What was your first Duck

My first ever was a hen or immature scoter, shot in the water in November, 1965, Guilford, CT. The little I remember is that I was teased for "Essexing" it, Essexing being a pejorative for water swatting by meat hunting old timers from the nearby town of Essex, who refused to "waste" a shell on a bird on the wing. The first one on the wing was a male GWT the first day of the CT season, (3rd Saturday in October) 1968, in a marsh along the lower CT River known to family and friends as the "Parsonage", so named because the marsh was hayed in colonial times for the church Parson. Model 12, 12 gauge with a 30" full choke, the perfect kids gun. [;)] No records exist of the number of shells to birds ratio. [whistle]
 
Hey all, I'm new to the forum and this looks like a good place to break the ice. My first duck was a hen mallard shot on a farm pond in the Fingerlakes region of NY, with a single shot Ithaca 20 Ga. resting on the cross rail of the blind. My excited young self neglected to get the hammer all the way back and she made it to the water before I could recover. Not the most sporting wing shot but I wouldn't trade that water swat for anything! Thanks for the excuse to recall fond memories.
 
Drake Broadbill, Langford bay, Rock Hall Md. Sweet 16 ga browning (still have the gun) I was
13 yrs old and as they say the rest is history.
 
I never get tired of telling this story.

My first bird, was actually a pair. Early Teal season, 1974, I was 13. I grew up on a farm, here in NE Ohio. At 13, technically, I was too young to hunt without an adult. However...

I started hunting at 11 hunting squirrels, rabbits and woodchucks. By 12, I was hooked on duck hunting, but didn't kill any ducks that first year. When I was younger, up till maybe when I was about 9 or 10, my father was an avid duck hunter. I remember him coming home, (even though we did a lot together back then, he never took me duck hunting, I think because he always went with another guy, and very often to the very dangerous Lake Erie). Over the early fall, in anticipation, of the upcoming Waterfowl season and being the fact that I was a poor farm boy, and after consulting a few library books during school classes, most probably math..., I carved, the most crude pair of Blue Winged Teal out of a 2 x 4 and a piece of 1 x pine, using nothing more than a coping saw, a horse shoeing rasp, and a dull pocket knife. I had a buddy, who lived about 4 miles away, and very near a big marsh. After planning, one Friday after school, I loaded my old ten speed bicycle up with overnite clothes waders, coat, ammo, my trusty 12 gallon Marlin pump shotgun strapped between my legs, and of course my brand newly carved toy ducks, and peddled the few miles, (all uphill of course), to my buddy's house. After managing about three hours of sleep, my buddy Anthony and I awoke early the next morning, and headed out. We picked a spot in the marsh and put out my little pair of proudness. We could hear birds singing about back and forth and as daylight began, we could start to make out their shapes against the light blue horizon. It wasn't long before birds started trading back & forth, easily in range of our lead shot, but most were Mallards and Woid Ducks. Finally, a small flick of about half a dozen tiny Green Winged Teal buzzed by. Without thinking, just like a real hunter is supposed to. I rose and shouldered my gun, while clicking off the safety, all in one smooth move. I picked out a bird and slapped the trigger. BOOM, and low and behold, the bird folded! Well, after seeing that little bird fold, I am now a seasoned Duck hunter. So I did what I was supposed to do- cycled another shell and picked out another bird. Again, I slapped the trigger, and once again, saw a little bird fold. I'm thinking, at this point, I was so amazed, that I didn't pump the fun again, but instead took in the most amazing moment.

I ended up taking those birds home and proudly showing them off to my Mom & Dad before plucking them alm alone. I don't really remember eating them, but I know we did, because we didn't waste anything edible back then.

I still have those little wooden ducks, and look at them often. It was a brief moment in my life I will cherish forever and never forget.

Jon
 
I was 13 in 1973,In Barrington N.H., shooting my dads Ithaca side by side NID 26 in 12 ga. , It was a hen woody I was on a beaver dam between 2 ponds 1st shot at a duck. I still shoot side by sides to this day for 95% of my hunting and shooting.
scott
 
Hen Bufflehead From a Devlin (Scaup?) laying out with my dad, the boat built by dad and his friends. Niantic Bay, 1992, with my 870 I still use today...I've had many guns since buy they just dont make them like they used to [cool] and that gun has outlasted them all.
 
Greenwinged Teal, October 1985, Ithaca M66 Supersingle, 30" full choke, with lead #6s.
It came rocketing down a marshy creek I was standing along, I saw it, got off a snap-shot. Was amazed when it dropped!

That gun was my Dad's, it was the tightest full choke I have even seen, he won many turkeys, hams and capons with that gun at Turkey Shoots.
I shot a nice turkey with it once, at 25 steps, it put 32 #6's in the head and neck.
My brother still has the gun.
 
A drake whistler, with a 12ga Winchester Model 24, over a friend's rig of Ken Anger bluebills on Lake Erie...16 years old with my dad and brother. Can still picture the bird dipping over decoys, left to right...my shot gets better over the years!
 
Carl

Great shooting, I know those older guns had some pattern. That it was your Dad's gun makes it that much of a better story. Lead #6 shot made the story even better for me. Thanks
 
Tom

Your shooting as you get older only gets better with stories. I got a friend that swears that he never missed a duck in his life. But trust me! he has missed more times then not. Your first duck is one that you never forget. Thanks
 
Brett

Great story, Hey! nothing wrong with your story. We all had know idea what to do the first time. I was on my butt in water on the bottom of the blind. Before I even knew I hit my first duck. These memories are great. Thanks for your post.
 
Jon

That is a wonderful story my friend. Post a picture of your home made decoys. Thank you very much for sharing that story with all of us. Its funny how little moments like that stay with us forever.
 
Boy! Question brings back memories. Black duck in Head of the Harbor (Stony Brook Harbor, North Shore of Long Island).
1965; 20 Gauge Richland 707 (The gun that the gun writer, Francis Sell, wrote about alot.) 3 inch shells, No 5s. We were pass shooting as each morning the birds would leave the salt marsh to head for their day resting area, the Stony Brook Millpond. My best friend, Jack, and I just by blind luck on our first day hunting by ourselves at 16, hit the flyway to the pond. We each killed a black duck, each of which crashed through the shrub oak on the other side of the beach. Just a great early October morning.
 
October 1969 for me. I would take my wooden, lapstrake skiff (I was too young to drive) across Buttermilk Bay in southeastern Massachusetts, leave it on the beach on the other side, and walk up into the woods surrounding the cranberry bogs to hunt pa'tridge. A flock of greenwing teal jumped out of a little stumpy pond, disappeared over the trees and then reappeared right over my head as they circled back. I flock shot 'em as they passed over and dropped one stone dead with my 20 ga Remington Mod 31. Remember it like it was yesterday!

Great thread..........

Matt
 
My first duck was a Drake Lesser Scaup aka Little Bluebill. I used a Steven Savage side by side 16 gauge. It was a stormy day. The storm was coming from the southeast in 1964.I was on Bayfarm Island. I loved that shotgun and unfortunately it was broken in half in 1970 when a fellow T Boned me in my pickup.
 
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