My beautiful wife blessed me with a new Dickinson plantation grade 16 gauge side by side. It has 28 inch barrels...case hardened side plates and a single trigger. Wood is beautiful. Pictures to follow. I am truly blessed to have such a beautiful life partner. Nephew bought me 2 of the new Lucky Duck spinning wing pigeon decoys. We will now be running 6 spin wing decoys along with the other assorted hard bodies....carousel....bouncers...socks..........flock a flicks...etc.

My wife and I watched one on our new property opening day of rifle. It walked right by the box blind. Was a beautiful animal.

Dixie found a couple this weekend.

Mine are all 4 x 6 feet, as they were on property borders and we never had to shoot behind us. In the future, now that the property I hunt enables me to shoot 360, I would definitely build them 6 x 6 feet. Makes it much easier to sit in the middle and swivel behind me to shoot.

I have 6 of these built now. All have smaller windows as I learned that anything more than 12 inches high only caused sun blinding and exposure to deer. I built them in panels in the garage and made for easy field assembly and transport. All are made of treated plywood and lumber. About $500 in materials in each all said and done. I built one per night once I got in a groove. Some are 10 years old and are going strong. All are now on 10' or 12 ' 4x4's. On the new property I just acquired, once I learn exactly where I want them, I am building 2 of them on 24 foot poles.

Grouse hunting is without question my favorite type of hunting. My setters are itching to get out once the SZ deer season ends. I may take them this afternoon to a great spot I have in the NZ. Picking up a new Dickinson Prestige 16ga sxs this morning. Need to break it in.

Now that my NZ deer season is over, I will start hitting the crows and pigeons pretty hard. Flight crows have been heavy here. We shot 28 2 weeks ago set up a half mile from the flyway. Couldn't get closer due to time constraints. Not a bad shoot for 45 minutes. The pigeons will be hitting the grain bunkers heavily soon. They have been hitting a cut corn field in the hundreds at one of my spots, but guys are hunting deer there and I do not want to ruin their hunt by shooting up the place while they are enjoying their hunt.

English Setter. Slow and methodical in the field. Very loving and regal

In the property I hunted for 20 years, our box blinds got ravaged by them. One was eaten right down to the studs. in the spring of 2019 we killed 11 in 2 days and killed another 7 throughout the deer season. One was in the box blind when I attempted to enter in one morning. My wife had one trying to climb into the one we named the "porcupine" stand. All she had was a pair of Nikon binos in her hand. She won the fight.