What do you miss?

Rick Pierce

Rick Pierce

Well-known member
Was reading through some things on another site, and somebody asked whether or not duck hunting had basically turned into bass fishing. It got me to thinking, because in many ways, it has. Some things are very good, such as better clothing, although I don't think anyone will ever invent the perfect pair of duck hunting gloves. Some things I could really do without, like "extreme" duck hunting and spinning wing decoys.

But, looking back on your hunting life, what do you miss? What are the things that you miss?

One of the things for me is reloading. I spent many a night as a kid sitting in my parents' basement looking at a Lee Load-All in 12 or 20-gauge....and to tell the truth, it taught me some things. I learned to be patient, because the shells only get loaded one at a time, and then only if you do each step correctly. A 100-shell loading block fills much slower than you might think. I figured out later on how much trust my father must have had to let his son load shells that both would shoot. I figured out (my Dad would probably argue) that if you're putting work into loading those shells, you get a little more careful with pulling the trigger than if you just go out and buy them (we can argue that, too, with the cost of shells).

Anyway, just wondered what some of you missed or would like to see come back, even if just one more time.
 
I don't know Rick. What I miss the most aren't things but people and dogs.........as I get older the list grows longer. Another item I miss is boundless energy - Oh for the days before afternoon naps. When I could be up for 36 or 40 hours at a time and still have enough reserve to go to work the next day.

I've reloaded for practice and hunting for over 50 years so that wouldn't be one. The rest of it.................I have better quality, more waterproof, more durable, and warmer, clothes now than I ever had. I have safer boats, more and better decoys. Despite shooting steel the quality of store bought shells is better and more consistent. I don't miss the days of being stuck in the same marsh or even the same blind for most of the season or not having enough money to travel to hunt. Though I could miss the quantity of birds that I saw in the 70's, I really can't complain too much as my average annual bag is more now than it ever was back then.

Yep..........what I miss the most are people and a few good dogs.
 
I miss the hunts shared with good friends who lost interest or no longer have the time due to family/job situations.
I miss having the energy and stamina to get up early and hunt all day long for two solid weeks with little rest.
I miss times spent on public waters in good spots that were infrequently hunted.
I miss woods with minimal undergrowth and no privit. Woods that you could easily walk through.
I miss backwaters and beaverponds where the water was clear and not choked by invasive species like alligator weed and water primrose.
I miss 10 page waterfowl catalogs that didn't have 50 pages of electronic gizmos that make hunters think they are somehow hardcore for owning it.
I miss the days duck calls didn't all have skulls and crossbones on them.
I miss the days where a 16 year old kid who had a 30 year outboard and a beat up jon boat considered himself fortunate and privaleged.
I miss the days when a boy could shoot a canada goose and get congratulations from his teachers the next Monday at school.
I miss the days hunting permission could be obtained simply by asking.
I miss the days teenage boys were taught by their dads how to hunt before they were teenagers and hunting in mobs.

I miss a lot of things but wouldn't trade all of them for the time spent hunting with Thomas.
 
i miss the days that my friends weren't married and they were single.
this allowed me to take my cousin out more often and repay my uncle for showing me how to deer hunt since my father didnt hunt. he is a good kid and a good hunting partner

i was never fortunate enough to hunt with lead or see birds that "blacked out the sky" but ive had some good days
this will be my fourth season this year and i still have a lot to look foward to in my life
 
I miss the hunts shared with good friends who lost interest or no longer have the time due to family/job situations.
I miss having the energy and stamina to get up early and hunt all day long for two solid weeks with little rest.
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Eric nailed this.
I remember hunting/scouting all day for 5-6 days in a row "back in the day".
If I did that now, I'd have to go to bed at 7pm evernight and would still be sore & tired as hell. Plus I would be divorced (again!).
 
I miss my friends, the ones who taught me to hunt and took me along with them, and those i taught and brought along with me. Duck hunting, more than any other hunting sport, was so very social for me. I had the good fortune of meeting really good people and getting to be friends with them, and for that, I am blessed.
 
1. I miss the days of not being judged harshly by others for my choice of outdoor activities
2. I miss the days of being able to hunt anywhere that is legal without constant harrassment/explanation
3. I miss the days of not being sore and tired after hunting.
4. I miss the days of hunting Indian Slough (wonder if I can even call it that anymore) on opener with my Dad, his buddy and his buddies son. I really miss this one.
5. I miss the days of the DNR being interested in promoting and helping hunters verses what they have become today (not the field agents, the headquarters/office personnel)
6. I miss our hunting cabin that was sold 5 years ago.
7. I miss the effectiveness (cost and lethality) of lead shot.
8. I miss the variety of birds Minnesota used to see migrate through the State.
9. I miss the real cold days we used to have the last couple weeks of the season. Haven't seen this for awhile.

Mark W
 
I've been at this game for about 14 years now and what I miss the most is floating the river and not seeing anybody. Having the time to float the river. I don't have my mini drifter anymore for floating and the stretch I liked so much is to far. I now live in the Portland Oregon area, have a motor boat and have to drive much farther to try and get away from crowds. I miss driving 8 min and walking 5 min to pitch out 6 decoys before class. My hunting partner I learned to hunt ducks with has moved and I lost touch. My first dog is no longer with me and she is missed everyday(but her replacement is coming along nicely) Man, this is getting depressing. Over all I miss the simplicity of my early years hunting. I am trying to make things simpler again. Now I am making new memories with my daughter who will be shooting this year. My "new" hunting partner of about 5 years is a great guy and we have traveled the state chasing birds. I am way more comfortable with the gear I have now. My wife has come to terms with the fact that everything goes on hold during duck season.
 
