When Did Duck Hunting "Hook" You?

[Deltamud77]

What experience, series of experiences, place, time, etc., effectively hooked you as a waterfowl hunter? Is there a particular moment that you can reflect on that, in essence, changed your DNA to the extent that you could never turn your back on waterfowl hunting?

Mine happened when I was 13, on public land after tracting through what seemed to be hundreds of yards of buckbrush to get to a hole that we were not really sure existed in the dark and cold of an early January morning. By the time we (a friend, his father and I) finally found the hole, we were literally bleeding and worn out. We put out the blocks as fast as possible with fog rising off of the water. Set up in areas we assumed provided cover (still to dark to tell) and waited. In that moment of pain and semi-exhaustion, while waiting on legal shooting light with whistling wings above, it hit me. I realized that if I could go through what I just went through to be in this place and was still as excited as I was to be there and would not want to be anywhere else...I could never stop doing whatever it would take to experience that feeling again and again. I don't recall even killing many birds, but I knew I was hooked from that moment forward.

[hillhunter]

When I was 16. The first hunts I ever went on were when I was 14 with my uncle but I didn't quite get it then.

One afternoon in early January I was riding through the bottom on my four wheeler and as I made my way around the field jumped about 3-400 ducks off a puddle about three acres big. My dad never was a big duck hunter so one of his good friends and I went there the next morning after I told him what I saw. The next day turned out to be terrible weather, raining very hard wind blowing, temps droppijng about ten degrees an hour. Well we got all our gear on (those solid brown uninsulated waders that I still hate) and went at it. Threw the decoys out and waited till you could shoot. Long story short when we put the decoys out, we were standing in about two inches of water. When we left were in six inches (thats the way the bottoms in the hills will do). Somewhere in between our shooting the limits of greenheads and four gadwall I saw something amazing. Two greenheads came and lit in the spread, then two more, then two more. My partner kept telling me to wait, so to see exactly what it was I was waiting on (young and dumb) i looked up to see a tornado of ducks coming down on top of us. Several moments later he called the shot and I cant even remember if I killed a duck on that volley or not, but I do remember how it felt looking at those ducks coming down and I will remember that till the day I die. I have killed atleast one duck out of that bottom for the last 14 years straight and will again this year and many years to come, God willing. Some years when it rains a lot we have some really good hunts out there, others when its dry you have to wait on 50 ducks to show up in that puddle to hunt. And I learned real quick that when your whole body says don't go out there in that mess.... thats when you need to be there in that bottom.

[greenheadgrimreaper]

The smell.

The smell of the swamp on a duck hunt. There is nothing like it. You can go deer hunting there or squirrel or hog, but it's not the same. It's the accumulation of dogs, waders, jackets, and the muddy water that makes it distinct. It is the one thing I connect to hunting season. The one thing I crave. It's the one thing I remember from being a little kid. It's the one thing I notice when I step out of the truck early in the morning of why I am there in the first place.

My God I am so ready.

[champcaller]

My very first hunt when I was 7. I still remember it today and knowing it was going to be a part of my life forever.


My dad filled up an eighteen wheeler intertube, turned a trash can lid upside down and ploppled my lil butt in the middle with my life jacket on. He tied a rope to his cinch belt and the other end to the intertube and off through the woods we went. I felt like a hunter, and more importantly at that age, one of the guys...

I just sat there in awe in the flooded timber watching as it all came to life. I was never the same.

[msdeltadawg]

When I was 10 my Dad took me to a WMA in northeast Alabama, flooded milo field. It was raining so hard you could barely see the decoys and our "rainsuits" were black plastic garbage bags with holes cut out to put our heads through. We sat there for hours, rain never let up and we didn't see a duck, absolutely miserable. My Dad said he thought he had ruined me on duck hunting. We went back to the same place the next morning and it had gotten cold. I had a pair of those pac boots with the felt liners, and some wal-mart special coverhauls on, freezing to death. Well, about 10:00 Dad was convinced he had ruined me now when a ringneck landed and swam in to the decoys, Dad never saw him. I got so excited I bout wet myself. I pulled up my old side by side that my Grandfather had given me, and shot the ringneck at about 10 yds with the full choke barrel, blew his head completely off. I was as proud of the headless ringneck as I have been of any mallard, pintail, black duck I have killed since, and I was hooked.

[levi127]

18 years old graduation present from my best friends dad for 2 of us. It was at claypools!
1st time to ever go we shot a banded mallard. From that point on it was hooked. But I quickly learned about bands and stuff like that. Not every duck has one! That is when we started skipping college classes and driving over to hunt. But to see the amount of ducks there was unreal to me. Everytime I see that famous tshirt about all the ducks getting up off the water it hits me, Ive hunted there and seen close to it!

Havent shot one since that day and its been 10 years. I started late duck hunting as I always grew up deer hunting till high school was over with. But once you see the ducks and learn about them it is on! I cant see sitting in a stand all day long anymore when I could be hunting ducks for some reason. Then I think about going deer hunting one morning but end up duck hunting!

