"The Ironbound Eider Visits The Swampers"

When the "Traveling Rig" idea first came to me, there were a few birds I knew I had to carve. Of those, the most important in terms of spent carving time was the "Ironbound Eider". As most know, eiders are my favorite bird, from the simplistic plumage, to their flight patterns and decoying, to their heftiness once in hand, I love everything about them. Consequently, to this point, the "Ironbound Eider" is my favorite bird I've carved.

Most seeing this have read about my experience on East Ironbound Island, and hunting from a Nova Scotia duck tub, if not, "CLICK HERE."

Other than my hunt, I knew a good friend of mine was going to hit Massachusetts in January, but I also wanted to get the bird with Captain Brian Rhodes who runs THE SWAMPERS guide service (SEE TAB UNDER "LINKS OF INTERESTS"). Having been on a few hunts with Brian up in Alaska, I know the type guide he is - he's safe, he studies his birds and their habits in order to keep his guests in them, and when all else fails, you can bet he'll stay out as long as it takes to find birds. All 3 are traits I value in a guide, and are the reason I wanted the Ironbound Eider to finish out the season with Captain Rhodes.

Here's what Brian wrote about the hunt. Understand, he's self admittedly not a writer, but in my opinion, a very good photographer. What this entry lacks in words are more than made up for in photographic content.

Hasn't been the warmest here the last few days. Despite getting a truck stuck and having to shovel a little snow, we had a couple real good days this past week.

Also had a cool decoy sent to me by a friend, Justin Harrison, he is doing a little project with 9 'traveling' decoys. Feel free to check out his blog for more info on that.

http://8gaugestudios.blogspot.com/

Hard to believe there is only one week left of the RI season.

Here's a few pics from the past couple days. Not the best light, but I worked with what I had!

***ALL PHOTOS COMPLIMENTS OF CAPTAIN BRIAN RHODES OF THE SWAMPERS GUIDE SERVICE***

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I have. Check back later this week, as we'll have more travels of the Ironbound Eider, as well as a long range rifle shot that's really something special.

-Justin