Open For Business and the Rise of the Junior Sportsman

In my last post I expressed concern that the heavy snow last week would interfere with our last day of waterfowl season. Luckily, the report from our fellow Club Members was a green light. Teddy and a few guys went down Friday morning and reported that there was less snow and access to the pit blinds in the fields was no problem.
My son had a wrestling match Friday afternoon so we could not head to the Club until evening. Plus, Friday was my son's 14th Birthday.
We got to the Clubhouse after a fine dinner in town. It was then time for Poker. My 14 year old son busted me in a Tournament format....beating my Queen high flush with a King high flush. He then smoked my Jack high straight with an Ace high straight. I was proud of his skills but had to swallow my pride and spend the rest of the game as permanent dealer. He went on to win the pot.After the card game, we went to the racks for some sleep before the next day's goose hunt.
I am thrilled to report that the following day my boy shot his first goose from a pit blind in our field. The geese were moving all morning and with my calling and some lucky decoy placement, we had birds locked up and flying in. I shot 2 for the day and my buddy Hutch bagged 3.
I was levitating off the ground with pride and excitement as my son brought his Browning 20 ga.to bear on a bird and dropped him nicely. We had a splendid father son moment as we climbed from the blind to pick up his bird. He was a proud hunter and I informed him he was now an official "Waterfowler." Posted above is a picture of my son and I after the hunt.
Meanwhile, several hundred yards across the field our fellow hunters were slamming the geese from one of our other pits. It seems the snow and ice in the northern regions has driven many hungry geese to the Delaware Bay region and these birds were dropping in like mad on our decoy spreads. Randall, Teddy, Jim and D.J. all bagged geese.
After the hunt we all retired to a local Diner for a huge breakfast and then the "Picking House" to have our birds cleaned for the ride home.
Except for Snow Geese, the Season is now over so we will turn our attentions elsewhere and get the guns cleaned and the Clubhouse battened down.