Her First Duck Hunt
By Jason Thompson, Drake Waterfowl Web Manager

The morning began like most mornings when you are headed to the duck blind. The alarm clock sounded early, anticipation was high and the thought of another duck hunt being etched into my memory was something that excited me. This day, however, was different. I would not be the one to fire the gun. In fact, as much as I would have liked to have been shooting this day, the season had ended for me two weeks earlier. On this cold weekend in early February it was the state of Alabama's Youth Hunt and I would be taking my oldest daughter, Emma Frances (10) out to give her a taste of what she had only seen second hand.

We had a short drive from Huntsville to Scottsboro that morning so we left our house around 4a.m. We were to meet two good friends, World Champion Taxidermist, Shane Smith and another Huntsville native Todd Norton who would be helping with a boat and decoys. We arrived at our hunting location still an hour away from shooting time. Shane and Todd finished setting out some diver decoys as I brushed the blind for Emma Frances and myself. We were hunting the banks of the TN River where several hundred divers and a few puddle ducks had been seen frequenting the area since the end of the regular waterfowl season.

After getting settled into our makeshift blind, Emma Frances and I went over several things including safety, gun rules and what ducks we might see that morning. The great thing about the youth hunt in Alabama is the main hunting season closed a couple of weeks earlier, so the birds are not nearly as decoy shy as they were when the season ended. At first light, we watched as a couple of groups of ringnecks and scaup buzzed the decoys. Several times we had birds that were skirting the decoys but Emma Frances could not get off a shot. Finally we had a beautiful drake lesser scaup (bluebill) come into range and Emma Frances made the most of it. One shot and the bird was in the bag! She had just taken her first duck! The excitement in her eyes was something that I will never forget.

The day was already a huge success in the field, but with several hours left - she wanted more. We noticed the birds were continuing to go down river and with the help of Shane and Todd we decided to pickup our diver spread and move to a different location a few hundred yards away. We got settled into our new spot and things began to slow down. However, I noticed several groups of canvasbacks out in the main body of the river and I thought maybe they would see the white of our decoys and pay us a visit.

After about 30 minutes, a group of ducks headed in our direction, I knew instantly they were canvasbacks. How cool would it be to kill a canvasback on your very first duck hunt!? They made two passes and with the 2nd pass, a beautiful hen canvasback came in perfectly for Emma Frances to get off a shot that knocked the big diver down. She followed up with two more shots and after a short boat ride to pick up the trophy, Emma Frances had not only taken her first duck but her first canvasback!

Many hunters go a lifetime without killing a canvasback and for my 10-year-old daughter it was something very special. Emma Frances has seen the trophies in our library that bring back memories from duck hunts from all over the country. For someone who has a passion for waterfowl it was very special to see my oldest daughter holding her first 2 trophies and you can rest assured they too will be added to the many other birds in our collection at home. Emma Frances now has a new appreciation for duck hunting, realizing what a privilege it is to hunt as well as making great memories with friends and family. It is safe to say that waterfowling is officially in her blood. After all, what would you expect from a girl whose first word as an infant was "duck".