Jeff Lampe

Jeff Lampe has been outdoor writer at the Journal Star in Peoria for 12 duck seasons. He lives in Elmwood with his wife Monica, sons Henry, Victor and Walter, and Llewellin setter Hawkeye. A native of Buffalo, N.Y., he is an avid fan of the Bills and still has mental scars from four consecutive Super Bowl losses. Outside of hunting and fishing, Lampe's main passion in Illinois was Class A boys basketball (which sadly no longer exists). Former publisher of the Class A Weekly newsletter, Lampe is a co-author of "100 Years of Madness" and "Classical Madness," both books focusing on prep basketball in Illinois.

Scattershooting

A Web log by Jeff Lampe of the Journal Star

Adieu uplands, hello snow geese

January 14, 2008 at 04:45 PM

Well, Quail Quest 2008 is officially put on hold until fall. I’ll have plenty of time to ponder my New Year’s resolution of shooting a limit in one day. But with 10 months to find coveys and get hunting permission, I should be in good shape by opening day.

The dog and I spent this morning shivering our way through Banner Marsh. We saw no quail in four hours but he did point one pheasant, a hen with what looked like a red band on her leg (has somebody released pheasants at Banner?). He also pointed a doe but did not give chase when she ran out of the brush, thank goodness. There is some fantastic prairie planted on the Bell’s Landing side of Banner Marsh. But there just are not many birds. Shame.

One thing there are plenty of right now are geese. I saw numerous small groups of Canada geese at Banner (which is open to hunting, sign in and set up anywhere you want). And this morning Kip Stevenson informed me that he saw thousands and thousands of snow geese near St. David over the weekend. Reports are that there are huge flocks trading between Duck Creek and Double T, with some birds also at MSD. Might be time to get out the rags.

WORKING ON:

Preparing to go to dinner (at Jim’s Steakhouse in Peoria) with college friend Jeremy “Jeremiah” Schaap. Since college he’s gone on to do well for himself on ESPN and as an author (“Cinderella Man” and “Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics”). I don’t watch much ESPN these days so I haven’t seen much of Schaap’s recent work. In fact, the last interview I saw Schaap do was with a cute girl in a tavern in Ithaca. She treated him about the same as Bobby Knight did in that now famous interview from 2000.
Getting ready for a Tuesday AM goose hunt in Knox County. They’ve shot birds for days now and it’s a sure thing. In other words, I don’t even need to bring a gun. Most likely the birds will decide not to fly in the morning.
Preparing for Friday’s late-winter season cold. Last weekend, in the warmth, I actually pondered a warm late-winter hunt. Hah.

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