What A Man Will Do For A Duck
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
"Lately people ask me crazy questions, like why exactly do I hunt?"
That's a song lyric on a duck hunting CD that I picked up off the Duck Commander web-site. I would credit the artist here, but I don't know who the artist is, for sure. It's really not music that most folks would enjoy, but for a duck hunter, it's a pretty good CD.
So, why is it, exactly, that I hunt?
First off, it's a sickness, a disease, if you will. When I first started hunting, I planned my hunting trips around my work and my life. When you become ill with this disease, you start planning your work and your life around hunting season. If you've never hunted, I cannot explain it to you, but trust me, it is something that I will do for the rest of my life and I'm disappointed that I had to wait 40-ish years to get started.
I've told this story often on this blog and other places, but when I was a boy, my Dad was a deer hunter. Unfortunately, as I grew up, I was heavily involved in sports and didn't get to enjoy the outdoors with him as much as most young men who have Fathers that are hunters. He practically gave up hunting to follow me around from sport to sport and game to game back then and I often wonder if he regretted that.
My Dad and Grandpa were serious fishermen. We spent every summer back in my youth around Lake Eufala, chasing those big old catfish. My Grandpa was one of those guys that could throw a bare hook in a mud hole and pull a fish out. I fished with them often, but never had the bug that they did about it.
I didn't have the luxury that alot of hunters had while growing up. I didn't get to hunt with my Dad and the rest of my family and learn the "tricks of the trade." There is hardly a day goes by now, whether in a deer stand or a duck blind, that I don't think what it would have been like 30-ish years ago to have gotten to enjoy that with my Dad.
About 4 or 5 years ago, I met the man that has become like a big brother and best friend to me. I am an only child and never had any brothers or sisters around when I was growing up, so, being that close and being around someone as much as I was with Bill, was som
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ething entirely foreign to me. It took some getting used to, for sure, but now, some five years later, he's probably my second best friend in the world.My wife, God bless her, is and will always be my best friend. After all, she's allowed me to be me for 15+ years now and she is also the one responsible for allowing me, with no questions asked, to chase this passion that has come over me in the last 3 years. I'm often asked by people that hunt, but that don't know my wife, "what does your wife say about all this?" Well, she takes it in stride and she lets me get after it. There are worse things I could be doing and I think she realizes just how diseased I've become about hunting. My wife is the best wife on the planet (also documented here many times before) and I could not ask for more when it comes to a mate and a best friend.
Bill is as hard-core as it gets, not only when it comes to hunting, but pretty much in his entire life. He won't quit a job until it's done, whether it be plumbing somebody else's new trailer or putting a roof on the new porch that was just built. Hunting? Well, you won't find anybody that takes hunting any more seriously than Bill. There may be some guys out there that are just as hard-core, but there are none out there that are any more hard-core than my hunting buddy.
I enjoy dove hunting, turkey hunting, deer hunting, goose hunting etc. I like it all, but to me, there is something entirely addictive and special about sitting in a duck blind, whether it be on the side of the lake or up at Bill's farm. The camaradarie of duck hunters sitting in freezing temperatures, breaking ice, throwing decoys and what we call, "putting in work" is unmatched by the other forms of hunting, at least for me.
We get up at 4:00 am when we are hunting public spots and spend the next 45 minutes gearing up for a cold morning. We hit the spot around 4:45 am and begin toting the gear into the spot where we sit up. Once all the gear is in place, we begin the ice-breaking process, which can take 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the temperature the night before. This weekend it took all of two hours both mornings.
After that job, with a full lather of sweat in 15 degree temperatures, it's time to toss the deocys out. This is the easy job, compared to breaking ice, but means more time in the water, which also means more opportunity for bad things to happen. Walking around in the lake, before sunlight, in waders is a job. It doesn't appear that way, but if you haven't done it, in the dark, in freezing temperatures, well, trust me, it's more of a job than you would ever imagine.
After the decoys are set, it's time for coffe and time to await the arrival of Legal Shooting Time. LST is 30 minutes before official sunrise. Alot of hunters out there have no idea when that is, because we hear them, banging away at birds that they cannot even identify, well before LST. We heard a shotgun blast last weekend a full 25 minutes before LST. That's just crazy. I understand how it happens, because we had ducks in our decoys before LST also, but when you can't even tell what type of duck it is, well, it's too damn early to be shooting them.
