My Baby’s a Hunter
By Rick Spoerl
Although I’ve introduced lots of people to duck hunting including some youngsters like my two sons, nephews and some kids of my friends, I never get tired of watching them the first time they shoot a duck, deer or turkey. It’s comparable to them catching their first fish but much more intense. This year I was fortunate enough to introduce my twelve year old daughter Haley to hunting. We missed the spring turkey hunt because of fast pitch softball and basketball commitments so we made plans for the 2008 youth duck hunt as well as the youth deer hunt in October.
I woke her up at the traditional 4:30am and we headed to McDonalds for some breakfast, than to the gas station for gas and snacks for the day. I told her we would need lots of energy as we would be walking in knee deep water with chest waders on for two or three miles on a jump shoot duck hunt. It would be sunny and by nine o’clock would probably be in the mid seventies. Haley’s quite an athlete and the long walk wouldn’t bother her a bit.
We would be accompanied by our female black lab Peggy who had whelped a litter of twelve pups a couple months before and needed a day out hunting. We were headed to my favorite duck spot that I’ve been hunting for over thirty years. It was a mixture of woods, uplands and lowlands with two rivers running through it. The Wisconsin DNR managed this public hunting land and built a dike around the area where two large bodies of shallow water laid. These waters were stuffed with smartweed, cattails and duck weed. The woods in the area were partially flooded and farmland was abundant both on the property and surrounding it. A near perfect duck hole.
Here a hunter could hunt ducks just about anyway he wanted including, from a blind, boat hunting, with or without decoy spreads, or jump shooting. We chose jump shooting. The plan was to walk slowly through the flooded woods and when we flushed up some birds in a "ducky spot" we would toss out a couple decoys and wait until they came back. After shooting at them, we’d pick up and try another spot. This way we would stay on the move not only seeing more of the area but also keeping boredom to a minimum. Kids need to stay active in the outdoors at a young age and this is a great way to explore the land as well as stay productive hunting. The youth hunt also doesn’t see much pressure and the ducks really don’t move around to much. This tactic works well.
The only mildly stupid thing the DNR did when they came up with the youth hunt was deciding to open the goose season on the same day. They have a history of doing lame things like that. For example, a couple years ago the DNR’s youth deer hunt started the same weekend as the "Zone T" antler less hunt. Is it really a special day for the kids when there are grown-ups out hunting too? I doubt it. Maybe someday the kids can have there own day in the woods.
We arrived at the parking lot and quickly put our waders and backpacks on to walk the half mile or so into the flooded area we would hunt. Haley took the lead most of the time quietly walking like a veteran hunter. Before she ever pulled the trigger her Dad was very proud of her.
We flushed out a couple small flocks of wood ducks but continued on. At last we arrived at a small flooded field next to the river. After a couple dozen ducks left the hole we set out two wood duck decoys and hid along the edge, in the shadows, with the wind at our backs.
It wasn’t long before some of the ducks returned. Haley pulled the trigger on her Remington 20 gauge youth model shotgun and away they flew. She was a bit low but only because she admired the beauty of the colorful drakes. Soon more arrived and she connected on her first duck. The look on her face was priceless.
She pulled up and shot another that was wounded and swam quickly to the far shore of the pond. It was too far to water swat and to far to chase down. I was worried that if I sent the dog, the duck would dive. I had no choice, I had to send Peggy and hope she could work it out. She did and Haley admired some really good work by her dog.
As we sat in the quite woods we made small talk about how quiet and pretty this place is. No more ducks seemed to be coming back so we took a walk and headed in. She had harvested two wood ducks, one drake and one hen.
After the hunt we went to the shooting range and she shot her .30-.30 for the first time. She commented on how much fun she was having. She wasn’t the only one.
A week later she got to experience the 2008 duck opener. Her Grandpa, Great Uncle, Cousin Michael and of coarse her Dad all met at our usual spot and had a great time harvesting 15 ducks. She got three of them.
Than we headed up to northwestern Wisconsin for the youth deer hunt. Boy, talk about excited. We camped along a beautiful spot of the Red Cedar River and were blessed with great weather. Almost too great. Seventy degrees and sunny. The deer were only moving in the early morning.
The last day came and after watching a doe and two fawns walk by she decided to try for a nice big doe that was walking alone. I stopped the deer in an opening about a hundred yards away with a bleat and said "ok honey, any time your ready". She pulled the trigger of her .30-.30 bolt action rifle and the doe dropped in her tracks. After trying three spots the last two days she finally connected on her first deer. The past couple of weeks has brought us closer together and has planted seeds that can’t be erased. It’s hard to say, but at last my baby’s a hunter.