Duck hunting was a natural next on the list of ways to enjoy the outdoors with our family, the trouble is Shaun hadn’t ever been a duck hunter and obviously neither had I.  We happened to have a couple of friends who were also a hubby and wife hunting and fishing duo that were big into duck hunting and more than willing to teach us.  We had a place to hunt as our deer lease was more of a duck lease since the vast majority of it stayed under water more often than not, so we invited them to come and stay with us over a long weekend so they could teach us the ways of their people!

Cristy brought down an extra pair of waders she thought would fit me and we bought some for Shaun. Before we could ever get out to that field of flooded timber, we were making memories just trying on waders. Cristy is an athlete, incredibly coordinated at all times and picks up literally everything naturally, just like my hubby, Shaun.  As she instructed me to put on those waders for the first time, it was clear I wasn’t nearly as coordinated and “a natural” as they are.  She literally had to tuck me into them. I am, even if not natural, a very fast learner, and picked up walking in them on land, in water, and in mud, which are actually different, very quickly.

 We had watched a lot of duck calling videos and done a lot of practicing after learning the differences in duck calls, reeds, and sounds. When Cristy and Cade, who are very experienced callers came down, rather than tell us to just let them do the calling, they listened to us, demonstrated for us, and encouraged us to call alongside them. I’m not an insanely confident person which usually comes as a surprise to everyone so their encouragement to do something I was way uncomfortable with meant the world to me. That was honestly the tone of the whole trip.  I’m sure there were times when they looked at each other and probably thought “these yahoos,” but they demonstrated such patience with us even if we drove them nuts with novice mistakes.

Our pack of kids stayed home as the adults headed out for an adventure.  We arrived at the deer lease and even standing there unloading shotguns and decoys and shimmying into our waders, we were seeing some birds flying and hearing some too!  As we headed out into that flooded timber and got the decoys out and got stationed in our shooting positions, we talked strategy, and they began to call a bit. Up until this point, I had seen duck dogs but never had one and didn’t realize the true benefit of them quite yet.  We had a few birds circling and we were trying the calls to entice them back, learning what calls to blow and what sounds to make and when as they circled overhead or flew farther out.  We did get a few to come in and since we were stationed in positions a little away from each other they seemed to like where the guys were slightly better than where Cristy and I were.

Shaun and Cade had gotten a few birds and were enjoying themselves as were Cristy and I, both of us admiring our husbands and enjoying the outdoors. Maybe it’s just me, but I think my hubby is insanely attractive and I love watching him do what he loves, it amplifies the attractiveness whether its hunting or building something.  I think it’s totally healthy to swoon over your husband while you’re enjoying life and adventures together. I get that’s not part of a normal hunting story, but I never claimed to be normal!

Anyhow, we were hearing some quacking and rasping overhead but they weren’t committed to coming in and Cristy encouraged me to hit them with a “comeback call”, and I did.  I was so worried I’d sound like an idiot, but I had a basic idea of what she meant by that, and she stood pretty close to me talking me quietly through it.  She and I were keeping our heads down while watching the ducks and she was instructing me and how to call and what to say depending on how they were responding and where they were overhead, just like we had talked about at home.  They seemed to be committing and circling to come into where we were, and I was getting excited and nervous as shotgun has not been my strongest discipline. I was hoping I was smart enough and coordinated enough to put all these working parts together!  Did I mention that Cristy is a coach?  On your first duck hunt, it is INCREDIBLY valuable to have a bonafide coach in your ear!  The birds had been talking back and had circled low enough to let us know they were committed to coming in.  As they cupped up, we got the go ahead and I raised my shotgun as they came across our opening leading one by about the length of a loaf of bread and squeezed!  He went down immediately, and we could see my first duck had been a mallard drake.  That green head was unmistakable. There may have been cheering and high fiving!

The process to get those birds to come in was tedious and took patience I don’t usually demonstrate along with knowing when to call and what to say! That was so exciting, and I was feeling my confidence in some brand-new skills build.  As a hunter and in life in general, you should never stop learning.  This is when we got a brand-new lesson about the value of duck dogs.  Shaun and Cade volunteered to go retrieve the birds and as they were slowly and carefully walking through the water out to where my duck had gone down, the water was rising slightly higher on their waders, but they were making good progress. They were being careful not to get tripped up on underwater logs and hazards as they made their way out.  We were watching the pair of them sort of wade out when, all of a sudden, one of them disappeared.  While the water here was pretty deep for flooded timber and there were signs of beaver activity on nearby trees, the water was really only about waste deep, chest in a couple of areas.  As they were walking out, they encountered what was obviously a very slick and well worn trail under the water that was much deeper than the rest of the area.  Waders do a great job of keeping water out as long as you don’t wade into water deeper than they come up on your body! 

In a lake, topping your waders could be so dangerous, in this situation he was able to gain purchase and his head wasn’t even under water long as he sprung right back up.  If he had been sliding down an underwater shelf on a lake or river however, the weight of the water now inside the waders would make it difficult to swim and he would have had to have the presence of mind to quickly unbuckle and hopefully shimmy out of the waders and donate them to the lake. Did I mention the water during duck season could literally be freezing depending on where you are hunting?  I don’t think I could shimmy out of mine that easily!  Duck dogs don’t have this problem, they just swim right out and grab your bird and swim right back! A duck dog is clearly a valuable partner to have in the field!  Lesson learned, wish list started! Also I topped my own waders the next hunt coming back and stumbling in knee deep water! We were getting a dog!

Even though this hunt was years ago, I still consider myself a rookie duck hunter, even once we got dogs.  I got better at calling and Shaun of course took to this new style of hunting like a fish to water.  We have enjoyed many more hunts together, all of them successful because we got out and enjoyed the outdoors with each other and others, some of them were just more bountiful than others and like all of our hunts, led to life-long friendships and memories! I still have a curly tail feather off that drake and think about this hunt every time I see it!