My son is a few weeks past 3 1/2 and I figure he's long overdue for his first duck hunt. I have a really good place to hunt in the marsh, but that is more involved than I had time for this weekend, and is a 2 hour drive one way, so we were gonna go back to basics and hunt a rice/crawfish pond just behind my horse barn. I have permission from the owner, and last year he didn't drain it or disk it at all so the vegetation was fairly thick with a lot of cattails and the whole pond is just over knee deep. My boy's been quite excited about the upcoming hunt, and has been blowing my duck calls for a couple of days. He also now has his very own lanyard and Pintail whistle. Now, my calling sounds awesome. He's been on one hog, and one squirrel hunt so far, but has yet to be there for a kill, though he had a great time sitting on the tailgate and watching me clean ducks last season.
We were going to just sit in a makeshift panel blind on the levee (landowner doesn't want anything permanent or very substantial), throw out some dekes, and see what happens. We haven't really had enough cold weather to push many ducks down yet, but there are a few.
I spent a good deal of time the night before getting everything ready, especially making sure Wyatt had warm clothes, gloves, his ear protectors, etc. He'd had a long day Sat. and went to bed late, but when I went to wake him at 5:30, I said "Are you ready to go huntin'?" He immediately started crawling out of bed although his eyes remained shut. That warms your heart and I wondered which of us was looking forward to this more.

We head out to the barn and take the gator to the back, where we'll have to climb through the wire and walk a few hundred yards. I'll mention that a cold front with rain had come through the previous day and this morning was supposed to be colder with a bit of fog and slight wind of a favorable direction, after sunrise. In other words, perfect for ducks and Wyatt's first hunt.

I hope you don't get mad when you read this, cause I assure you Wyatt was a lot more built up for this hunt than you are reading this. The landowner had just drained and plowed the field before the rain. Our pond was now a field of muddy clumps and no water. This pond is the closest to my barn, but there are a few hundred acres of them so we again took to the gator in hope that he hadn't yet drained all of the ponds. We had no such luck.
Looks like Wyatt's hunting so far has been more about the fruitless times rather than successful hunting, but that's part of hunting too. My first duck hunt was with a champion caller and I've never yet seen it's equal. There were quite a few flocks of mallards (50+) and a variety of different birds. My dad swore I was going to be ruined, but I wasn't. This is the same dad that made me look at over 200 deer before letting me take the safety off to kill my first doe. My dad believes in paying your dues. By his measure Wyatt will be ready long before he's actually big enough to tote a .410.
I kept apologizing to Wyatt about not having any water or ducks, but I soon realized that he was content and not complaining in the least despite still being very tired. So on this hunt, I learned something from my 3 1/2 year old: Anytime we spend together is precious and a gift. I can honestly say that Wyatt still had a blast and thinks we had a great hunt, so I had a great hunt too.

Sorry, no pics, but I figure you've all seen muddy ground with no dead ducks on it before.

quote:

Originally posted by daniel77:
So on this hunt, I learned something from my 3 1/2 year old: Anytime we spend together is precious and a gift. I can honestly say that Wyatt still had a blast and thinks we had a great hunt, so I had a great hunt too.
.

Thanks for posting that. It is about the memories, after all, isn't it? I'm not a father, and he's your son obviously, but I personally have been out with numerous buds who have taken their kids along. For my money and from my experience (worth exactly what you paid for it), 3 and a half is a bit young to take kids on anything but hunts where there is close to zero chance of them going in the water. I would not dream of taking a young boy, anything under 12 probably, in a boat in the salt marsh, rivers or swamps here, even in warm weather. Grown men, ones who were raised on the water and were powerful swimmers, have lost their lives as a result of accidents, especially where it is cold and there are currents/tides to contend with. I know you probably get little cold the likes of which we know here, but it gives me the willies to think about with what I know about the waters here. Not criticizing in any way, please note; I'm sure your Wyatt was totally safe and it seems pretty clear that you're a dedicated and loving dad. Just be careful out there.

KG

P.S. Even if are no ducks killed, may I suggest you take pics anyway? When Wyatt's a man, especially an old one, he'll appreciate having them a great deal, and I bet you will too.

You're right about the pics. I should have. As far as the water goes, I felt pretty good about it. The pond is pretty shallow, and no current or anything of the sort, and he only has 8" rubber boots. He'd be in no more danger than if we were fishing off the bank, cause that's how we were hunting. This wasn't a boats and water with current kinda hunt, and we weren't 1/4 mile from a hot bath and clean clothes, just in case. Thanks for the concern though. If the situations were reversed, I may well be wondering the same thoughts.

Just be careful of them gators down there, Col. Sanders.....remember they ornery cuz they got an enlarged medulla oblongata.

3 1/2? Hell, my boy's almost 8 and I had to sneak him out on a perilous squirrel hunt this year. You go, man!

quote:

Originally posted by Norton:


3 1/2? Hell, my boy's almost 8 and I had to sneak him out on a perilous squirrel hunt this year. You go, man!

Oh, snap. Dude, you're killing me.