Duck hunting 101-I grew up with a dad and 2 brothers who hunted, ducks, geese, deer, dove; you name it, they hunted it. I used to love it when I was young and my dad went hunting, my life changed for one solid weekend. Mom and her friend Marion (whose husband Frank was my dad's hunting buddy) would take us out to dinner or to a movie, activities that were not a part of the norm. There was one thing that I didn't like about hunting, the guns and the dead animals. I have many memories of my dad and brothers hanging out with each other, cleaning guns (I did love the smell of the oil/cleaner that was used) talking and laughing, at times I felt kind of jealous. Fast forward to 1978, age 16; I meet the man/boy who will become my husband. I ask him, "do you hunt?" He replies, "no." OK, I'm onto something here I think, a guy that does not hunt, no guns no dead animals; that is until he meets my dad and my brothers. As most of you know, Bill and I married in 1982 and hunting became an active part of his life and a very sensitive part of mine. Bill hunted, I stayed home with the kids; Bill hunted some more, I still stayed home with the kids-it was a viscous cycle that depended on the seasons-I became a little bitter, I wanted some time to myself too! Well, then Bill went hunting and he took the kids, now that was fun! I slept in, read a book, did whatever I wanted. God, I love hunting!! Hit fast forward again, 2001'ish-The boys are now grown and have moved on to girlfriends, jobs, sports, and other activities I don't want to know about. It was about this time I realized I didn't have one thing that just the boys and I did-but they hunted with their dad, have to admit I was a little jealous. And so in my quest to find some things that I could do with "the guys"...I thought I'd give hunting a try, you never know, I might like it. Then I started thinking about how cold it is, how early you have to get up, not to mention the bathroom issues; considering all those things my idea to partake in the sport of hunting took a back seat; until this year. As a part of my 50 list I chose duck hunting for a number of reasons but mainly to see the places that the boys had spent their childhood, the place that drew my husband out of a warm bed and into cammo clothing, and the place that they talked about not just when they first got home but over dinner in the summer, on boating trips...they talked the "story" all year long. And so, today January 14th, 2012 I committed myself to "hanging with the boys" in a duck blind.
Here is what I learned: For my husband and boys, it is a lot about ritual-preparation, the night before. Racks on the truck, load the canoe, get the four wheeler, lay out the clothes (usually Bill gets dressed in the kitchen so as not to wake me :). And so Bill says to me Friday night, "do you think we will have time to go to Costco?" Are you kidding me, he was worried about not having enough time to get "us" ready for hunting in the morning...And so it begins, I start to be a part of his ritual. He has it all planned out; borrow Ryan's waders, call Katie to arrange getting them; what pants I'm going to wear, what hat, what gloves, and of course there is the 15 times he asks me what coat I'm going to wear-OMGosh, you would have thought we were going to a fashion show!!! Honestly though, he thought of everything right down to the headlight/flashlight he had all ready for me so I could see in the dark! We notify Brandon that I will be going hunting with them in the morning-I'm not sure but I think he was pretty excited. Everything is a go-time for bed!
5:00 a.m., up and at um-Bill bring me coffee in bed, oh how I wanted to tell him I had changed my mind-to late for that. Get dressed, Bill helps me get in the waders, ties my boots (actually they were Ryan's boots and about 5 sizes too big), hat-check, gloves-check! Bill makes me my own thermos of coffee with creamer-Yes, I'm spoiled rotten. Bill says stuff like-"one rule of hunting, you can't be late"!!! Really, like I'm ever late honey! Talk about routine, the dogs are crazy whining and jumping on me-Bill says usually they would be back on their blanket fast asleep-seems as though I have totally thrown off their routine as well.
