Quality VS Quantity

[huntergrnchevy]

I agree Benny!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Also agree "I want a hunt where we can shoot 9 times and laugh our heads off because we are such crappy shots that we couldnt even wing a bird."

KEEP BOTH EYES OPEN NEXT TIME, DONT WORRY BOUT THE KICK BACK, IT WONT HURT YOU

[duck warrior]

Good post! interesting thought that most probably have not thought about, but would agree to.

[Anatidae]

"What in the heck happened to our appreciation for the quality of things?" Good question.......If anything, my appreciation for a quality duck hunt has increased.....given the absense of 'the picture' (the duck falling into the decoys and backpeddling 2' off the water, 20yds out).

"Have things changed?" Some things have changed........but not how I hunt. There were several times this season, that ducks were in gun range and I didn't make a move for the gun because they weren't acting right. I relegated those shots to my wife....not because she's any less particular about that sorta thing than I am......she just killed it to honor her dog's enthusiasm and persistence. I just didn't see the 'picture' I was looking for.

I think what has changed more than anything else is 'hunters' perceptions of what they derive from duck hunting. I guess the fewer they see, the more significant 'numbers' become to those among us who have the need to measure their proficiency in terms of what everybody else is killin'.

I don't know......I'm just not into setting records and reaching quotas.....I just want to close my eyes at night and replay the ducks and geese that got close enough to hit with a stick.......the ones that were dead in their rights......and I had the choice of killin'em......or letting them go. After all, any idiot can kill a duck. I mean.....what was it going to prove if I killed the only duck (out of a total of 10 that I saw that morning), that flew-by close enough to chance a marginal shot. That's not what I'm out there for.

One of the best memories I have is of a teal that approached the decoys WITH a 30mph tailwind, miscalculated the windspeed and the amount of room to land and had to do a barrel-roll over the trees behind us. I could just hear that little duck going....."OH, $#!+"......it's a wonder he came back around (downwind) with all the laughter coming from the blind.......funniest thing I've ever seen. I was absolutely amazed at how acrobatic that little fella was......I thought he had bought that treetop, good!

It's been three years........I'm 51......what's 3 more? I've had some good seasons and my appreciation for those is only magnified every day I go afield........and come home empty-handed. Am I any less proficient than I was when I was killin' ducks every day? Maybe just less willing to compromise for the sake proving that I am (if proof is in the numbers).

[BAY KINGFISHER]

The commercialization of the sport that I grew up loving has changed it the for the worst. Public hunting is overcrowded, with "hip" hunters hoping they fill their limit while they are tooting on their 150 dollar kudzu, just like the guy on tv did......no appreciation for the animal nor the environment, the sport has evolved into I kill and Im dissapopinted if I dont kill the limit, I need to spend more money so I can kill the limit,lets all shoot at once, I need a pricery gun, them stickers look good on my truck, I am a real killer cause I got twenty bands on my neck, from the days of, Son clean them few ducks and make sure you pluck em, we aint wastin no meat, make sure you oil the 870, put that old leaky boat in the truck, grab the sack of decoys they re going to have to due even if half of em leaking, make sure you layer them clothes with wool gonna be a cold one, where's my lucky hat,
I sure miss the old days

[GulfCoast]

I find that as I get older, as long as I have an adequate supply of Frosted Blueberry Poptarts with sprinkles and some coffee, I can appreciate most any hunt better.

[Jeff]

I appreciate all hunts, expect when the marsh gnats come out. However I still enjoy making a limit on a hunt. However it doesn't have to be taht way. A good hunt for me can be watching one duck come in just right. Or one great shot, or one poor shot (the much more common for me) and one unbelievable retrieve. It's the little things that make hunting wonderful. However Shooting nothing gets old quick, no matter how much you like to go. I can appreciate a good sunrise and a beautiful morning, but three or four of them in a row and I get irritable. Sure some may say I am not at the final level of hunting, but so what. I like to shoot ducks, just as much as I like to see ducks in the decoys. When I see neither of those, a bunch of times in a row, it gets old. Just wish I wasn't dumb enough to keep going back for more!

[Spoonallard]

I find that as I get older, as long as I have an adequate supply of Frosted Blueberry Poptarts with sprinkles and some coffee, I can appreciate most any hunt better.

Now thats a good mornin except I rather have cherry pop tarts.

[mudsucker]

tooting on their 150 dollar kudzu,......I sure miss the old days

Years ago I could toke on some kudzu too! Not any more!