WOW! I'm going to have to write a descending opinion. For me, the good old days are now! And this will be my 56th season...I started in 1957. My best hunting buddy and I will shoot together for the 48th straight season. My two sons have become avid waterfowlers and so have their sons. The only thing better that sharing a blind with them, is sharing it with three generations. Recently my youngest grandson was being coached about the necessities of life. After his dad suggested things like food...shelter...water, he blurted out "A good place to duck hunt." My oldest grandson (age 16) works and guides for Habitat Flats, a local outfitter, and I heard him tell his girl friend who was complaining about the long snow goose season, "Look! It's my life!"

I recently wrote my duck-hunting memoirs. I called it DUCK FEVER: Reflections on a Fifty-Year Addiction to Waterfowling. In one chapter I detailed my "Top Ten" duck hunts...and seven of them have been since 2000!

I just got home from mowing willows and broadcasting millet at our duck camp. My middle grandson has been a great help this year. For us, there are only two seasons...duck season and getting ready for duck season. One is too short, and one is too long! It's a way of life for us! We have become better managers and better hunters. And we don't only hunt our private marsh. When it freezes up, we hunt the Missouri River, which can be awesome. One of the best hunts I had last year was at Fountain Grove Conservation Area, a public hunting area managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation. Our party went through the draw in the "poor line." We drew pill 35 out of 36, but had a world-class mallard shoot.

Look, I've been through the sixties, when we had a couple seasons with a one-mallard limit; and the eighties when we had back-to-back-to back 30 day seasons with three bird limits. In Missouri, we currently have a sixteen-day early teal season in September and also an early resident Canada goose hunt. The north zone regular duck season opens in late October and runs until after Christmas. The Canada goose season opens around Thanksgiving and runs until the end of January...just in time for the snow goose conservation order, that has legs often until mid-March. That's seven months of waterfowling!

Dang. I'll have to go back and read the previous posts again to see what's wrong. I think it's as good as it can get...and I'm hoping to have at least 15 more seasons!

Jeff Churan
Chillicothe, MO
 
I cant say I actually miss things.I miss people and my dogs everything else is BS to me.
I miss hunting with my two heroes.My dad, my uncle and my 2 black labs (Whitetail and Gunner)

Best
Bob
 
I miss hunting with my dad and my "uncle Al Owen, my daughter Hayley , My Labs Tude,&Jed, My friend, who has moved to Wisconsin. I miss my 20/20 eye sight and my ability to shoot right handed. Other wise I am just looking forward to send the dogs on the first double:)
 
Rick
I miss the simple things: the respect of other hunters for you and each other, for the environment, for the game they are hunting and for their equipment. The thing I don't miss is the speed everything is going; life itself, the maze of complicated rules and regulations, the rush to beat someone to an area to hunt and lastly what happened to the ability to stop, slow down and enjoy life?
wis boz
 
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I miss hunting with a few people. I miss having a couple local places where we could count on getting a few ducks at. I miss wondering how others are doing and not being updated every 30 minutes with a text (I'm just as guilty as others on that one). I miss Giant Canada Geese being a rare trophy.

There are a lot more things I don't miss like those late 80s early 90s steel loads and waders that would bunch up and rub you raw.

Tim
 
I miss duck season, and cold weather.

I guess I'm too new at this (6 years) to really miss anything yet, but I love to hear stories about the "old days". So all you guys with lots of years in, and lots of stories to tell, don't hesitate to post em up every now and then so us new guys can get a taste of the "good old days"!
 
I miss Giant Canada Geese being a rare trophy.
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Ain't that the truth. You know what the early bag limit will be? Hope you have a 3/4 ton pickup truck.

I remember when Forrest Lee and other rediscovered them and started a propagation program for them.
 
I miss Giant Canada Geese being a rare trophy.
Click to expand...

Ain't that the truth. You know what the early bag limit will be? Hope you have a 3/4 ton pickup truck.

I remember when Forrest Lee and other rediscovered them and started a propagation program for them.
Click to expand...


Yep, saw it's going up to 15. It's too hot in August for me to hunt geese, even September is tough... My black hoodie just gets too hot. I see they are trying to setting up 'feed the hungry' processors for the early season too.

I wondered about 10 years ago if they knew then what we know now would they have transplanted them all over the place? I know from what was being said back in the 80s that this was not foreseen... at least not by those doing the transplanting. From zero to pest in 50 years.

Tim
 
I miss having ever weekend and after school hunt.

I miss watching the Michigan game after the hunt. Now I just go to work.

I miss reloading with my brothers.
 
I guess what I miss is not knowing... when your young you dont know where the ducks will be or what the weather is going to do or if the decoys you made will actually float and draw ducks. you learn alot in almost 40 years in how to prepare for the season or a day ,when your young you tend not to look at the obvious. I remember my first hunt, I could only think about ducks the night before and couldnt sleep, I was not disappointed the next day. my first duck was a banded wood duck , it was foggy and the birds just kept coming. I miss my hunting partner for most of my hunting life , he has fallen to the evils of MS and can no longer go. but the one thing that will never be the same is having my son in the blind next to me,we lost him in Iraq at the age of 19, he is still with me on every hunt but really miss his laugh when I miss.
 
I have never thought about what I miss. I have read other posts about the stages of a hunter's life and I readily acknowledge that I have been through a few different "phases" myself in close to 40 years of duck hunting. I have great memories of good times and anticipate many more. The future hunts will not be the same as the past ones and that is ok. I really look forward to new experiences and meeting new friends through hunting.
 
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