6:00 a.m., we meet up at the hunting place with a couple of guys Bill works with, Lyle says, "Matt said Bill's wife was coming hunting...I don't recall Bill every mentioning that you hunt." Ha, I don't Lyle, can't you see I can't walk in all these damn clothes...Anyway, lets start the 4 wheeler and get the canoe out to the lake-4 wheeler won't start, of course most every man there has to have an opinion why it won't start, several look at it-still wont start. Move onto plan B-take the truck through the field and we will have to pull the canoe and decoys. OK, that was possibly the best part...4 wheel drive, mud flying everywhere, then stop. We have to walk the rest of the way-onward and upward I go with my 50 pounds of clothes and those fricken boots-finally get to the place to put the canoe down the hill to the lake-Holy S*&%, it's straight down. Brandon says, "don't worry mom, that's what the rope tied to the tree is for"...oh yeah, of course! Get down the "hill" (more like a cliff if you ask me) and get ready to get in the canoe. Now I've been in the canoe lots of times but this morning I'm in a canoe, in the dark, with 50 pounds of clothes on and the water is cold enough I'm sure it should really have a thin layer of ice. Panic sets in! I say something about hoping we don't tip over...Brandon says all too seriously, "Mom, if we tip get the waders off as fast as you can", Ok, thanks Brandon, I feel much better-Now just don't rock the damn boat. But through this all both Brandon and Bill are recalling for me where so and so hunts, what happened where, etc...they are repeating their stories to me, helping me to connect with the places they have shared about..."Kriss," Bill says, "this is the place we call the island" I know that place, it's where Kyle, Brandon and Ryan used to sit...ahhh, I'm beginning to see how the story comes together now, I have a point of reference.
Bill in all his garb-Really, this is a fashion statement especially if you add up how much all of this cost-not even including the gun!!We get to the place where we are going to "hide" from the ducks, it's a log in 18 inches of water-Good, and I thought we were going to stand the whole time..lol We sit there for quite awhile, Bill mentions several times about the time, how early we are, how much time we saved by doing this or that, how much time it took last time...blah, I'm thinking it's a damn good thing I wasn't late, he is really fixated on the time! Getting close to shoot time, the ducks start flying. Wigeon, mallards, wood ducks-I'm amazed at how they can identify the types of ducks. Brandon with his duck call turns a flock in-they talk about shooting, somehow the communication got mixed up, Bill shoots and Brandon doesn't. Bill realizes Brandon was waiting, there were more birds and they got scared away. Sometime later they both fire on a lone duck, it's dead-hmm, kinda sad. More time passes, talking and having a good time. God, I love these guys-they totally spoil me, always asking me if I'm warm enough, do I want coffee-I'm OK except my feet are frozen-Brandon says it's not hunting if your feet aren't frozen! We discuss the animal dropping on the log, nobody was sure what type of animal left dropping like that-I set my coffee next to it, trying to think of the fact that I'm standing in 1 foot of water, I wonder if some animal is going to surface between my legs or something...later we see 3 otters...they have got to be some of the cutest animals ever! I guess I'll have to Google otter excrement to see if that was what left the droppings, or better yet, just say, yep, I bet that's what it was!!
My special coffee next to the droppings!
A lone duck fly's by, Bill says something about it, I say, "it was probably with the one you killed." I'm not cut out for that part of hunting I realize.Now it's totally light out, the wind is beginning to kick up, it's fricken cold. No birds flying, time to pick up the decoys and head in.
One more thing I have to do Brandon reminds me-Shoot the gun. I'm not going to say much about that other than watch the video, that says it all.
My mind starts thinking about getting back in the canoe-then quickly switches to the "hill." Holy Moly, my feet are numb, how the hell am I going to get up?
Back to shore, I eye the "hill" and while the boys are getting ready to drag the canoe up, I head up, grab the rope and start my ascent-1/2 way up, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get up the muddiest part; I stop, try to catch my breath (thank God I've quit smoking) and ask Bill to snap a picture-done. One long deep breath and bam, I grab the rope and just go for it! At the top-Not bad for an old lady!! We get the canoe up the hill and walk back to the truck-load everything up and now comes the fun part-4 wheeling through the mud.
And so today I killed two birds with one stone-I experienced hunting with my boys and shot a gun-The only thing that was missing was Ryan, who was not with us today. I would go again on a clear mild day if shoot time started at 9:30 or 10:00,-but since that is never going to happen I'll stay in my warm bed, have the house to myself-except of course the dogs, and sit back and listen the the boys talk their story of past hunting trips-hopefully today's will be one of them. As for shooting-probably not, I'll leave that to the experts, but at least I can say I did it! The only problem with the title? We only got one bird :~