The carmaradarie that I mentioned above is not just limited to me and Bill. We've shared duck blinds with a host of other people, including his other hunting buddies, his family, my friends and even some friends that I met on the internet. ;) What's that? Me? Would I invite some complete strangers out to the middle of nowhere, in Caddo County, to tote shotguns and shoot ducks with me? You're damn skippy I would.
After my experiences with IIF's through this very blog, I've met, hunted with, housed and enjoyed the company of no less than 7 or 8 complete strangers that I met through a Duck Hunting forum on the internet. They've all turned out to be guys just like us, hard-core hunters that are stricken with the same disease that we have. They also provide a host of new hunting stories, from their experiences with their own hunting buddies wherever back home might be.
The duck blind is kind of like the poker table, with the exception being everybody in the duck blind is your buddy. Whereas only a couple of folks at the poker table (somebody has to be the fish) might become your buddy, everybody that gets up well before dawn, puts in the work required to hunt ducks and sits back in the blind with a cup of coffee is indeed, your buddy. To all the buddies that I've shared a blind with, thank you. I've learned something from each and every one of you and I appreciate the opportunity, not only to hunt with you, but to get to know you as well.
To Bill, my hunting buddy, I can never repay all the time and all the lessons you've shared with me. All I can say is thanks, I appreciate it and I hope you know that I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Here's to as many duck hunts as we can get in between now and January 31st.
Until next time, I break ice, I set decoys and I shoot the easiest bird of the bunch coming in.
What a man will do for a duck!
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:24 PM,
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Cash Game Failure
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Since starting this humble little blog a few years back, I've been a winning player, (for a while) a break-even player (for a while) and a losing player. (for more than a while now)
For the last two years, I've been a steady-spewing, cash game failure and it really pains me to admit that. Having now admitted that (and thrown up a little in my mouth) I have recently had a revelation:
When I was a winning player, I played SNG's almost exclusively. No blogger tournaments, no cash games, no Blackjack, cough! So, with that in mind, I'm heading back to the single table SNG's for a while. I'll be at the lower limits for a while and see how it goes. Perhaps I'll play a game or two a night, perhaps more. We'll just see how it goes.
--
I'm a little saddened about the upcoming gathering in Vegas.
Two months ago, I really had no desire to go to Vegas in December. I didn't have the money to go to Vegas and I didn't have the time to take off and go to Vegas. I really didn't care either.
Now, while reading others posts in anticipation of the gathering, I'm definitely bummed that I can't go again this year. I know how much fun it is and I really wish I was going to be a part of it. Damn, I sure hope everybody has a great time and definitely have a Jack and Coke for me. Dial-A-Shots will be welcome and my phone will be charged, should you get the urge.
Until next time, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:54 PM,
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Crack
Monday, November 02, 2009
I got bored last night.
I've been opening up a couple of small stakes PLO games on an almost nightly basis and playing my normal fast-paced, loose-aggressive, um, okay, I'm sitting back and waiting on the nuts and hoping somebody is foolish enough to pay me off. Anyway, I played for a while and was getting no traction and decided to look at the tournament lobby. I haven't played a tournament in 6 months on Full Tilt, but, what the hell, I scanned the upcoming tournaments.
$14+1 Super Turbo KO PLO Tournament - starts in 12 minutes and there are 45 people signed up. Hah, make that 46.
Hah!
12 minutes later and there are 175 signed up and we're off to our first tables. The blinds are 15-30 and I have a starting stack of 300 chips. WTF? This is not what I signed up for. Apparently, it was what I signed up for, I just didn't know what the hell I was signing up for. Apparently, these are the crack tournaments I've heard a few folks talk about along the way on Google Reader.
Well, to say I played tight would be an understatement. I sat back and folded my first unplayable hand as 4 upstanding part-time poker professionals got it all in on the very first hand. One guy had a pair, but the genius with A-J-9-6 (complete rainbow) hit runner, runner 6's to take down the 1200 chip pot. Wow, I thought to myself, I guess I'm going to have to gamble.
I finally saw a flop with A-Q-Q-10 (one suit) and was lucky enough to flop my set. The same douche that won the first hand also flopped a set (middle set) and was pissed at Full Tilt when I won the hand set over set.
I continue my typical folding exhibition, check the tourney lobby and we are almost to the money bubble. I've folded way longer than this before, what gives, I thought to myself? I check the start time and the current time and guess what? I was right, we hadn't been playing 45 minutes yet and we were down to the money bubble.
