Ron Smith
Active member
A couple of "I do's" this past weekend and the nest is empty just short of our 43rd anniversary. We spread out or child bearing years longer than planned (We plan, God laughs). I wrote this several years ago knowing the days were short. It is long but it is also cathartic for this dad.
It is not easy to wake up a 3 year old boy at 2:30 am to take him duck hunting but that is what his 2 teenage brothers and I did in September 1999. A scouting trip to Lake Okeechobee one week earlier had revealed the wood ducks were gathering in large numbers in an area known as the Hay fields. With the mild weather and the beautiful backdrop of the lake Austin would be introduced to water fowling. A lot can change in a week and as often happens in my experience with wood ducks, they found someplace else that they liked better. Except for the lone hen that passed over the decoys at mach .82 and flew into a load of #4 steel, it was very quiet. Austin stayed awake for a little while but then he did what has now become a tradition for him while duck hunting. He fell asleep.
It has been 14 years since that morning and a lot of things have changed for Austin while duck hunting. What began as an adventure with a .410 single shot moved to a 20 gauge pump and then in the blink of an eye we were both shooting out of the same box of 3 inch magnum 12 gauge shells. He now handles the Browning A5, Remington 870, Stoger Condor and the Winchester Model 24 SxS as easily as any experienced hunter should. He can drive a variety of boats and is handy is setting up and tearing down a hunt. He has hunted with me in a freezing marsh of Wisconsin and the jungle like heat of a September hunt on Lake Okeechobee and every temperature in between. A lot has changed in the last 14 years and yet one thing remains a constant, he still falls asleep. It is not that I have not had a sleepy boy in the boat before. Our older sons also did a good deal of sleeping while duck hunting. The difference is that while our other sons would occasionally fall asleep, Austin can be counted on to crash out. He has elevated duck blind sleeping to epic proportions.
When the alarm would sound at o'dark thirty a few gentle pushes on his shoulder were sufficient to wake Austin and he would get up and ready for our first stop of the morning. We pulled into the parking lot of 7-11 to pour some coffee for me and grab a bag of Chex-Mix for Austin. This is his traditional duck hunting breakfast, then it is back to sleep for him as we drive to the boat launch. As we approach the boat ramp a few pushes on his shoulder wakes him and he is ready to get to work. Waders on, guns and blind bag loaded, trailer straps off of the boat, plug in and he grabs the bow line and drags the boat into position to board and launch. I choked the Briggs and a turn of the key has 35 horses fired up and ready to take us to an opening in the marsh that the GPS says is 6.24 miles away. As for Austin? He slept the duration of the ride until I nudged his shoulders to wake him for help tossing the deeks. When the decoys were set, the blind was up and everything is just right for teal to knock our hats off on a low predawn flight, Austin went back to sleep. One day, when everything was just right he turned to face east and said ?Wow! That is shaping up to be a beautiful sunrise. Almost pretty enough to stay awake for?. He made a bed of the seat cushions and life jackets and promptly went to sleep.
He does not usually sleep the entire hunt. More than a few ducks in the ice chest have given silent testimony to the fact that he spends at least some of his time awake in the duck blind. On a September teal hunt he gunned with a friend of mine who reported to me with some degree of amazement ?Austin stayed awake the entire hunt and shot his limit of teal!? I suppose one thing that made this possible is that the teal were almost as thick as the early season mosquitoes and they were diving into the decoys like kamikazes at battle ships. The hunt (shoot is a more accurate term) was over in a flash. On one particularly memorable sleep/hunt, Austin helped me set up and then went dead asleep. Just before 8 am I heard some movement from the front of the boat. At exactly 8 o?clock he woke up and announced ?I am ready to hunt'. What usually wakes him up is some fast paced shooting. On this morning, even though I had scouted this spot a few day earlier and seen clouds of ring necks, there was not a duck to be seen anywhere. Not even in the distance. Austin began thumbing shells into his 870 and as he pushed the last one in...the skies opened up and poured the missing ring necks into our decoys. We shot and reloaded as fast as we could and when the guns went silent the carnage was severe as more than a half dozen Aythya Collaris lay face down or belly up in the decoys. Five minutes from when it began, at 8:05 Austin unloaded his gun and fell fast asleep. I did not see another duck for the next hour and a half. I had to interrupt his slumber so he could help me drag the deeks
I have been taking photos of Austin sleeping in the duck boat for many years. The earliest one I have and my personal favorite is from a hunt when he was 5 years old. Most of the pics are of just good old fashioned duck boat sleeping, curl up on whatever cushions and life jackets you can find and zonk out and drool a little. Some photos are of him when he was inventing new ways to sleep. I have a photo of the day he wedged his head in a folding seat so he could sleep sitting up. In the 2011-12 season he introduced sleeping face down on the metal floor of the boat.
