Friday morning musings

I got to go dove hunting this past Monday and while we didn't see many birds there were several bunches of ducks came thru and made me realize how much I missed duck hunting and what used to be. I tell my boys stories of squirrel hunting in big hardwood timber where you could walk for hours and see nothing but oaks and hickory. I remember the cold winter days in an eight foot wooden lean to stand and the thrill of seeing a spike buck slipping thru the shadows, ( couldn't shoot does then). But nothing beat squatting in a pile of brush while a bunch of eagle eyed mallards circled just out of range. We took lead shot for granted then.
Now all the hardwoods are gone and have been replaced with briars and brushtops and you see more squirrels at your bird feeder than you will in the woods. You can't shoot spikes now and they over run the place like a plague but does are fair game. You need $3000 just to lease a field to hunt on now and lead shot is gone forever. I will vigorously disagree with anyone who tries to tell me "steel shot is just as good as lead". For the most part, duck hunting has become a yuppie sport for lawyers and doctors.

I'm glad I got to live thru it and it was great, but I so much regret that my boys missed out on this great generation of hunting.

Wow! Profound comes to mind. Great post Q/A ... a bit of a downer maybe ... but so true.

Same here. Quite Profound!

I loved duck hunting. But man, was it a lot of trouble. We sewed tow-sacks together to make a blind. We built square tubing for the boat to 'erect' a floating blind. We worked the Arkansas River to death. Of course (sorry Chessie), there were DUCKS in the late 70's and early 80's. You just needed Water and January. Possibly even December. That was the only equation you needed. Bam Bam Bam. The worse the weather, the more ducks.

Fun..... Happy Happy Happy.

But no longer. If I had a 'slipper club' like that fancy one I went to last year, then yeah. I might go some then. Boy was it fun to talk to 'em.........and I miss that. But the overall experience? Nah. I deer hunt because I have a place, and an easy way to do it. I don't have that for ducks. Getting old sucks.

But my memories are the same. I hate it that our kids won't get the full effect of all that.

Good post.

Preach it, my brother.

I lost my duck blinds to "progress" almost 20 years ago and I miss it terribly. I've got a boy that's itching to try it. So, I may buy a canoe and float hunt 'em. But, it's not quite the same. It's hard not to deer hunt right now as we truly live in the golden age that we'll be telling stories about at the home some day. However, I miss the social aspect of the blind.

To this day I can't throw away a good five gallon bucket. and that's mainly from all the hours I've spent sitting on one in a duck blind. We used them for everything. Carrying stuff in, carrying stuff out, and as a seat.

Great post. Made me almost smell those old Red Ball rubber waders I saved my money to buy and weighed probably more than I did.

BKB

Good Lord, my feet have never been colder than wearing a paid of uninsulated Red Ball's standing in a marsh in January.

Sorry to hear of so much loss in regards to hunting. As for waterfowl hunting things haven't changed that much out here. Still lots of ducks and geese and darn few people hunting them. However in regards to big game it seems the opportunities get a little less each year. Fat wallets definitely rule the furture of hunting for big game out West.

We used to take hog wire and weave switch cane and Johnson grass thru it then roll it up and stuff one end of it in a five gallon bucket and that was our blind. We didn't know that you needed a spread of 100 decoys to bring in ducks. I shot Peters high brass #5's and 7 1/2's (the old blue plastic shells) and sometimes Mohawks when I didn't have the money to buy the "good" shells. Super X was reserved for special occasions and a duck 60 yds away was in the danger zone. There was no shame in a skillet shot (on the water). Somedays we just went pond hopping, killed boo-koos of ducks like that. Blackland mud 4 inches deep on the bottom of your boots and your waders weighted 60 lbs not counting all the water pouring in thru the leaks.

man I miss it. Too old and too broke to do it anymore, but the memories are worth the effort. The good ole days were exactly that.....good.

The good old Peters shotgun shells with the 'power piston'. The 12 ga shells were blue and the 16 ga were purple as I recall. I squirrel hunted a lot as a kid with an old single barrel 16 ga and used purple Peters (which made my Uncle Buster laugh every time he'd ask me if I brought my purple peters) high brass shells that'd leave a bruise on my shoulder every time I used that gun. I had an old Lee Handloader and probably had Peters 12 ga shells that'd been reloaded two or three times. No, I wasn't too smart in those days either.

BKB

Perhaps this only applies to MS, but we have more public land, than ever before, that provides some prime duck hunting opportunities.

I have hunting friends who actually own some very good duck holes, but will hunt the public lands, religiously and quite successfully.

However, I admit they are young adults, and are more able to scout the remote areas, and really do their homework.

MS is blessed with a Dept, of Wildlife, which is headed up with people of vision towards the future....each year, I hear about another wma area, which has been purchased by the DOW, and will open soon to the public.

So, for you old farts who still wanna kill some ducks, give me a call....I'll give you a map to some prime areas around here....but I ain't gonna go with you 'cause I just don't like being cold, wet, and miserable, just to kill a duck. ;););)

liver with feathers

You just don't cook it right.

I'd hunt ducks again, but not on public land. Its just a crapshoot here. You work your ass off to get set up before daylight and walk a mile in to a good spot and some sky shooting idiot a hundred yards away from you opens up when they're not even locked in.
I'd rather find a spot I can put a permanent blind and nobody. Else to worry with. Maybe some day. I just don't have the motivation to find it right now. I'd rather fish.

BKBp

If I were starving to death and a duck was being roasted over a fire, I would have to seriously debate between eating the duck or the skewer stick.

Hahaha...I've never found a way to cook them that makes them edible. You'll always hear somebody say they know how to cook them so you couldn't tell the difference between them and a sirloin steak. I've yet to see anyone ever make that happen. I can just about choke a wood duck breast down if there's lots of gravy. That's as far as I can go.
I have made some good jerky out of duck breasts though and it was someone on GH that suggested it. Tastes like braunschweiger jerky though. But very edible.

BKB

Just pack all those duck breast in dry ice and send em to me. Soak em, slice them into fingers, roll em flour and fry them. Make some pan gravy and biscuits and get out of the way.


bunch of haters

Only one way to eat a duck....two words-----GUM-BO !!! ;)

Properly prepared Peking Duck ... no problem.

Wild duck ... our cats won't even eat the crap! ;)

At my 'slipper club' outing last Thanksgiving, my friend, the old guy, grilled duck. I've done it that way often, and never pleased. I do not know what he did before hand though. I got there and he was grilling. Whole breasts wrapped in bacon. This was awesome. Better than any duck I've eaten, and better than sirloin steak. Not as good as ribeye, but better than sirloin.

The ONLY thing I can think of is A) I was real hungry, which might have attributed to it, and B) these were rare. Not truly RARE, but not done as I would have made them either. They were clearly mallard breasts, too.

I honestly have to admit I've eaten very little wild duck. Never had a good experience. I'm sure it's possible ... I just haven't "been there, done that" yet. I eat quite a bit of duck when eating Asian food and have no problem with it. I think they use mostly Muscovy.

Bucky, just hit on it-rare like a good steak.