27 spots pay, we are hand for hand with 28 left and I'm in 25th. Of course, by now, there are 4 or 5 LARGE stacks at my table and the blinds (which seemingly increase every fawking hand) are completely out of control. I pull up the other 2 shorties' tables and begin to keep tabs on them. One hand - fold, two hands - fold, thinking I can slide in there and then gamble. No such luck as I look down at A-A-J-10 double suited. I jam it in and, as these things so often go, I get called by a mega stack who has a 2 in his hand. Two more 2's on the flop and I'm gone....in 28th place.....no $1.25 profit for you folder-boy. I was so looking forward to super-sizing lunch today too, damn!
While I can see the benefits to these things, (they certainly don't take much time) they are definitely not for me and my style of play. (If you can even consider what I do these days a style)
Until next time, like my buddy Jordan, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 5:09 PM,
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Long Term Fail!!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Wow, more than a month since my last post, I'm a really bad blogger these days. But, I have an excellent excuse:
I'm a crotchety old bastard that really is finding it hard to give a shit anymore.
I'm still playing a bit of poker on occasion and I'm spending as much of my free time in the woods as humanly possible. I'm still enjoying the poker some, but since running into the "Full Tilt Cashout Curse" I've been running pretty rough.
I apologize to both of you that still stop by here on a regular basis expecting my normal drivel, I just don't have it in me so much any more. I'll try to do better, but I make no promises.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:24 PM,
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15 Freaking Years
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
5,475 days of wedded bliss. Ha ha, no really, for the most part, it's been bliss.
noun:
1. great joy or happiness
2. spiritual joy; heavenly rapture
3. any cause of bliss
It really is as simple as that. I've written on this blog many times over the last 4 years or so about how cool my wife is and how lucky I am to have her.
If you're friends with me on Facebook, you'll know that yesterday was our 15th wedding anniversary. There are only so many words of praise that I can manage to write down without starting to use the same words or phrases over and over again. I know, you've already heard them all, but today, I thought I would share some of my "true secrets" to a lasting and loving relationship, GCox-style. You can thank me later.
1 - This one comes with a prerequisite, that being, you can usually only determine this after you're married and have lived together for a few years. Make sure your mate is your best friend. Sometimes, this is not attainable, hence, my status as "divorced" from my ex-wife. However, if you work at it and you truly love the person you're with, you can become their best friend and vice versa. Sometimes it takes more work than one or the other is willing to put in, that's when divorce generally shows up.
2 - This one is pretty near impossible, but if worked at by both parties, is achievable, I promise. Don't argue. Some say, don't go to bed mad, always apologize, etc.etc. I say, don't argue in the first place. It doesn't solve the problem and only pisses off the person who loses the argument. MrsGCox25 and I have had, maybe, 3 semi-arguments in our 15 years of marriage and I can honestly say, I can't remember now what they were about or who won. Save for the very first argument, which actually occurred prior to our wedding. I won and I felt bad for about a month afterwards.
3 - Listen. Very simply, shut your pie-hole and pay attention to what your spouse is saying. You've heard the expression, "I see your lips moving, but all I hear is blah, blah, blah." Don't be that person. Listen to what your spouse has to say always.
4 - There comes a time in every relationship, sometimes sooner rather than later, when one of the people does not feel like the other cares anymore. Show her that you love her as often as possible. Don't just tell her you love her, show her that you really mean it when you say "I love you." This can be a simple kiss on the cheek or an expensive dinner out on the town, your choice, but be sure that she knows.all.the.time. My wife and I have a rule, don't leave the house for work, play, poker, beer, etc. without a kiss and an I love you. It works for us.
5 - Bite your tongue. There are always going to be times when you want to laugh out loud at something your spouse has done. Bite your tongue. There are always going to be instances when you want to say "I told you so." Bite your tongue. And there are always going to be those times when you just feel like arguing. Bite your tongue. It's not worth taking the chance on hurting your spouses' feelings.
That's it. It's really simple as far as I'm concerned. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but, after being divorced once, I figure I do NOT want that to happen again, so I took both of the things that I did right the first time and amplified them. I then took a huge laundry list of the things I did wrong and reversed them. Problem solved.
I've talked about it here alot, but I've been extremely lucky that my wife and I are so much alike.
-we're both Capricorns.
-we're both only children.
-we're both very competitive.
