What was your first duck

A

anthony m coons sr

Well-known member
From what I can remember! I was hunting a swamp when I got my first duck. Funny! I thought that I would always remember that day. I think that it was a Green Wing Teal. And I was hunting with my dad's Springfield side by side sixteen gauge. For you young guys it was way before steel shot. The swamp was loaded with both green wing and blue wing and woodies. I know I shot a woody that day too. I got the woody mounted. So maybe it was my first duck, I really can't remember. Sorry! But I would love to hear about your first Duck.

Thanks
 
My first duck was a green wing teal drake. Got him mounted and is on my wall.
I didn’t have a boat, waders or any means to be on the water but my dad had taught me how to sneak squirrels so I put it to use on ducks and snuck up on a pair of ducks in the creek and picked out the drake so when they flushed I’d be sure to get him.

This year I have several birds I want mounted and every one I have stalked, I seem to be more effective at that than getting them to decoy. But still it is had to get close to all those eyes
 
Dad let me sluice a bluebill swimming in the decoys at about 12. I,m 62 now so that's been a little while ago. Had to rest the win. model 24 double on edge of blind wall to shoot. First time I recall ever shooting a 12 guage. Always shot a little H&R 410 squirrel hunting which is what I mainly got to do then.Thing I remember the most was drinking all dads coffee and peeing it out back door of boobie blind into bay. And snuggleing up to the blue flame heater that stood in one end of the blind.
 
Roy

Thanks for sharing such a nice moment with your dad. Your first duck story brings back a lot of memories.
Everyone on this site must have that one story.The one that got us hooked on what we all love.

Thanks
 
Drake wood duck on a narrow backwater creek. Had never duck hunted but went with a friend and his dad. When the woodies started zipping through the trees it liked to scared me to death. The creek was very narrow so ducks were flying super close. I thought a jet was buzzing the tree tops until I heard the splash down. Once they flushed I dropped the drake. I've been hooked since that day...21 yrs ago.
 
1963, a BW Teal, in early October. Hen or young drake? I still recall the shot and over the hip boots retrieve. Plucked the bird all the way to the wing tips and my grandmother roasted it for me.
 
Mr B

That is what I'm talking about. Woodies are like jet planes in the timbers. I been scared many times when I was a young pup. Its great it hooked you for like.

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Scott

A hen woody that's a nice bird . I got a male close to the same time frame. Its the same story over and over. I guess DUCKS are our drug of choice.

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Vince

Your story is great, Has a little of everything in it Dead duck, A wet foot, trip to grandma's house, You had to be king for a day in your house.

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Paul

Its not a story unless someone is there to witness it. I have been called a liar many times because of stories that happen to me hunting by myself. Man's best friend wouldn't verify the stories to my friends.

Thanks
 
My first duck was a black duck. Shot it on Smith River in Virginia on Christmas afternoon, 1953. What made it better was that I was using a Fox Model B 20 bore that was under the tree that morning. Still use that gun. In fact yesterday for snipe. Best, Worth Mathewson
 
Anthony,

I honestly don't remember. My parents started taking me when I was 4 years old, since my mother hunted ducks also, and no babysitter would come over to the house at 3:30 in the morning...they sat me on top of the blind wearing a camo headnet and told me to sit still and tell them if I saw any ducks...no shooting for me then! But I think it taught me to sit still and appreciate watching everything that went on.

I know I carried a .410 when I was 6-7-ish. Since we hunted the Mississippi River primarily, I'm guessing it was probably a bluebill.

I killed my first mallard in Arkansas, and it may well have been my first duck. In the 1970's and early 80's, my parents would drive down to Stuttgart over the Thanksgiving holiday to visit some family friends. The first year they went, 1976, they went down by themselves. The next year, they took me (7) and my 6-month-old sister. I remember we hunted an evening in a ricefield with mallards and pintails all around...the adults were shooting, and finally they let me shoot a single mallard drake that lit not too far away, right at the end of the evening. That night, the tail curls got sewn onto my Jones-style hat...

Those were some golden years...I saw more ducks in Arkansas in one day than we saw in a season on the Mississippi. Killing limits of ducks (point system...mallards at 25 points for the drakes and 70 or 75 for the hen, pintails, widgeon, teal all 10 points apiece...) by 7:30-8:00 and the host apologizing it took so long...the truly legendary Arkansas timber hunting...
 
Rick

Might be the best story yet. The life as a duck man isn't a easy one. But it sure is a great way to spend your free time. I use to take my two boys out when they were 2 and 6. They would sleep in the boot while my brother and I would hunt. I would cook big meals in my outlaw boat for them. They couldn't get enough of hunting. They were some of the best times in my life.

Thanks
 
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Worth

Black Ducks are a great first bird. There are lots of hunters that never get to even shot a black duck. Your story was really nice.

Thanks
 
anthony m coons sr said:
There are lots of hunters that never get to even shot a black duck.
Thanks
Click to expand...

That's so interesting. I probably tripped over 100 black ducks en route to my first broadbill. But but blacks are certainly my favorite duck to shoot, certainly the smartest..
 
Fist duck taken was a black duck on the Forsythe national Wildlife Refuge in little egg harbor, NJ. My next door neighbor introduced me to duck hunting at 14 years old and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve always said that while waterfowl hunting you will always seen ducks. You may not get any shooting but you always see ducks. Just being on the marsh, watching the sunrise and just enjoying the sights and smells continues to keep me out there. By the way I’m now 60 years young.
 
I also shot a black duck as my first duck in Virginia. And with a Fox Model B from an inner tube float. It was around 1971 and the duck had a band on its leg. I was on a small lake off the Lynnhaven River in VA Beach.
 
Hen pintail that dropped into a small spread of G&H mallard decoys on Ft. Cobb reservoir in Oklahoma. That must have been about 50 years ago.
 
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