Ben & Brian's Hunting & Fishing Adventures
September 2006
"Iowa Duck Opener"
Ben has accompanied me duck hunting since the age of 4. Though he has always been patient and inquisitive in the blind, this year he would finally have the opportunity to participate in bagging birds. I decided that the Iowa opener on the Mississippi River would be a perfect time to take him on his first hunt. The combination of mild weather, ample numbers of young birds and the earliest opener would give him the best opportunity to bag his first duck.
I let Ben decide on which dog would accompany us on our hunt. Without any hesitation he decided that we would take Limit. Limit came to us at the age of one and a half years of age. Unfortunately an acquaintance of a friend of mine could not keep him. I decided to take him in, train him, and then most likely sell him as a started gundog. After a short period of time Limit won over the whole family and Ben decided that Limit would be his personal dog. Earlier this year Ben ran Limit in a HRC hunt test.
We decided to leave on Friday afternoon and do a bit of scouting before deciding on a location to hunt Saturday morning. We arrived at the river late afternoon, and to our surprise were met with 80 degree weather. Hopefully better duck hunting weather would arrive overnight! Scouting proved productive and we decided on 3 likely spots to hunt the next morning. One spot in particular seemed more promising than the other two, so hopefully we could claim that spot before other hunters arrived. After scouting we set a trot line for channel cats on the Illinois side of the river.
After checking into our motel Ben and I went out for dinner. After watching Ben eat an entire catfish for dinner we went back to the motel fed and aired "Limit" and called it an early evening. I still do not know how Ben can possibly fit that much food into a frame that skinny!
As always before a duck hunt I awoke some time before the alarm was due to go off. I fixed Ben a thermos of hot chocolate, we aired Limit and set off for the river. The temperature had indeed dropped during the evening. We made our way down river passing a tug and barge creeping its way upriver.
We arrived at our "chosen" spot and found it unoccupied. In short order Ben and I set the decoys and pulled the boat into a patch of lily pads. While waiting for legal shoot time I reminded Ben of gun safety and being patient for a good shot. In no time we were joined by flights of teal and woodducks. Legal shooting time arrived and Ben loaded up one shell. Teal buzzed in and out of the decoys from every direction. It was a bit difficult for Ben to track one single bird as multiple flocks zipped in and out of the decoys. Finally a single mallard with cupped wings drifted into the spread. I called the shot, Ben raised his gun and took the shot. The mallard quickly gained altitude and made its way down river. I encouraged Ben that is was a good shot and gave him another shell to load. In a few short minutes another bird with cupped wings sailed into the decoys. I called the shot, Ben raised his gun and cleanly folded the bird. In only his second shot Ben bagged his first duck!
As soon as Limit picked up the bird I could tell it was a nice drake woodduck. Though only September the mature drake displayed beautiful plumage. After examining the bird Ben and I got ready for more birds. It seemed that Ben could not keep his eyes off of the woodduck lying on the seat next to him. I will never forget the look on his face when he turned to me and said "I don't care if I shoot another bird all day!". I could not have been more proud of him than at that moment. To him it wasn't the numbers of birds we would bag that day, but the day itself. It seems that all to often hunters get caught up in the numbers of birds they take and don't take the time to savor the moment.
We did not have to wait long for more birds to arrive. Ben got off a few more shots and I shot back up on a nice pintail that failed to fall after Ben made a good shot on it. Ben finally let me get in on the action as he poured himself some hot chocolate and grabbed a bite to eat. By this time the mallards started to fly and I managed to bag a couple nice drake mallards. Though the birds were still flying we needed to get back home as I had several clients coming out to see their dogs that afternoon.
I put Ben to work winding decoys and we started making our way back to the boat ramp. On the way home we pulled the trot line and caught a nice channel cat.
In all I really enjoyed the hunt and look forward to many more memories hunting with Ben in the future.
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