I suspect that one of the things that keeps him going hunting with me is the ?Full Treatment?. This is a phrase he coined when he was a little tot. He asked me after a hunt ?Dad. Are we going for the full treatment today?? I asked what that was. We very often would stop at Burger King for a late breakfast or early lunch after a hunting or fishing trip. He had grown so accustomed to this that he now felt a trip was not complete till Burger King food was eaten and enjoyed. Stopping at Burger King on the way home is now known among all my family and hunting and fishing friends as the "Full Treatment".
I do not mind that he sleeps in the boat, the car... where ever. I just love the fact that he is there with me. The days are numbered where I can cross over to the other side of our house to his bedroom and shake him awake. The empty nest looms large on the horizon for Lisa and me. We want him to grow up and become a husband and father that loves his wife and kids so much that Lisa and I fade into the back ground. Still, I will miss packing shotgun shells for two hunters. I will miss stealing a few pieces of Chex Mix from him on the car ride to the boat launch against his false protests, as if I am robbing him of precious gold. I will miss seeing his rubber boots next to mine by the front door at 4am.
Life is full of firsts and lasts. I fondly remember first time he went hunting with me, the first hunt that he was a shooter, his first duck, the first time he drove the airboat. The firsts are obvious. The lasts slip by under the radar. We do not notice them as easily. The last hunt with a .410, the last youth hunt. The last hunt before he is married or the last hunt before Uncle Sam takes him to basic training. Those last 2 did a sneak attack on me by our older sons and life was changed forever so I will enjoy Austin?s epic duck boat sleep-a-thon for as long as it lasts because the days are short.
It is not easy to wake up a 3 year old boy at 2:30 am to take him duck hunting but that is what his 2 teenage brothers and I did in September 1999. A scouting trip to Lake Okeechobee one week earlier had revealed the wood ducks were gathering in large numbers in an area known as the Hay fields. With the mild weather and the beautiful backdrop of the lake Austin would be introduced to water fowling. A lot can change in a week and as often happens in my experience with wood ducks, they found someplace else that they liked better. Except for the lone hen that passed over the decoys at mach .82 and flew into a load of #4 steel, it was very quiet. Austin stayed awake for a little while but then he did what has now become a tradition for him while duck hunting. He fell asleep.
It has been 14 years since that morning and a lot of things have changed for Austin while duck hunting. What began as an adventure with a .410 single shot moved to a 20 gauge pump and then in the blink of an eye we were both shooting out of the same box of 3 inch magnum 12 gauge shells. He now handles the Browning A5, Remington 870, Stoger Condor and the Winchester Model 24 SxS as easily as any experienced hunter should. He can drive a variety of boats and is handy is setting up and tearing down a hunt. He has hunted with me in a freezing marsh of Wisconsin and the jungle like heat of a September hunt on Lake Okeechobee and every temperature in between. A lot has changed in the last 14 years and yet one thing remains a constant, he still falls asleep. It is not that I have not had a sleepy boy in the boat before. Our older sons also did a good deal of sleeping while duck hunting. The difference is that while our other sons would occasionally fall asleep, Austin can be counted on to crash out. He has elevated duck blind sleeping to epic proportions.
