And we are off... Duck Opener 2023

The second half of September is always my favorite time of year. Duck hunting is one of those things that I never really seem to stop thinking about. Over the past few years the beginning of duck season has really changed for me. This year's start will be something I will never forget.

Growing up weekend hunting was the bulk of the hunting I could do, so the opening day of duck season was always my favorite day of the year. Many years, I would get up almost in the middle of the night to race out to get a spot with my dad. I was also fortunate to be able to have a pretty easy spot to hunt by my parents cabin, that for the most part, we didn’t have anyone else to beat out there. But the past couple of years and really now going into full swing, this has shifted. Having the ability to take off a morning during the week along with the kids being homeschooled, has opened the door to weekday hunting. So when Sept 23rd (opening day) arrived I wasn’t planning to hunt. Instead we waited until the following Monday to get things going. Eli and Caleb have been itching to get out on a true duck hunt. They have been on some easier hunts close to home at our old house, when they could get dropped off later in the morning. And Caleb went on an afternoon goose hunt with me last year. But this year, they have really been bugging me to go along on a duck hunt that gives them the full experience.

This story begins with our adventures on the way home from church on Sunday. We have been driving to Mass about 45 minutes from our house the past couple of months and the drive home has many public spots to check out that are not too far out of the way. Sometimes, we take the long way home and check some of these spots out. A couple of weeks ago while doing this, we found a spot that looked fairly promising. Things are very dry in southeast South Dakota, but this area still has some water, much of it being small lakes that now look like mud flats with ponds on them. But one normally larger pond was still holding water with some type of cover, cattails and grass, close to the water, and we could see a few ducks using it.

This is in a popular area for duck hunting, so I had no doubts that another group or maybe two would try to hunt this spot opening day. This is why I waited until Monday afternoon to go out and put a good scout in out there. Eli, Caleb, and I took off a little before dinner and got out there in time to walk out to the pond and see what everything was like. When we were pulling up to the parking spot, Eli thought she saw a large flock of ducks flying and it turns out she was correct. As we were walking out there some nice sized groups of teal were buzzing around. We kept track of where the easier walking spots were to walk out there, and once we got to the pond we found a nice bunch of cattails we could hide in the next morning. I pinned the spot on my phone using a hunting land app so we wouldn’t have any issues getting back there in the dark. The nice part about this spot was that the dry ground, normally underwater on a non dry year, that was nice and dry and easy for the kids to walk on with just rubber boots. They could get within a few yards of the water and still be on solid dry ground.

We checked out another spot on the way home but I was told by both kids that there is no way we were not hunting at the last spot we were just at, multiple times. To their credit, we did see enough ducks out there for me to feel the same way.

When we got back, we ate dinner and then got Eli and Caleb’s clothes and boots picked out and set up for the next morning. They then got to experience the difficulty of falling asleep the night before what you think will be an exciting hunt. While they were trying to fall asleep, I got the decoys, chairs, and my equipment (shells, gun, etc) ready. Along with the most important thing, snacks and water bottles.

Tuesday morning came quickly. I got up at quarter to 5 to get things ready to go before waking the kids up at 5. They both bounced out of bed to get ready and before long, we were driving down the dark roads to our spot.

When we got there, I brought out a headlight for everyone and an extra flashlight. I got my waders on while they got their boots on. Then I put the large decoy bag full of decoys, chairs, and my blind bag on my back while carrying my gun (in a case with a handle) and bag with extra jackets, snacks and water in each hand. Caleb helped carry my telescoping decoy retriever pole, that I mostly use for balance while wading in the water. We walked slowly together out there and to my surprise the walk in the dark went as smooth as it possibly could. It seemed like we got right out there and we didn’t get turned around at all. I then explained to them that we only wanted to knock down the cattails we would sit in and nothing more so we could have good cover to keep us hidden. They took some things out of the decoy bag and organized everything while I made a trail and knocked down a small spot for us all to sit in. I put our three chairs there first and then went back to the kids. When I got there, I grabbed the decoys (7 teal) they had ready for me and my pole and went out to set them up. This is where I always get a little nervous because you never know how bad the muck will be. To my surprise it was boot grabbing but very manageable. The decoys got thrown out fairly quickly and then back to the kids I went to get the spinner. After putting it in the middle of the decoys I went in to pick them up, walk down our little trail in the cattails, and get tucked in. As they sat down, I gave them both their ear muffs and made sure they were comfortable. I then got myself situated by putting my blind bag where I could reach it and got my gun uncased, and ready to be loaded.

