It's Hunting & Fishing Showtime!

This time of year marks the end of the deer hunting season, and the beginning of the hunting and outdoor expo season. Hunters and fishermen (and women!) will have plenty of things to see and do for the next few weeks.

The Chicago Boat, RV & Outdoor Show and All Canada Show is actually underway, from January 13-17. Here is a listing of the upcoming shows in Illinois!

• January 27-31, 2010 America's Outdoor Show
• January 28-31, 2010 Strictly Sail Chicago
• January 29-31, 2020 Illinois Fish and Feather Show
• February 10-14, 2010 St. Louis Boat & Sportshow
• February 12-14, 2010 Big Boyz Big Toyz Xpo
• February 13-14, 2010 Tinley Park Fishing & Outdoor Show
• February 18-21, 2010 QCCA Hunting, Fishing & Outdoor Show
• February 26-28, 2010 Illinois Deer & Turkey Classic
• February 26-28, 2010 National Pheasant Fest
• March 6-7, 2010 Elmwood All Outdoors Show
• March 20-21, 2010 Adventures in Travel Expo

Hello fellow junkies I am the newest of the Junkies prostaff team and in doing so I hope to bring you the up to date on the birds and migration in the up coming season. As of Jan 9th our season on ducks closed putting an end on the season but there is still one week of goose open starting Feb 27th to march 6th with a 10 bird limit so I will be out for this last week and leting u know how it was. I am your new prostaffer for your north of the boader updates in Ontario, canada i hope u all had a good season n wish the best of luck to tou in the future waterfowl season.

Randy Massicotte
Ontario,on

January 2010 Featured Member:

Tonya O'Tinger

Hello, Fellow Duck Junkies! I was introduced to duck hunting in 1992 by my sweetheart! We spent 2 weeks in Alaska hunting sea ducks and I've been hooked ever since. I love everything about duck hunting. The entire experience is majestic. The sunrise, fog rolling off the water showing the silhouette of the decoys. A flock comes in cupped and committed , then someone shouts "take em" I get goose bumps! To me there is nothing better than being outdoors with great friends shooting shells & sharing laughs.
My favorite part about the Duck Junkies site is that it connects me with others who share my passion for waterfowl hunting! I love the discussions and the photos. So keep them coming.
I am Co-Owner of Wild About Fowl Wildlife art Studio, specializing in waterfowl & upland game bird taxidermy. Please feel free to visit our website at:www.wildaboutfowl.com Happy Hunting!

Update as of 1-18-09

Had a fantastic last week of hunting! Shane & I had three good days of
limiting big birds! They had finally arrived in the Etex area. This
was the follow of a weekend of frozen lakes & dramatic colder weather
to the Northern Texas towns & boardering southern parts of Oklahoma.
As u can see on the DuckJunkie website our products/revenge(pictures)
we had finaly recieved on all the waiting we had experienced in the
early season!!
It had paid off!!

Any other updates or questions about this particular area, pls share
with us!! Would like to know!

Tks

Daryn & Shane

Silver lab just gave birth to 13 pups in December (9 females and 4 males)! They have a great pedigree and both parents are AKC certified. $1,200/female or $1,000/male.
Dogs will be available Jan 30th with shots, microchips, health guarantee, and dew claws removed. Shipping is about $350 through delta in anywhere in the USA.

Call Andy (651-283-9919) for more details.

Gear Review: ArcticShield Boot Insulators

If you spend a lot of time outdoors in the winter, you may have experienced that uncomfortable feeling of cold feet. Some cold weather activities like bow hunting, ice fishing, DUCK HUNTING, or snowmobiling don’t require exertion for generating body heat needed to keep the extremities warm. In these situations, we need to rely on the quality of our foot coverings to keep our toes warm. Even while sitting for hours in my tree stand, my expensive hunting boots are warm, but my feet still get borderline uncomfortably cold. It becomes a test of skills, a game of mind over matter, and thoughts of staying out longer or giving up begin to enter my mind. I usually prevail, and can manage the cold, but it sure would have been a lot more enjoyable not having to think about how cold my feet were getting.

