Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2023 i Wildfowl

LAST JANUARY, a guy who hunts the same piece of flooded farmland I do paid a visit to my blind. It was 10 a.m. and I was packing up decoys, having shot a limit of wigeon. “I just wanted to see what your setup and blind looked like because you’re killing way more ducks than me this season,” the man shared. He went on to tell me how birds wouldn’t land in his decoys. “I don’t think there’s any feed in there,” he said. Standing by my blind, we could clearly see his tall box blind, 600 yards away, towering over any nearby cover. “You know, last year I killed over 200 ducks on the pond you’re hunting, all from a one-man panel blind,” I told him. His blind was…

At some point, even a veteran duck caller might start to feel like they are in a bit of a rut, and not progressing in the art of tricking ducks into shotgun range. Cutdown calls have taken the scene by storm, but is this aggressive call right for your hunting and your style? Are you ready to try barking ‘em down with the cutdown? I’ve hunted all kinds of waterfowl for almost 50 years and one thing’s for sure: Every hunter has their own style of hunting and calling ducks. From field hunting a picked cornfield to hunting the Mississippi River, or hunting out of a duck blind on Reelfoot Lake or chasing birds in the flooded timber of Arkansas, each duck hunter has his or her own technique that…

Covid 19 was a difficult situation for waterfowlers, who live for the camaraderie of hunts and sharing the blind and the work load with good friends. But since I couldn’t hunt with friends who could go out on a daily basis, I learned to hunt solo. Being retired and living on the prairie is kind of like those Covid times. I hunt every day. I’ve waited for this all my life and I plan to keep it up until I can’t walk. For those waterfowlers who couldn’t hunt with others during the pandemic, I’d like to share one of my solo hunts from that time last fall. “COVID SPOILED THINGS FOR SO MANY PEOPLE THAT IT SEEMED ALMOST LIKE A MIRACLE THAT NOTHING HAD CHANGED FOR SOME WATERFOWLERS” There are…

IN THE VERSION OF MODERN WATERFOWLING that most younger hunters have known in this century, the northern pintail is a beautiful duck that pays an occasional visit to the decoy spread and the dinner table, but rarely a target species of abundance. A bonus bird. Jim Ronquest, a Stuttgart, Ark. resident, the VP of Development for Drake Waterfowl Systems, former host of RNT-V duck hunting show on Sportsman Channel, and the 2006 world duck calling champion, understands that idea well from his front row seat to some of the best duck hunting action in the world. “I like to hunt ducks first off, and if I can be, I like to be in the green timber chasing greenheads,” said Ronquest. “But if I can’t be there, being out in the…

THROUGH THE LIFTING FOG of a bitter January morning, a leery gadwall skirted the decoy spread, taunting the hunters below. Cold and desperate, the “kill-em” call was made and Jared Lewis and Jason Lonsberry emptied their guns without dropping a feather. Following the initial barrage of gunfire, Nick Charney sat up and fired a single handloaded TSS shotshell that stoned the retreating gadwall at an extreme distance. Astonished, Lonsberry jokingly asked, “What in the hell are you shooting?” “It’s the TSS, baby!” replied Charney. That very evening, over cold beer and pizza, the groundwork was laid and plans put in motion for what is now APEX Ammunition. Their mission was simple: to provide waterfowlers the absolute best performing ammunition in the business. Like any great product, the deadly results of…

The low morning clouds evaporated in the late-November sun to reveal a soft blue sky. Returning to the duck blind after a break for lunch, my two friends and I settled into our spots with our guide. The crisp air burned our nostrils as fluttering wings overhead gave us pause with excitement. With the lowering afternoon sun at our backs, the emerald greens of mallard heads against that sky showed brighter than any painting or photograph could ever convey. Far from my first greenheads and most certainly not my last, what makes this memory stand apart for me? The comradery with close friends? The limits that hung from the straps on the way out? Certainly, but how crystal clear those drake mallards stood out from the hens and black ducks…

Wigeon swarmed my little decoy spread but wouldn’t commit. In front of my one-man panel blind was a shallow, flooded field full of lush, green grass. A dozen floating decoys were set in two, rough, parallel lines. I figured the ducks would hit the gap and backpedal in. Instead, flock after flock of wigeon gave me a flyby, circled once or twice, then left. They were coming so fast I didn’t have time to reset the spread. Then it got to a point where I had to make a move. The ducks approached head on, straight into the wind and kept going, so I closed the gap of the front floaters, then took the five dozen Big Al’s wigeon decoys I had sprinkled in shallow water and along the shore…

THE WORD “SPATCHCOCKED” may elicit chuckles, and when you Google “where did word spatchcocked come from,” the answer will make you want to joke even more immaturely. From a culinary perspective, the word refers to opening up a bird to cook it more evenly. It’s simple to pull off—all you need is a sharp pair of kitchen shears. The end result makes grilling a bit easier, versus having to rotate a whole duck for a thorough sear across all sides. Typically used for chickens and turkeys, the spatchcocked method boasts a more even, thorough cook, but we generally cook those store-bought birds to 165-ish degrees Fahrenheit. With our ducks, we want those breasts to turn out medium-rare with an emphasis on rare, so despite a more-even cook thanks to spatchcocking,…

TEN MINUTES OF SHOOTING yielded a bag limit of 6 ducks. It was some of the best shooting Jake Burke had ever done. “I got two with one shot twice and missed once,” Burke said. “I shot 3 wood ducks, 2 blue-winged teal and a mallard. I have never shot that well.” Burke was hunting with his buddy, Bobby Derbing, who did not shoot as well. However, he managed to down three ducks after Burke finished his limit. “It was a morning typical of the second week of October 2022,” he said. "It was a little hazy, a little breezy and a little cool with temperatures in the 60s. The ducks are residents of the lake I grew up hunting. It’s a public lake with lots of houses around it.…

IT HAS OFTEN BEEN SAID that the eyes are the window to the soul. In dog training this statement is, to me, particularly true because I believe a dog can read you through your eyes. Developing and maintaining eye contact is a trait that should be developed in the earliest stages of training and maintained throughout the dog’s life. This brings up one important point; you cannot establish eye contact with your dog when you are wearing sunglasses. Therefore you should never wear sunglasses during training. I start developing eye contact when a pup’s focus is on the task at hand, ensuring that the pup has eye contact with me prior to giving a command, including sit, heel, stay, here, watch and place. Each day, I extend the time that…

Zach Benson, 43, drives to work, stoically pondering what might lie ahead. The interior of his pickup is covered in hair from Bo and Beaver—his Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, while spent hulls and waterfowl feathers adorn the truck bed. Arriving at the barracks, he reluctantly trades the pickup for a cruiser. Zach is a NY State Trooper that sort of fell into his starched gray uniform, but there isn’t a fellow Trooper who would argue that he’s anything less than exemplary. For some, being a police officer is everything. It’s who they are. Benson is a lot more layered than that. He’s a rabid outdoorsman and artist that doesn’t like being put in a box. Somewhat ironic for a person that spends his working hours wrangling others to play by the…