That's what I thought too until I tried them!

Maybe I should have made myself a bit more clear. I have never had a NEED for Dove decoys. I did have some dove decoys years ago made from paper mache that I painted up with whites and blues just to attract pigeons when we shot em as a business. We only hunted fields with plenty of doves. Very seldom we didn't shoot a limit or near one as we had plenty of birds. Course we grew the stuff for 'em. Scoutin out some places here for this September. Few Sunflowers planted this year...good deal. Sunflowers going in here next year..the Lord willing

I have gone to Court twice for hunting violations and the Assistant States Attorney would not know how to load a gun if he/she had to. I've even represented clients in these cases and the Assistant States Attorney has no clue what he/she is doing. Not this winter, but the winter before I represented a fellow CPA for shooting a deer with a shotgun when it was muzzleloader season. The game warden charged him with the wrong code section and the Assistant States Attorney had to drop the case. Sometimes, it just really, really pisses me off how incompetent these people are. Then again, sometimes I have to be careful what I say. If they were really competent they would probably be able to find some type of violation every time they checked us.

It just really bugs the heck out of me when I get charged with something that isn't even close to true. Both times that I was found not guilty on DNR violations, the charges weren't true. The officers charged me because they had a chip on their shoulders. I think it ended up being a little bit of a shock when they saw that I could handle myself in a courtroom.

By the way, the Assistant States Attorney tried to hammer in the fact that I had fired my gun after taking 5 to 10 steps from the vehicle. Obviously, she has no clue about how to load a gun and it would take her 5 to 10 steps from the vehicle to even get the shells out of her pocket.

PC..you don't understand how it is in Md.. Fabs is an attorney that hunts..Most don't in Md anyway.. When ya get in court there most of the time the person charged either doesn't have an attorney or one who doesn't have a clue either.. Fed Court is tough there.. I saw a group of guys get charged with hunting after sundown in Md by a Federal warden. They were standing there on a blue bird evening watching deer play in the field talkin..up near the barn..nothing flying... talkin to the Fed GW..guns laying on the ground..after the sun set..he asked to check their guns..charged 3 of the 5 with attempting to take waterfowl after legal shooting hours..And even though they went to court with an attorney..they were found guilty.. I was not one of those guys luckily...I was there and was talkin with 'em.... that was wrong..but it was the GREAT Willie Parker who done it.. Met him a few times..He was focused on only one thing..makin a case and he had the US Attorney in his pocket. All the Federal wardens enjoyed high conviction rates in Md at that time..Only one that I knew was fair and above board His name was D'Arcy Davenport. Nice guy. Most of the state wardens were pretty fair.One gave a friend of mine a pen..then a warning for not having his duck stamp signed. The Feds wouldn't do that.. I had a state guy help me find my license once after I had lost it chasin a crippled goose through some standing corn..After that I kept it in my coat pocket

Skeet,

I agree with you completely. From what I have heard from other hunters, the federal game wardens are a POS. Now, those have been old stories and I have not heard anything recent about them. I am hoping that they aren't writing stupid violations like that anymore, but who knows.

Skeet, well aware of Fabs occupation and hunting locale, over the years we have had a number of exchanges. What Fabs really needs is an Oct. trip to Wisconsin and hunt woodcock and grouse.

I know what ya mean about getting him out in the grouse woods.. Love to hunt grouse. Never got to do too much of it. Shot lots a quail in the woods though.

On another note..when I was a kid..the state hired the best poachers(if ya want to call 'em that) as game wardens. Couldn't catch 'em so they hired 'em away from the business at hand. Most made very good game wardens...One or 2 just couldn't leave the life. One of the ones that turned into a pretty good warden..stopped me every morning he saw me during squirrel season(Oct 5-31). He just couldn't understand how I had a limit of skwerls or close every day before I went to school. It was simple and it was legal too. But I never told him.. We ate a lot of skwerl..and duck...and wabbits..some wascally wabbits Hunting wabbits was vewy vewy stwenuous. But not for a kid. BTW..I sometimes did exceed the limit..but understand..nothing went to waste.. Different time and place

After only hunting one single day last year because of my illness, I'll be happy just to get out there this year and hunt. That one day last year was terrible, and it was the opening day of dove season. I think I saw all of 4 doves and not a single one was close enough to shoot at. Such is life.

I've never been grouse or woodcock hunting, but I have seen a woodcock here and there. As far as squirrels go, I have only hunted them once and that was an impromptu hunt after we got skunked in the morning on geese. Funny how you can see tons of them while hunting deer in a stand, but trying to find a squirrel while hunting for them and they are nowhere to be found.

Was that your secret Skeet. Going squirrel hunting as if you were going deer hunting. Mind over matter? LOL

Nah..the secret was much simpler than all that psycho-babble stuff... I had an 8 ft 2x4 with a buncha nails through it..Stuck a bunch of ears of corn on it..set it in the woods...put a bit of ol blackstrap molasses on them...skwerls loved it