1/19/2004

Jim Conte and I did an afternoon hunt.  The broadbill were all over the place.  We bagged a couple and also a couple of brant and then the ice moved and pushed us out in a hurry.  It was fun and could have been outstanding if we didn't run into ice problems.  Good hunt however and a couple of chuckles.

Captain Al Lorenzetti

1/18/2004

It snowed and we hunted.  Rich Santos and I found an open hole in the ice and did an afternoon hunt.  It was a beautiful sight.  Snow was falling, ducks were flying and it was kind of like a Norman Rockwell scene.  It was good to hunt with Rich again as he has been very busy but I'm not complaining, we had a good hunt together.  I hope there will be many more.

1/17/2004

Today was probably one of the best jetty hunts that I have had in years.  I hunted with a great bunch of guys, Billy, Matt, Tony, Kevin and his dog Jake, Jimmy, Scott and his son Dillon.  A good wind was blowing from the WNW and the ducks were flying.  There were thousands of ducks and other assorted waterfowl in the neighborhood.  There were several other groups of hunters set up in the local area.  We rigged out about 100 broadbill decoys using a canoe for setting the rig and picking up birds.  Billy and Matt did most of the canoe work and they are really good at it.  Scott brought a robotic duck later in the day and it seemed to work pretty well.  From the opening bell the action was excellent.  We took about eight brant in the first half hour.  A little later we had a bunch of broadbill tend the rig and fly right to the head.  We downed eight birds from that bunch.  The action was excellent all day with the usual lulls in the action from time to time.  Jimmy brought pizza and soda for the lunch break.  We had an interested visitor who spotted us hunting and wanted to see what we were doing.  He sat in with us for about an hour and seemed to enjoy watching the hunt.  We all made some good shots and also some poor ones.  Good stuff for bragging and laughing.  During the course of the day, Jake made about 15 beautiful retrieves.  We had a lot of laughs and enjoyed some outstanding hunting.  We ended the day with all hunters just about at the limit for birds.  It was a memorable day again in the company of some great guys.  It doesn't get any better.

                                                          
Play The Movie

1/14/2004

I hooked up with a buddy Tony today for a morning shoot.  It was very cold but a beautiful morning.  We had a good shoot together.  A nice bunch of broadbill came to the rig and we killed 5 birds in one pass.  Other than that it was pretty quiet but the one shot we had was the best.  It was really an exquisite morning on the bay with lots of ice and a beautiful sunrise.  One of the photos is from the afternoon when I went out again for about an hour and didn't see one duck.  The lighting was perfect for an icy shot of water, decoys and ice.  Another great day on the Great South Bay.

1/13/2004

We did a local shoot this morning with my buddy Pete.  We found a hole in the ice which I had worked on for two days to keep open.  When we got there were a couple of clam diggers that wanted in the open water.  I had my decoys in the water before they got there and we politely went over to them and explained that we were hunting but that didn't make them any more considerate of out situation.  The usual pleasantries were exchanged like we have to make a living.  Typical hard-nose attitude but we were gentlemen and gave way, picked up our decoys and mover far enough away so out shot would not interfere with them.  We didn't make an issue about interfering with a hunt.  It is a law and no person or group can legally screw up your hunt.  It wasn't worth the hassle needed to make it happen and get the DEC or the police to move them.  The police have no idea about conservation laws anyway but the DEC would have told them to leave the area.  We didn't want all commotion to happen so we moved from where we wanted to hunt and put up with their presence.  As figured, the ducks that flew were very high and didn't tend because of a clam boat nearby.  We got a couple including a beautiful drake hooded merganser.  We then packed it up early.  Maybe next time I will take the time to make an issue of it and lose the day of hunting just to make a point.  If I hadn't opened up the water by breaking ice for two days they wouldn't have even had a place to dig clams.  Just their luck to have found some open water - right!

Captain Al Lorenzetti

1/12/2004

I had a good hunt today with Jim Conte.  We rigged out in local waters and had some fun.  With the cold and ice the puddle ducks don't know where to go so they fly around like they are lost.  A couple of mallards came into our broadbill rig like they were their own.  Cross off  a mallard.  Then the black ducks came and then the broadbill.  It was a good shoot on a warm day with perfect conditions.  No pictures as the hunting was too good to take out the camera.  Next time I promise.  The duck breasts are going to a buddy that smokes them and they are delicious.  Tomorrow should be just as good or better.

Captain Al Lorenzetti

1/11/2004

I hooked up with a great bunch of guys today.  We did a jetty shoot and had a great time enjoying nature on a very brisk day.  The crew included Jimmy, Kevin, Billy, Scott, Tony, Nick and Ray. Kevin's dog, Jake, did a great job of retrieving ducks on a very cold day.  We bagged some ducks and had lots of laughs.  Jimmy even brought coffee and tea for the crew.  Billy, Tony and Scott tended the decoys and picked up the ducks.  A couple of DEC officers checked us out as we were packing it in.  They were very courteous and did a thorough check of all our equipment, licenses and birds.  We exchanges some talk about hunting etc. with them before they said goodbye.  It was a great day of hunting and fellowship with other hunters and a great hunting dog.

1/10/2004

We got hit with a real deep freeze last night.  It is about 2 degrees right now.   I took a ride over to Fire Island by car and got some shots of the steam coming off the water in the inlet and ocean.  I also got some shots of some guys duck hunting in the Sore Thumb.  They were getting some shooting.

1/8-9/2004

I hunted locally with Jim Conte.  It was very cold and not many ducks flying.  We had a good time anyway.  

1/4/2004

We did another day of lay-out boat hunting.  It was a good crew with Pete, George, George Jr., Rich Mike, Jim and yours truly.  The weather was not so good with little wind and some light rain.  The ducks should have been flying but they didn't know they were supposed to fly for us.  A few brant and buffleheads made a mistake and they were taken and late in the day a few broadbill also made the mistake of trying to land in our rig.  It was a shoot but nothing like we expected or hoped for.  That is the way it happens in the outdoor sporting world.  Not pictures today as the rain would have messed up my camera and/or I basically forgot to do the chore.

Captain Al Lorenzetti

1/3/2004

Jim Conte, Ken Mearns and I joined Pete Nowinski and his crew, George, Mike, Mike junior and Bill for a lay-out shoot for broadbill.  We had a very good day and lots of laughs.  We did a pretty good job on the Broadbill and Brant.  There were not a lot of birds flying because of the calm winds and warm temperatures but those that did fly mostly died.  It was a good crew and we had a lot of fun.  The brant and broadbill breasts will be roasting on the barbecue real soon.  It was really good to have a young hunter in Mike Jr. out on the trip.  He seemed to have a very good time with it all, the stories, camaraderie etc.  It doesn't get much better.  I included a bunch of shots of the shoot because most people don't ever get to see a broadbill lay-out rig.

1/2/2004

Jim Conte and I did another little hunt but got a late start.  It was real slow with nothing moving.  The highlight of the day was seeing two seals basking in the warmth on an old barge.  I got some good photos of them.  We need some cold weather to get the ducks moving and the big bunches broken up.

1/1/2004

Did a little afternoon hunt today with Jim Conte.  We had a few birds, Merganser, bufflehead and brant but overall it was slow.