What was your first Duck

A

anthony m coons sr

Well-known member
Woodies, Teal, Mallard, Pin tail, Diver, what was it. Can you look back and remember! your first duck. Can you remember the time and the place. What gun were you shooting? These are thing that I like to look back on as I'm moving up the age ladder. For me it was in a swamp loaded with teal and woodies. I never hunted ducks before this day. I was just a young kid. My friends father invited me to their honey hole. I had my Dads 16 gauge side by side Springfield. I loved that gun. It wasn't pretty or anything, it had a cracked stock. The bluing was coming off of it. But it was my Dads! and that was good as gold to me. I still can remember the smell of the swamp that day. Walking in the water stepping over my hip boots. I loved it. My friends father put me in a blind in the center of the swamp. It was the prime spot in the whole swamp. You could here the wing beats in the dark. It was like nothing I ever seen before. As day light came a flock of teal flew right over me and low. But I was to slow to even draw on them. I could hear my friends laughing at me. As it got a little lighter I could see a pair of woodies coming dead center at me. I raised that side by side and pulled both trigger by mistake. And down I went onto the floor of the blind. Which was under water by the way. As I got up off the wet floor. I could hear my friends cheering me and saying great shot. Somehow I knocked down a drake wood duck. Don't remember how I pulled up on him. Don't remember if my eyes were open or closed. But from that day. I was hooked for ever. View attachment December 2018 photos from Galaxy 1145.jpg
 
Black Duck, Body Island, Currituck Sound, N.C. Dec after Christmas 1972. Had an Ithaca Model (?)51 semi auto 12 ga.
 
rfberan said:
Black Duck, Body Island, Currituck Sound, N.C. Dec after Christmas 1972. Had an Ithaca Model (?)51 semi auto 12 ga.
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I had one of those as my first semi-auto through my undergrad years. Broke the rod on the back of the bolt housing that mates with the compression spring in the stock twice while shooting 3" magnum Remington loads. Both times in the slotted section where the hammer traveled up to engage the firing pin extension on the back of the bolt housing. I eventually sold it to buy a side-by-side 12gauge Lefever for upland birds and went back to my 870 magnum.
 
I was also an undergrad at UNC. Traded it for a double barrel S/S Ithaca SKB. Don't remember why, but guess we must have been thinking the same.
 
1971 - Hen Mallard on Rest lake in Northern Wisconsin, Winchester model 25 pump. Never found a pellet in that duck, after missing it 3 time she flew into a tree and fell to the ground.
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Hen blue winged teal at Guana WMA in FL. I was using a Remington 870 20 ga
 
rfberan said:
I was also an undergrad at UNC. Traded it for a double barrel S/S Ithaca SKB. Don't remember why, but guess we must have been thinking the same.
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That's "rich", I eventually determined that the Lefever's stock was too short and sold it to purchase...an SKB 12 gauge side-by-side. The back edge of the receiver came to a point; which eventually resulted in a split stock from shooting 3" Remington Nitro Mag. loads at geese.

First duck was a drake wood duck in full breeding plumage in the Pottowattamie Marsh at New Richmond, Michigan; killed with an Ithaca Model 37 in16gauge shooting Peters paper loads. George Gilkey gave the gun and Peters ammunition to my dad prior moving to Papua, New Guinea to "retire".
 
If your referring to the cost of the gun, honesty will make me tell the story as we were far from rich. My dad liked to bet football games and he had bet on Notre Dame against USC. USC went up 28 points in the first half. I don't remember the spot, but my Dad was distraught and disparagingly said, "If the Irish come back I will buy you the shotgun you were telling me about". It was in our local gun shop and I had been admiring for a long time without any hope of it becoming mine.

Anyway, I cheered and prayed like never before and the "Luck" of the Irish came through. I know it killed him, but my Dad kept his word and I still have that gun today. Only one I have held onto all these 40 years.
 
Bluebill w model 23 win 12 gauge double. About 12 and to small to swing it but dad let me shoot em in the blocks while resting gun on top edge of blind wall. Thing I remember most was being real cold and drinking all dads coffee and letting it flow out back door of boobie blind. Probably right in the skiff that was tied up at ladder!
 
Mountains of Colorado west of Colorado Springs. I was 23 are the time, working on a buffalo ranch, guiding hunts, and coaching high school basketball. One of my students took me out and we jumpshot a farm pond. 3 shots later I killed one hen mallard if I remember correctly. I had never even fired a shotgun up to that point. I've sure come a long ways since then!
 
Kyle

You made it to the big time, Nice story. When I was a young man I use to love jump shooting. I use to get more ducks with my dog then my friends did with their guns. We would walk the bays or swamps after opening day morning. An have a field day picking up cripples.
 
No, I meant "rich" as in ironic, hence the notation since the word is used in a non-standard way. I eventually dumped the SKB...after the stock split behind the highpoint in the rear edge of the receiver.

SKB replaced it, along with numerous others prior changing the receiver's rear contours. Over the years, I've discovered I don't shoot doubles well anyway, since my dominant eye, while on the right, suffers from an astigmatism, often resulting in splitting the downfield image. Hard enough to hit with a double's broad sight plane, harder still when you have a second "shadow" image as well.
 
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Roy

That is a great story, Thank you for sharing. My first duck hooked me for life. Had know idea what I was doing. But the sites and sounds of duck hunting took over my mind then . And still does today. Thanks
 
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Hen wood duck, in the little marsh between two lakes that was always our opening day honeyhole, but no longer holds many ducks. Not sure why, but over time what used to be a lot of standing dead timber in a swampy impoundment has fallen down, and the amount of open water has been reduced to almost nothing. Water at same elevation, but way more emergent vegetation than we used to have.

Remington 870, dropped her cleanly on a left-right crossing shot that still gives me and my cross-dominant eye a ton of trouble. If I could make that shot consistently my ducks/shell fired ratio would probably double.
 
Bufflehead I think. What I remember is having to shoot a single shot 20 gauge that was almost impossible for me to cock in time to actually shoot at birds still near the decoys.
 
Hen Broadbill on the Great South Bay with Steve Sanford over his hand carved stool, in the converted car topper that he posts from time to time. Mossberg 500 pump with Federal 2.75 shells. I remember asking him why de didn't wear his back tag, he answered "I don't want to put a hole in my parka!"
Good memories.
 
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