I just discovered the Arctic Shield Boot Insulators. I tested these on a recent ice fishing trip and I think I just found the cure for cold feet! As a test, I had only one pair of the boot insulators on, while leaving the other with just my hunting boots on. I was on the lake for about 6 hours and my Arctic Shield foot was comfortable and warm all day. My other foot, with only my Women’s Alphaburly Sport Realtree HD 800g Hunting Boots. The uninsulated foot was not ‘cold’, since temps were in the mid 20’s, but, they were noticeably cooler than the insulated foot.

A few things I noted:

• When I ordered these, I thought they looked huge. When I received them, I was surprised how light and slim they folded into my day pack, and they are not the big boat anchors that I was expecting.
• They were hard to get on, I ordered a SMALL. I learned that I wasn’t suppose to be wearing these with my big hunting boots that have too much insulation! I was able to get them to fit, but it was tight against my Alpha Burly boots. In any event, the results were still good. No complication or heat loss with the fit.
• The boot insulators are recommended to be worn with lighter boots, or even hiking boots, which have little or no insulation. Boots with too much insulation would cause your feet to sweat and cool your feet. The boot insulators work by insulating youralready warm and dry feet. In this case, I would probably put the boot insulators on after I got settled in, and not while walking to my hunting or ice fishing location. ArcticShield garments do not use insulation, in the normal sense. They use a technology called RE-tain™ to keep you warm. RE-tain™ is a very thin piece of material that acts as a heat barrier and reflects up to 97 percent of your own body heat back to you. This technology allows garments to be very thin – not bulky like other cold-weather garments.
• The ArcticShield Boot Insulators are windproof, water-resistant and breathable.
• Adding chemical warming packs add more warmth in the inside of your boots and the boot insulators radiate that warm back to your toes and feet.

In summary, I highly recommend these boots for cold weather stationary activities. Nothing will end or ruin your hunt or fishing trip quicker than cold and uncomfortable feet. I wish that I’d found these sooner! I am willing to bet that anyone that tries these would encourage their friends to try them, they’re that good!

CRP: Is the Cadillac of Conservation Programs on Life Support?

CRP: Is the Cadillac of Conservation Programs on Life Support? Weigh in, or face the consequences

from Delta Waterfowl - News on Ducks and Duck Hunting

CRP is the Conservation Reserve Program, arguably the most sweepingly beneficial, voluntary private lands conservation initiative ever hatched by the federal government. But the Cadillac of Conservation programs, it seems, is loosing its luster and support. The political class in Washington D.C., among others, is debating its importance and usefulness in this age of bio-fuels and alternative energy. Translation: The scalpel has been unsheathed and cuts are likely on the horizon.

well it could be worse

This year is slowly coming to an end for the arkansas duck season for 2 weeks we were supposed to have the highest numbers we were supposed to ever see but that didnt happen... Instead we got the coldest tempuratures we have had in a while. all of the ducks kept moving with the weather ending up much farther south than here. i have not heard of a good report in 2 weeks except for 2 hunts on the mississippi river where apparently all of the ducks went. 8 people ended up taking 44 ducks one day. This weekend it was so cold and noone has seen more than 50 birds a day in the places i hunt that i didnt even bother to get up and hunt it seems that it was a stupid idea because i would usually do anything to hunt. After hunting for 7 days and not shooting a duck I gave up. Maybe as the tempurature rises the ducks and geese will come back and i will get a last chance on some birds! I hope everyone has the best of luck for the end of the duck season and in the new year. I have my spring snowgoose spread ready to go!!
Cade Patton

Avery( Daryn's Pup) Just hangin & stayin dry!!

Well it has been a while since I posted and we have had some decent hunts and some not so great hunts. Of course the not so great hunts are all still better than not getting out at all. The weather is perfect but it seem the birds are hard to come by. Went today with temps in the teens and blowing snow only seen 6 ducks total but did get a nice drake mallardxblack cross and it was great. Last week a friend and I went hunting on a pond. I got my limit of mallard and he got 2 mallards but one of his was banded with a Jack Miner band. It has been slow around here but we are still having a great season anyway with trophy birds and awsome hunts.

Earl England,

Tn Prostaff.