When I checked what time it was I was happy to see that it was only two minutes after shooting time. We made great time. Before I could even load my gun, a duck landed in our spread and I could hear behind me “shoot it!”. I laughed and said I am not even loaded up yet and then told them that I think we will probably see a few more ducks yet this morning. As the sound of putting shells in made the first duck fly away it wasn’t even a few minutes later that three more ducks came barrelling in and landed not far from us. I asked them if they had their ear muffs secure and I got a quick “yes" "are you going to shoot one of those?!” responses. I stood up and picked out the closest one and got it when it jumped into the air. Thankfully it was dead, so I told the kids we can leave it for now and let the wind blow it towards the other side and we can get it over there easily and not have me wading out there slowly in the middle of the pond at a time when the ducks will most likely be really flying. And I was right. It didn’t take too much time, and two more were coming in nicely. I dropped the second duck with forward momentum and it actually dropped behind us. Caleb got a good mark on it and directed me to the spot and after not too long of searching we found it. I then proceeded to shoot another one, this time landing right in front of us right at the water's edge. After unloading and putting my gun in a secure spot facing away from everything we walked back down our trail to keep the cover up so I could go get that one and we then walked around and went and got the first one. The smiles on their faces as we were picking these ducks up were priceless.

It slowed just enough for the kids to open a snack, before we got duck number four. At this point, we had a green wing teal, a widgeon, and two gadwalls. I wasn’t really expecting the bigger ducks, as Monday we saw mostly blue wing teal. But it was a nice surprise.

This brings us to the only thing that didn’t go smoothly for us. The pants Eli picked out were not as water resistant as we had hoped and she informed me that parts of her legs were just a little wet from walking out in the dewy grass and that she was starting to get a little cold and was thinking about going home. Now, I could have sat out there all day, but I didn’t want to push her too much. Caleb was not ready to go home. But he also had better pants on. I gave them the best of the snacks I had packed and lifted Eli’s spirits by telling them I packed a small surprise for an after-hunt treat in the car and made them guess what it was. While they started guessing, I told them that we will put the 20 minute rule on. If we don’t see a duck in twenty minutes we will go home. Eli agreed and said that she could make it that long no problem. Well we had a teal come buzzing through. It didn’t decoy as good as the ducks had to this point, but I took the crossing shot and missed. It was enough to get the adrenaline going, and we agreed to now give it the 10 minute rule. This time Eli told me that I have to get one in 10 minutes though. Well as luck would have it. I got to redeem myself on the crossing shot, and another teal came ripping across like the last one. I got this one. I looked back to two smiling faces, and before I could even reach in my bling bag to grab some shells there seemed to be ducks everywhere. As quickly as I could I got two shells loaded in but ran out of time to get the third in as a small flock of gadwalls decoyed perfectly and thankfully I only needed two shells to get our 6th duck. I looked at both of them smiling and said “ok time to go home”. In South Dakota, the first 16 days of the season you can shoot two bonus blue wing teal. I told them that I was fairly certain the last teal I had just shot was a bluewing, but that I was not 100% positive about it. When I went to pick it up, it was indeed a blue wing, and I could have shot another duck. Two more if the next duck was a blue wing teal. Caleb was so fired up he tried to convince Eli and I to try and do this. But I told him that it had been a great morning. We had plenty of ducks to make a nice dinner, and that lets just end it while we are all grinning ear to ear. I was so proud of Eli for not getting too worked up about the discomfort and sticking it out for just a little longer.

When picking everything up, as it always happens ducks and some geese were flying around quite a bit. The kids asked me if they could go just over this little hill behind us to see what this other part of the pond looked like. I gave them strict instructions to stay away from the water, stick together, and stay within yelling distance as I knew I would lose sight of them with the terrain (they were not that far away, less than 200 yards). Well they got to see a little show. A goose landed on that part of the pond right before they started walking that way. They walked to the top and then just a little to the other side, and then knelt down in the grass as that goose was calling to three other geese coming that way. It actually called those three geese in, and I thought they were going to land when all of a sudden all four geese were flying away. I yelled to the kids time to come back, as I was packed up and ready to go. I asked them why they didn’t land, and Eli told me Caleb got excited and jumped up from kneeling and yelled, "Hey Mr. Honkers!!" to let the geese know where they were. Which gave me a chuckle.

We trekked back to the car, again me carrying the bulk of the load. It's amazing how much harder the walk back is.

When we made it to the car I showed them the juice boxes I packed for them along with a cold tea in a cooler for me. We loaded everything up in the car, and sipped them down as we left for home.

When we got home, Eli and Caleb could not wait to tell the rest of our family about the hunt and show off our harvest. Eli helped me a lot with cleaning the ducks. She put in a great effort and we got them all dressed out in a quick manner.

Field to Table

After rinsing off all the duck breasts we got them into a marinade for dinner that night. We let them sit in the marinade the rest of the day and then I threw them on the griddle finely sliced along with sliced up onions and peppers. Everything was seasoned with fajita seasoning. I also made a fresh batch of rice. We put all that in a warm tortilla, with your choice of sauce, and it was delicious. The family scarfed, and we only had enough leftovers for me to have one small fajita for lunch the next day.

As I said in the beginning this will be an adventure with my kids that I will cherish for a long time and I look forward to some more of these hunts in the months to come.

Kevin