Duck hunters vrs other hunters

[teul2]

Man, the duck stuff I hold dear.
Ithaca 37 feather Weight was the first 12ga I ever hunted with. I remember that hunt like it was yesterday. We satup on a single tree in the middle of a flooded field. I put a 3in shell in it and jammed it in the first hour and spent the next half hour, the best half hour, cutting it out and breaking down the gun.
I have a woody band on my key chain that was killed by a dear close friend and some one I considered to be a second father. It was the first band I ever saw killed. I remember that hunt on Chotard and running up the ramp to camp to call it in.
I have my dad's calls, my first call, a box of pictures, and a plethora of other stuff i wouldn't take anything for.
I don't know what I'd do if all that stuff in my man room burned.

[jdbuckshot]

[brake man]

My Dad's old A-5, Granddad's old hand-carved turkey call, and quite a few other important items are dear to me. However, they don't hold a candle to these treasured duck hunting "items:"

My two boys (and my daughter who is between them and who wants to go hunt this season)


My brother and Dad with me a on a hunt several years ago

[champcaller]

this thread really got me thinking...

another item that i will eventually pass down is my mud river duffle bag. ive gotten my sisters to sew patches on there for me i've acquired over the past few years. i plan on filling the whole bag up, and hopefully give it on to my son when he goes off to college.

it has quickly become a very sentimental item..

[jacksbuddy]

[novacaine]

[pintail07]

Pictures, memories, and keepsakes from hunts, journal entries and guest books....all great stuff to look at from years back...besides that things that are extremely important to me is my 'Prairie Wings' first edition original print from Wingmead....has a lot of history behind it and is a cherished possession...I also have a Wingmead hat pin from the 40's that there were only 4 made....that is something I will keep close to me forever....also my grandfathers duck and goose calls are extremely important to me.....stories, memories, handshakes, friendships and straps of birds is what will always keep me going season after season

[chevy01234]

One of my prized possessions related to duck hunting is my duck strap. I've had it since I was 13 or 14. All the other stuff can be replaced, that strap is pretty special to me though.

[MSDuckmen]

Friendships

As I sat at deer camp this past weekend talking with the two men that have made more memories with me than most men have the opportunity to experience. We talked of old duck hunts and deer seasons past.

We duck hunted together from 1979 to 2002 and then started a Deer camp together and have continued with a whole new set of memories as well as new hunting partners and new friendships developing.
Life is challenge and truth be know family and friends are all that matters. True friendship is something that only a very few ever really get to know. Oh you have the people you call friends but real friends are the ones you can call at 2:00 am to come pull you out of a mud hole 200 miles up the road and they are there in short order. They love you regardless of your faults. They care as much about you as they do their selves.

Memories

That is the real value and the one thing that is worth saving. Journals and pictures help to bring those memories back. The smells that come from your tack room or the familiar views that take you back in time to a moment when, whatever happens.

An example is like every time I see steam rising it brings back the memory of a 4 degree morning in Delta National when steam was rising off a soaking wet hunting partner as the sun rose and the light beams cut through the mist like a knife. The smell of gun powder and the distant call of birds that seem to make you feel, as if you were in ancient times. The sudden appearance of a deer that just blows your mind on how if could get so close without you knowing it.
The simple fact that wild things in life have a much greater row to hoe for survival than most humans ever thought about. Those little moments in time that only you witnessed. That only you were given the opportunity to be a part of.

That is what should be cherished.

Material items come and go but no one can take those memories away.
My suggestions to all is to value those little moments in time with those that you love as they will end too soon.

[teul2]

Well put Dan.

[novacaine]

[champcaller]

In a round about way that's how the bag came to be.


The fact it reminded you of Mr. Buckingham's is a huge compliment!

[gator]

novacaine, that's a good read. i can't remember now if it's apart of the story you mentioned or one all of itself, but i am pretty sure he wrote one called "a mountain man's possibles". i've got the entire set in a leather boud edition and am curious now.....will check it out tonight after work.

gator

[novacaine]

[chs36]