[davidees]

When I was born.

[72broncojp]

Buddy Sledge the Game Warden in Lafayette County back in 70's took me and my fater-in-law on a hunt on Toby Tuby Creek east of Old Sardis Rd in Oxford. I was in high school. It was January, cold enough for long enough to freeze most of Sardis Lake, but the creek was flowing. The mallards just poured in on us. Too bad the limit back then I think was 2. I can still see the mallards coming through the tree tops. Been hooked ever since. Great memories.

[teul2]

I don't remember not going duck hunting. I do remember my first hunt when I got to shoot. I was 8 I think.
We hunted a little pot hole in bean field off the river near Holly Bluff. Back when you could hunt property just by being nice and asking permission. The only requirement was that we didn't run 4 wheel drive trucks down his turn rows. Dad didn't tell me he had gotten me a gun until we were standing on that turn row and there was an extra gun case behind seat of the truck. I was elated. The single shot 410 with a cut down stock was perfect for me.
I shot my first teal that day, crippled it, and as I ran to chase it, Dad said "WHEN you fall, don't get the gun wet".
When I fell, breaking ice as I went down, got wet from my neck to my toes, but the gun was bone dry.

Dad asked several times if I wanted to go to the truck and get warm while he picked up, but I insisted that I was going to stay the duration. I stuck it out for what seemed like hour, but was probably more like 10 minutes, teeth chattering, shaking like a leaf on a tree, and to my memory, turning blue.

Never retrieved that first duck. But that 410 has shot many a duck since that day, and has been the gun for several kids to take their first bird with. It will be the gun my son shoots his first with also.

[Albanian]

When I was 11 my uncle and cousin took me on a flooded rice field in Arkansas. By about 10 o clock we had seen one mallard and he didnt work. I was sitting on a stool in the blind, I had never shot a gun before, and I had a 3 1/2 12 gauge sitting on my lap. Well about 10 minutes later some geese flew over at tree top level, i pointed up and pulled that trigger and got knocked on my butt, fell off the stool. didnt hit the goose, but for some reason i have loved it ever since.

[aweyerman]

First hunt I went on I was a junior in high school. A buddy of mine from the FFA at another school said he wanted to take me duck hunting but didn't have a boat, well I had a 12long ft jon boat with a trolling motor. The morning we went it was 20 degrees and we had a 600yard boat ride across deep water and had to bust ice, also had a bundle of cane. I shot a bufflehead and that morning something just felt right. Been hooked ever since.

[eSJay]

Good post Mud....a couple of recent post with a simialr theme got me to thinking & I almost posted this very topic.

For me, I was not hooked after my 1st hunt. In fact, it was so miserable that I promised myself I'd never ever do it again assuming I made it without losing both feet to frostbite! It was a river hunt when everything else had been frozen solid for a week. The ducks were thick & we had a blast, but I was not equipped for the extreme conditions & the older guys I was with stayed the entire day. I finally talked them into pulling over & building a fire. Unfortunately, my feet were so cold, I burned 2 layers of socks off before I realized they were on fire. It was the most miserable day of my life!
I said all that to say this. I kept the promise I made to myself for many years & just stuck to deer hunting. One day my roommate, came in all fired up & said his dad had called & informed him to get to camp now & bring someone. Said the ducks were bad thick. My roommate said "they must really be here because Daddy doesn’t get that fired up unless they are." That day, I broke the promise to myself & went. As fate would have it, I have not been right since!
I hope Ty reads this because I’m sure he’s hunted the same hole hundreds of times. That day, the duck Gods blessed the Tudor Hole! A hunt I’ll never ever forget!
I've still got the picture & a band from the hunt.

[quack_a_tack]

I was a late bloomer I deer hunted almost exclusively until I was 15. Opening morning of 2000 I was invited by a good friend to go on his farm. I was semi relunctant due to the rut hottin, but decided what the hell. I borrowed an old pair of herters old school camo waders, and broke out my dove gun an old 870 wingmaster, and met them the next morning. We had 4full limits all our mallards with only one hen (by luck cause I was just shootin), and two greenwings apiece. The rest is history since that day I have all but given up deer hunting, with the exception of bow season. I hint in 3 states, and have spend a heavy amount of my life savings chasing the winged critters. I have been so tired I could barely peel myself out of bed, so broke from buying gas I had to work overtime in the spring to pay the credit card bill, and still love it and smile from ear to ear every mornin I am able to go be among good friends in the duck woods and pit blinds. I also thank god every mornin for the good blessings bestowed upon me.

[digger]

My dad started taking me when I was 4 I'm now 46 and love it more every yr.When I started duck's were our big game cause there were'nt hardly any deer in our part of the country.

[fieldt76]

great thread guys. My duck hunting got put on hold for 4 years because of the Marines, so it's like I've been hooked all over again. Pretty awesome.