your favorite part....

[champcaller]

well we havent had many actual duck hunting related topics in this part of the site in a while and im takin a break from studyin so i thought id ask....

what is your favorite aspect of duck hunting?

i know its different for different people.....

gator it might be dog work, for ramsey maybe the actual killing (boomboomdelta ), tedl10 gettin ready to capture it all on film, gordon it could be just talking about duck hunting and ty, pete and i might share the same reason...

(some of those serious..... some joking.........kinda)

anyways for me.................. besides the fellowship and actually 'being out there' (which a lot of you prolly will say and thats fine, i suppose).......... its gotta be the calling... for me theres nothin like workin a group of mallards down thru the trees. if i didnt need my call i prolly wouldnt go......... ok, thats a lie, but it still wouldnt be as fun


yeah, yeah i know its a newbie post but sometimes i forget this is a duck huntin forum.............. so lets hear it.

[ACEINTHEHOLE]

Well, I suck at calling. I am not a great shot. Alot of times it is too cold. I always seem to set up next to somebody skybusting. BUT, that one great retrive makes it all worth it. I enjoy watching dogs do what they are trained to do. No matter what they are trained to do. A well trained dog makes a great hunt.

[olemissduckhunter]

I would also have to say the calling, nothing like sitting a big group of greenheads down in the woods, while the branches they broke getting into the hole fall all around them. seeing them circle the hole and make that lass pass before they get on top of the hole and drop that ass to fall like rocks into the hole is just amazing to me. There is no drug on the planet that can give you that high..........and believe me i know, champ has done em all and told me all about them.

[CBRADGO]

Sunrise in a duck blind, next to a tree, hunkered down in buck brush, any of 'em. I just love watching the sun come up and hearing the wings whistle, making those first calls and watching the ducks turn and circle back to you. The smell of gunpowder after the first volley of shots, watching the dog's eyes, seeing 'em shake in anticipation of a pat on the head for a job well done. Watching your buddies grin from ear to ear when they splash a double, hearing the BS that goes back and forth when you miss. Eating a greasy breakfast and drinking a HOT cup of coffee after that long, cold, wet morning, having a night cap even though you know you can't sleep because you're so ready for 4am. All that rolled into one, that's my favorite part...

[champcaller]

i dont know if you guys know this.................... but i smoke rocks




just look at CBRADGOs avatar.....

[olemissduckhunter]

i would also have to say..... I love standing next to a tree with, champ, cajuncannon, and olmissva, trying not to fall into the water because everyone is reciting movie lines and cracking eachother up. also nothing beats the mornings where we get to hear of champs sexual misadventures, like how he almost got to second base with that girl from the bar last night but was interrupted by a phone call from the sober friend........ couldnt count the number of times we have been laughing our cute little butts off and looked up to have ducks dropping into the hole......really makes for a great morning.

[CBRADGO]

i dont know if you guys know this.................... but i smoke rocks




just look at CBRADGOs avatar.....

My feet are strong, Joe Rogan...

[greenheadgrimreaper]

I can remember being a little boy and the most memorable thing I ever remember about my first hunt was the stillness...

That time when the ducks have commited and for that few seconds everyone is frozen... waiting... watching the lead ducks twist in first. The only thing breaking the sound is the sound of moving air and waterfowl trying their best to light in the right spot. I remember that moment and how time literally stopped. No other hunting is like that, no other hunting in the world takes you to a crisp cold morning in a marsh and for that 5 or 6 seconds time transcends reality and you are watching with no other recollection of your surroundings except for that noise...

All the other stuff is great too but my first memory and favorite aspect of waterfowl hunting is that final few seconds when it's you, the marsh and the ducks.

[duckdr1970]

I can remember being a little boy and the most memorable thing I ever remember about my first hunt was the stillness....

That quote right there reminds of the most memorable aspect of duck hunting with my dad as yong boy. He would be working ducks in the spread, smoking a cigarette, blowing his call, and at the same time all I would hear him say is "Be still, be still, get ready, keep your head down, here they come", BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. "Why didn't you shoot dammit".

Now I've grown up and take him now that he's in his seventies and that seems to be exactly what I say to him.

I just love watching the birds, that is what I learned from my dad. He is a waterfowl artist and paints mostly with oils, but has painted waterfowl all his life.

I love 04:00am boat rides in the dark with the spotlight, pulling up to a hole in the woods and saying "I think this is going to be the spot today" and being right about it because you scouted it the day before.

Most improtantly for me it's the comaraderie and fellowship with others who appreciate the sport and watching the excitement on a child's face when they say " I got one dad, i got one".

Damn Champ you got me all fired up and ready to go now!!!!

By the way did I meet you and Pete at SGC's in Clarksdale about 2 years ago. My partner told me that we were at Greg's shop and olemissduckhunter and you were there working on some calliing tips.

[H20 Fowl]

Now by no means am I as an accomplished caller as pete or tj but I also love workin ducks. There is nothing like that feeling when you know there gonna do it, i think even the dog can tell.

I really cant think of much about it that I dont like, except for maby ........................... nope there is nothing about it I dont like..

[duck_nutt]

i remember as a kid, the night before, I'd get so excited just getting ready!
laying my clothes out, with my pocket knife, gun, and box of shells all, call, and anything else I thought I might need...

then I had to get up and go freeze my butt off

[Rice]

Like said before the fellowship is probobly up there at the top...But there is something I love to do that nobody has said yet, to take people that only deer hunt or never really have been duck hunting except once and they didnt have decoys or didnt have ducks And putting then on ducks and letting them get the first shots in...There is nothing like watching somebody that has never been or never seen alot of ducks face light up when they are cuppin into the decoys!!! And turning them into a duck hunter and making them get their first quackhead or duck commander from walmart and trying to help them so one day they can teach sombody themselves...

[GordonGekko]

Double R 2 and I had a conversation last season that pretty much summed it up for me, he referred to it as "the context of the hunt" and I cannot think of any better term to express it. Meaning, as basically as I can break it down and as best I remember, the atmosphere as a whole, the comradarie, the location, the history of the area, pretty much the entire experience, and hopefully but not necessarily inluding cooperative birds...because the birds, while they are important, are far from the most important element of a hunt (although when they cooperate it seems to improve the quality of the other elements)....

me, I like to shoot, and I get a kick out of it when my calling actually works, but I really love to hear the sound of the wind through their feathers as they are shaving off wind dropping into the hole...but none of it is as satisfying when you aren't hunting with someone you enjoy hunting with.... I have had memorable hunts in almost every situation if the context was right.... yep Double R 2 was right...it's about the context (hopefully he'll expound on this idea cause we had a pretty long conversation and I'm sure I've left something out)....

[chattahoochee]

I love working the ducks. Especially when they are way up high and then you call and get them to circle about 4 or 5 times and once they have those feet dropped and wings cupped up, it's on. Then my favorite words I love to hear is Kill em' boys!! Once the dog gets them up its business time again. Man I could do that everyday. Also there aint nothing like sitting over the water watching the sunrise and watching ducks work the hole before shooting time. Another thing I don't mind is the cold morning boat rides or 4-wheeler rides. Man how many more days do we have till duck season??

[missed mallards]

Gordon pretty much summed up it.