-we're both very attractive.........okay, she's very attractive.
You get the point. We nearly always know what the other is thinking and we finish each others' sentences often, like twins are known to do. We have a tremendous amount of respect for, not only each other, but for each others' independence, as well. I don't need her hovering over me 24/7 and she doesn't need me hovering over her 24/7. Only children are typically very independent, opinionated people. We are, so spending time alone, pursuing hobbies by ourselves is something we don't mind doing. It's a real blessing to be married to your best friend and if you work hard enough at it, you can make it happen too. I highly recommend it.
So, in conclusion, and I'm paraphrasing here for my slower readers, to make a marriage work, YOU have to work at it. Period. Just like keeping a good job, YOU have to work at it. Just like maintaining a beautiful lawn at your house or keeping that shiny new BMW looking new, YOU have to work at it.
May you all be as lucky as I have been and work as hard as I've worked to continue to be lucky. Work at it.
Good luck.
G
posted by GaryC @ 4:57 PM,
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PLO Hand
Friday, August 28, 2009
Wow, time flies when you're..........working your ass off.
I can't believe it's been nearly two months since Okie-Vegas. I also can't believe I've only posted 4 times since then, but you know me, slacker, in the most profound sense of the word these days.
I'd like to regale you with tales of 3 and 4 figure upswings in the bankroll, but, unfortunately, when you're playing $10 and $25 PLO -and you play as tight as I play- those swings are few and far between. I've had some good nights and, in general, have moved the bankroll upwards on a continuous trend, but playing at my limits does not lend itself to large upticks.
I'm still enjoying the game very much, such a relief from the grind that NLHE had become, and I think I am making strides at becoming a competent PLO player. I'm beginning to see why most like this game more than O8, who wants to split a pot anyway? I still see some horrendous play on a nightly basis, as well as the obligatory table captains who feel the need to educate the fish as to why they shouldn't call down THEIR raises with only a gut-shot straight draw. Guys buying in for $5 at a $25 PLO table, then playing every hand until they bust.
I had an interesting hand the other night and I took some crap from another player afterwards. I'll let you be the judge:
I have As - Kd - Ks - Jd in the big blind and call a pot-sized raise from the small blind with three other mouth-breathers.
Flop is Qs - 10s - 8h.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm probably gonna gamble for stacks here if it comes right down to it, however, the SB leads out with a pot-sized bet and I just call, hoping to bring along a few more to the turn. No such luck and they all fold.
Right now, I am putting the SB squarely on A-A and know full well that I have to catch one of what I think are at least 19 outs twice. (2 Kings, 3 Jacks, 4 Nines and 9 diamonds and the lone Ace if he indeed has A-A)
The turn is the 7 of clubs and I really don't see my outs changing much, still 19, at least by my poor count.
He, of course, bets the pot and I decide I'm going to the rail, if need be, with this hand and jam the rest of my stack in over the top. He debates, uses up most of his time and calls with ?????????
The river is the beautiful 9 of spades and I make my hand both ways with the nut straight and the second nut flush. He's mad now. I mean REALLY mad. Irate, in fact.
What do you think he had and what do you think he called me after I stacked him?
I'll give you a hint, he didn't wish AIDS on me, but it was pretty damn close.
----
On an unrelated note, I've received several inquiries about whether or not I'll be attending Vegas in December. It is still on my radar and I will be trying to make it work, but unfortunately, until you read BOOKED across the title of a post on this blog, I'll have to remain a maybe. It's not that I don't want to fly out and hang out in Vegas for a few days, far from it. December is a very busy month around GCox-ville.
We have to do some travelling around Christmas time, plus December is a huge hunting month, plus, I would have to come up with the money to fly out there and still have some semblance of a bankroll, once there. I'm not saying I won't be there yet, but it will be difficult, but something I am definitely working toward. I do want to be there, believe me, I promise you that.
For any of you thinking about that have never done it, you need to do it. There's no telling how many more of these things there are going to be, so you might not ever get another chance. Trust me, it's a once or twice in a lifetime thing and you won't regret making the trip.......unless you get rolled by a hooker, that is.
Until next time, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:12 PM,
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Welcome Back
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
It's like going into the closet and finding that old pair of shoes that were always your favorite, trying them on and they feel just like they did 10 years ago....
I must say, I'm stoked about the trade.
Welcome back Pudge, I wish you'd never left.
posted by GaryC @ 3:38 PM,
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