What a ball I had hunting with my son Henry! This was his first season actually hunting or even shooting, and we did very well out of the TDB I bought this summer.
I decided to start him out with a shooting lesson at Orvis Sandanonah and followed that up with another morning at a sporting clays range. This was great as the lesson gave him a solid understanding of how to shoot a shotgun and the instructor checked his gun fit and recommended a comb pad. The only real flaw in this was that he may be a better shot than I am, so now I need to go get a lesson too[crazy]
His first hunt was youth day at a local wood duck spot that wasn?t as good as I?d hoped, but was plenty good enough. Three drakes came in individually and landed, Henry stood up and jumped them each and two fell with one shot a piece
View attachment 71D064CE-30EE-48B8-B80C-0201E5C85191.jpegView attachment 5748C834-FA5F-4BAB-A89A-CB5F24E8A6B8.jpegView attachment B1C719E5-D4C1-4260-8FB4-10734BB0500F.jpeg
Fast forward through an early season that was mostly a struggle for finding ducks for us, I discovered a ?secret spot? for Long-tailed Ducks and that was really all we did for the rest of our season. We had consistently good hunting with lots of opportunities and, despite what I?ve heard about seaducks as tablefare, really good meals!
View attachment DD7492BB-01DA-4637-B2AB-B0B0A9EDFCBE.pngView attachment 307229FC-695E-4948-8945-9F313FA28130.jpegView attachment 7E5BDDAB-CD19-4C50-A26B-45327C3A65EC.jpeg
All in all, it was a great season with a huge amount of learning for both of us and Henry is now just as hooked on duck hunting as he is on fly fishing.[smile] Now I just need to go find a spot or two for late goose season as he is itching to get one. We had a lot of fun and laughter this year and Henry is truly developing his ethics by passing up birds that he, in his words, felt were ?a little tall?. I couldn?t be more pleased or proud of this 12 year old!
I decided to start him out with a shooting lesson at Orvis Sandanonah and followed that up with another morning at a sporting clays range. This was great as the lesson gave him a solid understanding of how to shoot a shotgun and the instructor checked his gun fit and recommended a comb pad. The only real flaw in this was that he may be a better shot than I am, so now I need to go get a lesson too[crazy]
His first hunt was youth day at a local wood duck spot that wasn?t as good as I?d hoped, but was plenty good enough. Three drakes came in individually and landed, Henry stood up and jumped them each and two fell with one shot a piece
View attachment 71D064CE-30EE-48B8-B80C-0201E5C85191.jpegView attachment 5748C834-FA5F-4BAB-A89A-CB5F24E8A6B8.jpegView attachment B1C719E5-D4C1-4260-8FB4-10734BB0500F.jpeg
Fast forward through an early season that was mostly a struggle for finding ducks for us, I discovered a ?secret spot? for Long-tailed Ducks and that was really all we did for the rest of our season. We had consistently good hunting with lots of opportunities and, despite what I?ve heard about seaducks as tablefare, really good meals!
View attachment DD7492BB-01DA-4637-B2AB-B0B0A9EDFCBE.pngView attachment 307229FC-695E-4948-8945-9F313FA28130.jpegView attachment 7E5BDDAB-CD19-4C50-A26B-45327C3A65EC.jpeg
All in all, it was a great season with a huge amount of learning for both of us and Henry is now just as hooked on duck hunting as he is on fly fishing.[smile] Now I just need to go find a spot or two for late goose season as he is itching to get one. We had a lot of fun and laughter this year and Henry is truly developing his ethics by passing up birds that he, in his words, felt were ?a little tall?. I couldn?t be more pleased or proud of this 12 year old!
