Duck season ended here yesterday, and I find myself alternately relieved that I won't be getting up at 3 a.m. several days a week anymore, and sad that I've had to say good-bye to the marsh for the next nine months.
What makes me feel better is replaying some of my favorite scenes from the marsh this season, and one of them was this:
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| My buddy Charlie |
His ghillie's hood forms a scraggly mane, and when you see it, how can you help but think of the Lion King with a shotgun and a cigarette?
I can't remember exactly how it came up, but Charlie was saying that the jacket also came with pants and a gun cover as well.
"Really? I said. "What kind of hunting is it for?"
I'd heard of turkey hunters going to such extremes, but usually there's more green in turkey hunting ghillies.
"It's for killing humans," Charlie said. "It's a sniper suit."
Awesome.
But, hey, whatever works!
Note to Safety Freaks: Charlie ain't stupid: He took a lighter to this jacket to test its flammability before lighting up a smoke while wearing it. It passed the test.
© Holly A. Heyser 2012
17 comments:
Our season ended yesterday as well. I took a big nap yesterday afternoon after coming home and thought I was dreaming about geese. I then woke-up and realized about 300 birds were coming over the house to land in the cornfield across the street. That was weird...
Is it wrong that I actually enjoyed the 3 hours it took to put away all of my gear last night? It was sort of cathartic. I'm already thinking about ammo selection for next season and wondering how turkey season will be this spring.
We are sick, sick people.
Not wrong at all - hunting, more than anything else - has made me appreciate the meaning of seasons. The season for duck hunting is over; now the season for yardwork and housework is back - and just in time, because the house and yard really needs work.
Amen to that. Seed catalogs started ariving last week and our house is in some serious need of TLC. The honey-do list I had knocked out back in October is now full again.
And I'm actually looking forward to it.
LOL, I haven't even raked leaves, and they finished dropping, uh, a long time ago.
Thank God our neighborhood tolerates our priorities - we'd never make it under the tyranny of a neighborhood association.
Okay, the camo + aviator glasses + smokes scream North African Dictator.
I love ghillies, and have always wanted to make my own. His looks awesome.
Yeah, Charlie's suit is really spectacular. On the last Saturday of the season, I found the limits of my jacket: I was tebowing in dry, brown nutgrass, and birds spotted me at about 50 yards out. Charlie's jacket, though, is the EXACT right color and texture for sitting in the nut grass.
While I don't know if I could replicate his jacket, I can tell you it'd be pretty simple to replicate ours - it's just strips of fringed camo mesh - super light so the wind catches them and you just look like something with leaves blowing in the wind.
The tricky part would be attaching them without weakening any waterproof properties on your existing jacket. Cloth glue might work.
Nice! But- movement is the #1 camouflage- or should I say lack of movement...sitting still and only moving your eyeballs is best- hard to do for most...and can only be done with a partner who looks in your blind spot as you can tell what the ducks are doing by his eyes and slight facial expression...But those jackets look cool- great for filming the ducks with...
I watch my hunting partners' eyes all the time - and listen to determine the direction they're calling in. But these ghillies - even Hank's and mine - really do buy you a noticeable amount of extra time before the birds make you. I'll have an awesome example of that in my next "Scenes from the Marsh" post.
That said, if you're moving around a lot and staring up in the sky, no amount of ghillie will make up for it.
Holli,
Do you always wear face paint? I switched to paint from a mask a couple of years ago and I feel like it actually gives me more freedom to move around. I couldn't imagine going back.
I have in the past, and I always carry it with me in the field. But I've found wearing a balaclava to be a little easier: It doesn't clog my pores, it keeps me warmer and it does slightly muffle the sound of the gunshot.
I might actually do a hybrid next season, adding some stripes to my face in the places not covered by the balaclava (around the eyes).
Ah - problems I don't have. I never get cold, my pores are pristine and gun noise doesn't seem to bother my hearing.
It also helps that my face is 50% beard so I don't have to use nearly as much paint.
Plus it also makes me feel like an honorary member of the Duck Commander crew.
LOL, thanks for acknowledging your gender advantages! Stubble is awesome camo, and the ability to ignore or not even feel cold is huge. Sigh.
Ghillie suits. Not just for hunting anymore! -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/11/bill-murray-ghillie-suit-pebble-beach-picture_n_1270509.html
That was some Christmas gift! My husband also got himself a ghillie jacket for his hunting. At first, he was a little uncomfortable wearing this. But once he realized the effective concealment it provided, he became amicable to wearing one.
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