After waterfowl hunting for over 15 years I’ve had the opportunity to witness some of what waterfowl hunting has to offer. I grew up hunting small farm ponds with my dad in NE Oklahoma.
I have fond memories of early mornings when birds were just falling out of the sky into our decoy spread. I can also remember going out some days and not seeing a single bird. The beautiful sunrises and all the cold and windy days will forever be stuck in my mind. I could write a book about all the stories of the countless hunting trips I have had the privilege of experiencing.
However, there are few stories that can top when I’ve taken good friends and family duck hunting for the first time. To see the excitement on the face of a first time duck hunter, holding their first duck, is a precious joy I honestly love experiencing.
I have had the honor of taking a few people duck hunting that had never had the opportunity to go. The first was a good friend from high school, Jayce Hancock. This was his first experience in waders and after stumbling to our spot, his only question was; “how likely is it that we will see a duck?” As soon as he asked that we heard whistling wings overhead, I just smiled and said “100% chance of ducks today.”
We saw several flocks of ducks and got a few to commit to the spread. On the first volley of birds he shot his first duck, which ended up changing the mood of the entire day, since in my book we were not having a good day at all, due to the lack of birds in our possession. We ended up with 4 birds, but the smile on my friends face said we had a 4 man limit coming out of that marsh.
This was just one instance of many reminding me that success should not be measure by the number of birds brought home. Success should be measured by the quality memories made.
I also had the privilege of introducing two others to duck hunting. A good friend from church George Utter and my younger cousin Jeremiah Fortna. Both of them went with me to my family’s small farm pond that had been loaded with mallards in the preceding days.
The fog was thick that morning and knowing the birds had been piling onto this pond in recent days I was excited for what the day might bring. Shooting light came with the sound of cupped wings. I had not even had a chance to load my own gun before ducks were landing on the water just a few yards away.
I helped my cousin load his gun and told him to shoot when he could see a duck through the fog. He never shot that day, not because of lack of opportunity but due to lack of preparation on my part teaching him how to shoot a shotgun. Yet, at the end of the hunt he was smiling ear to ear!
George on the other hand did shoot and shoot and shoot! George’s cheeks must have been sore the next day from smiling so much during the hunt. I honestly don’t remember the number of birds we went home with but I do remember the amazing time I had showing both of them how fun it is to duck hunt!
My dad strived to teach me about hunting as best he knew how, which was quite well considering he did not have a father who taught him about the outdoors. Of all the lessons my dad taught me about hunting; the most rewarding is to simply share the experiences with someone. Memories are always better when you have another person to share them with.