[crow]

The experience is different for those of us who have been witness to an evolution in duck hunting during our careers. For those of you who have been hunting 10 years or less, there have been some significant changes, for sure. However, for those of us who have been pursuing this thing for 30 years, it has been a real seachange!

The one thing I regret is that it is either extremely difficult or extremely expensive to get seclusion in our hunting. Duck hunting has always been a social sport within a group of friends. But, these days, especially on public land, it is very difficult to get any separation so as to allow groups to work ducks without too much interference. And that is jsut not satisfying to me. And before I get the "Well, you just have to work harder and find the farther away spots" response, there will come a time in everyone's life when age and health make it a bit more difficult to achieve that goal.

I know it grates on some of your nerves when we talk about wishing for a few folks to go away. Well, it's not really a wish that people quit the sport so much as a desire that it could be less competition for the huntable acres that exist. once upon a time, even when duck numbers were down, you could count on getting some ducks into your spread because you knew a spot the ducks just could not stay away from. Now there is so much competition for that spot the ducks do stay away from it.

I no longer go at as hard as I once did, and I can't go the distance like I once could. My desire hasn't changed, but my circumstances surely have. The old places I counted on in my youth and the places where most of my memories are centered no longer can be counted on to produce new memories for me. Adapting to a new way of duck hunting is not that easy, and it requires a shift in what satisfies you. Old folks have always been nostalgic for a simpler time...old duck hunters, too.

[Dog's Eye]

I read these posts and agree, laugh, and remember. Does that mean I'm getting old? I shouldn't be!

The truth in all things, it will never be simple again. And, when I'm old enough to not just say, but feel, "I remember when"; It will be that change has come, and the nostalgia (sp?) of these commercialized years has crept into being.

maybe I'll have the ducks again next year! perhaps I'll share that with some of you old farts. We did a lot of group shooting this year, cause we had big groups. We had a lot of good fellowship. Some great stories. And, a lot of fun.

[sportsman450]

The experience is different for those of us who have been witness to an evolution in duck hunting during our careers. For those of you who have been hunting 10 years or less, there have been some significant changes, for sure. However, for those of us who have been pursuing this thing for 30 years, it has been a real seachange!

The one thing I regret is that it is either extremely difficult or extremely expensive to get seclusion in our hunting. Duck hunting has always been a social sport within a group of friends. But, these days, especially on public land, it is very difficult to get any separation so as to allow groups to work ducks without too much interference. And that is jsut not satisfying to me. And before I get the "Well, you just have to work harder and find the farther away spots" response, there will come a time in everyone's life when age and health make it a bit more difficult to achieve that goal.

I know it grates on some of your nerves when we talk about wishing for a few folks to go away. Well, it's not really a wish that people quit the sport so much as a desire that it could be less competition for the huntable acres that exist. once upon a time, even when duck numbers were down, you could count on getting some ducks into your spread because you knew a spot the ducks just could not stay away from. Now there is so much competition for that spot the ducks do stay away from it.

I no longer go at as hard as I once did, and I can't go the distance like I once could. My desire hasn't changed, but my circumstances surely have. The old places I counted on in my youth and the places where most of my memories are centered no longer can be counted on to produce new memories for me. Adapting to a new way of duck hunting is not that easy, and it requires a shift in what satisfies you. Old folks have always been nostalgic for a simpler time...old duck hunters, too.

That's a damn good post Crow!

[gadwall2]

I appreciated killing a couple ducks a helluva lot more several years back when I had 10 decoys I carried in a painted burlap bag, a terrible sounding Olt, 1/2 mile wade in rubber boots I duct taped to my brown carhart overalls that I wore over my plastic waders to keep sticks from poking holes in them.

Man it was great to come home with a mallard or two back then. Now you feel kinda let down when you only bag one or two. I guess I think about what I could have bagged (6), and it lets me down a little bit when it shouldn't. Yeah, I have changed, but not for the better. Just because I got more money now than when I was in high school doesn't entitle me to more ducks. Nothing entitles me to more ducks.

Not hunting this year brought me back to reality. I need to appreciate what the good Lord allows me to bag and be happy about it.

[DuckDeke]

[/quote]I need to appreciate what the good Lord allows me to bag and be happy about it.[/quote]

Gadwall2, that's one heck of a great outlook that is not often seen anymore. Thanks for your insight.

[SoftCall]

shoot man - every hunt is a quality hunt. good posts guys.

[Money]

shoot man - every hunt is a quality hunt. good posts guys.

What he said.