When the alarm would sound at o'dark thirty a few gentle pushes on his shoulder were sufficient to wake Austin and he would get up and ready for our first stop of the morning. We pulled into the parking lot of 7-11 to pour some coffee for me and grab a bag of Chex-Mix for Austin. This is his traditional duck hunting breakfast, then it is back to sleep for him as we drive to the boat launch. As we approach the boat ramp a few pushes on his shoulder wakes him and he is ready to get to work. Waders on, guns and blind bag loaded, trailer straps off of the boat, plug in and he grabs the bow line and drags the boat into position to board and launch. I choked the Briggs and a turn of the key has 35 horses fired up and ready to take us to an opening in the marsh that the GPS says is 6.24 miles away. As for Austin? He slept the duration of the ride until I nudged his shoulders to wake him for help tossing the deeks. When the decoys were set, the blind was up and everything is just right for teal to knock our hats off on a low predawn flight, Austin went back to sleep. One day, when everything was just right he turned to face east and said ?Wow! That is shaping up to be a beautiful sunrise. Almost pretty enough to stay awake for?. He made a bed of the seat cushions and life jackets and promptly went to sleep.
He does not usually sleep the entire hunt. More than a few ducks in the ice chest have given silent testimony to the fact that he spends at least some of his time awake in the duck blind. On a September teal hunt he gunned with a friend of mine who reported to me with some degree of amazement ?Austin stayed awake the entire hunt and shot his limit of teal!? I suppose one thing that made this possible is that the teal were almost as thick as the early season mosquitoes and they were diving into the decoys like kamikazes at battle ships. The hunt (shoot is a more accurate term) was over in a flash. On one particularly memorable sleep/hunt, Austin helped me set up and then went dead asleep. Just before 8 am I heard some movement from the front of the boat. At exactly 8 o?clock he woke up and announced ?I am ready to hunt'. What usually wakes him up is some fast paced shooting. On this morning, even though I had scouted this spot a few day earlier and seen clouds of ring necks, there was not a duck to be seen anywhere. Not even in the distance. Austin began thumbing shells into his 870 and as he pushed the last one in...the skies opened up and poured the missing ring necks into our decoys. We shot and reloaded as fast as we could and when the guns went silent the carnage was severe as more than a half dozen Aythya Collaris lay face down or belly up in the decoys. Five minutes from when it began, at 8:05 Austin unloaded his gun and fell fast asleep. I did not see another duck for the next hour and a half. I had to interrupt his slumber so he could help me drag the deeks
I have been taking photos of Austin sleeping in the duck boat for many years. The earliest one I have and my personal favorite is from a hunt when he was 5 years old. Most of the pics are of just good old fashioned duck boat sleeping, curl up on whatever cushions and life jackets you can find and zonk out and drool a little. Some photos are of him when he was inventing new ways to sleep. I have a photo of the day he wedged his head in a folding seat so he could sleep sitting up. In the 2011-12 season he introduced sleeping face down on the metal floor of the boat.
I suspect that one of the things that keeps him going hunting with me is the ?Full Treatment?. This is a phrase he coined when he was a little tot. He asked me after a hunt ?Dad. Are we going for the full treatment today?? I asked what that was. We very often would stop at Burger King for a late breakfast or early lunch after a hunting or fishing trip. He had grown so accustomed to this that he now felt a trip was not complete till Burger King food was eaten and enjoyed. Stopping at Burger King on the way home is now known among all my family and hunting and fishing friends as the "Full Treatment".
I do not mind that he sleeps in the boat, the car... where ever. I just love the fact that he is there with me. The days are numbered where I can cross over to the other side of our house to his bedroom and shake him awake. The empty nest looms large on the horizon for Lisa and me. We want him to grow up and become a husband and father that loves his wife and kids so much that Lisa and I fade into the back ground. Still, I will miss packing shotgun shells for two hunters. I will miss stealing a few pieces of Chex Mix from him on the car ride to the boat launch against his false protests, as if I am robbing him of precious gold. I will miss seeing his rubber boots next to mine by the front door at 4am.
Life is full of firsts and lasts. I fondly remember first time he went hunting with me, the first hunt that he was a shooter, his first duck, the first time he drove the airboat. The firsts are obvious. The lasts slip by under the radar. We do not notice them as easily. The last hunt with a .410, the last youth hunt. The last hunt before he is married or the last hunt before Uncle Sam takes him to basic training. Those last 2 did a sneak attack on me by our older sons and life was changed forever so I will enjoy Austin?s epic duck boat sleep-a-thon for as long as it lasts because the days are short.
