As a duck hunter grows up.

I came to the conclusion the other day that I need to invest in a new wardrobe. No I can still fit in the clothes I own, but when I go to a nice dinner with my family and I am in Wranglers, dirty cowboy boots and a hunting t-shirt I need to re-evaluate my clothing choices. How the heck does this relate to a hunting blog?

I’ll tell you. Along with my decision to start buying “grown-up” clothes, I also started realizing how I am growing up as a waterfowler. When I was a kid (younger than I already am now), a good hunt consisted of dead ducks, me shooting exceptionally well and some cool pictures to take of the carnage pile. Now don’t get me wrong, I still like to produce a limit of ducks when I go out to the blind, but it has become less of a priority. With a lab reaching his last couple years of his glorious life and a dad whom I don’t get the opportunity to hunt with like I did when I was a kid, I have begun to see the more important things that come to us as waterfowlers. Sure it feels great to kill a limit of ducks, but can that really replace the stories told by your father of the “old days” when the ducks filled the skies? Or can that cool Facebook picture you posted replace the image of your trusty lab proudly trotting back to the blind carrying that mallard hen you don’t want to post a picture of online.

I think we tend to get wrapped up in today’s bum-rush of face-paint, ultra-realistic decoys and the latest camo patterns. We start to forget to call the guys who took us hunting because your newest hunting connection has a killer spot and can’t take all of your friends you used to hunt with. I challenge you as waterfowlers to try something new. Dust off those old decoys your dad used to hunt over. Call your dad up and pass him an invite to hunt one of the spots he used to drag you out to as a kid. While I am on that subject, THANK your dad or whomever it was that introduced you to this amazing thing we love to do each fall. Next, I want you to mix-match your camos. Who cares if you have on a Realtree jacket and a Mossy Oak pair of waders? I know the ducks won’t mind.

I could be completely wrong, but I think if we all took this bit of advice and even applied to just one hunt out of the year, you would look back on your season and remember this hunt better than all the limits you killed combined.