John Otto


[Roll Call ]

Posted by John Otto on September 12, 2003 at 11:05 p.m.:

My name is John Otto and I guess you could say waterfowl is a passion of mine. Being a waterfowler is a year round thing for me, I am a taxidermist, avriculturist and have recently began to carve my own corks.(Arm chair biologist, know-it-all is also on my resume...hahaha) This will be my 25th season, having started when I was 8 years old. Sea Duck and diver hunting is my main passion but I pursue every duck I can during the season. Every year my goal is to shoot at least 24 species, which I have done 8 out of the last 9. Last year I was lucky enough to harvest a King Eider here in Washington state leaving me with only the Fulvous Tree duck, the Black Bellied Tree duck and the Mottled duck left of the "legal" species in North America. I do have those birds in my taxidermy collection for which I have put together a traveling show/seminar of all the North American species that have been to numerous sportsman shows and banquets and associations. I have been raising waterfowl for 3 years now and am continualy learning how. I only keep North American birds (I do have a pair of European Wigeon, they sort of count don't they?). I have been lucky enough to have traveled for some excellent hunts and have many more planned, hoping to hunt abroad as well. For every one of the past seasons I have enjoyed, I have been blessed to have had the same hunting parter, my brother Jason, also an avid waterfowler. I am a die-hard BLACK lab owner and currently have Comet, an 11 year old who has many retrieves under her belt. As a moderator for another waterfowling website, I am going to enjoy stopping by now and then. Thanks Steve Sutton for the invite!