In Remembrance of a Friend

Those in our "hunting circle" lost a good friend back in July of 2010 after a year and a half battle with cancer.  "Mickey" and my dad have been hunting together for as long as I can remember, along with his two sons and my brother, amongst others as well .  We have had many memorable hunts on his land in the flooded timber of the Marais des Cygnes bottoms as well as at our place.  The man was wise beyond his years when it came to duck hunting and was the purest of shooters.  He managed to log his 100th lifetime triple (yes, he kept an exact count through the years) in the 2009 season after he was diagnosed with cancer.  You never heard him talk much about it, but you would sometimes hear a subtle "92" after a volley rang out of the blind with fluttering ducks in front.

We have dedicated our newest "honey hole" at Burbenska Farms in his name.  Many a hunt was spent talking about this project over the years before it was finally put into place.  Years of thinning out a pin oak stand of timber and the construction of levees on two sides now gives us a third timber hole to hunt out of.  We feel this one has the most potential as it is surrounded by pin oaks, has an open canopy with grassy understory due to the TSI, and most importantly, is closest to the ducks "natural flyway" over our property.  We will have to wait until next year (weather permitting) to see if this holds true, as we decided not to pump this section of the timber this year due to the amount of water it would take and the fact that the ducks weren't flying the area well as it was.  We had a sign made to dedicate the timber hole and plan on hanging it on the path into the flooded pin oaks during each season.  (Special thanks to Vince Crawford of VECtor Calls for the awesome word burning work!)

Dad (left) and Mickey (right) on the last day of the 2004 - 2005 season.