Last Friday brought a close to the 2012 waterfowl season. With a storm coming in on Thursday, we headed out one last time. The hunting wasn't great; we did manage to shoot a few however, and it gave Cutter one more chance to get on to film. He's come a long ways his first season. He'll learn a lot more for next year.
Duck hunting was one of my favorite past-times as a kid. My brother and I would stash a canoe and decoys down at the "Swamp," which was actually Mulberg Lake. We were both too young to drive so at 4am, we walked the mile-and-a-half trek through the woods to get to the lake, set decoys up, and wait. I couldn't stand the taste of coffee or cigarette smoke at that time but we felt like grown-ups as we sipped the hot beverage and sucked down smokes as ducks set prematurely into our decoys; just barely light enough to see their silhouettes but definitely hearing the unmistakable sound like jets flying just above our heads.
This season was very successful and not because we shot a lot of ducks but because we were able to introduce some new people and kids to the sport and because of the healing process of working with a new puppy after losing my best buddy last year. (In fact, I only bird hunted one day last year after losing Chase. He wasn't always the best listening bird-dog but that wasn't the point.) When it all comes together and Cutter finally makes that cool retrieve, it validates all the work put in, similarly to watching Jill or John's kids connect the for the first time on a duck or goose. One thing I'll definitely take from training a puppy again is to focus more on the process and enjoy it, knowing that it will all be worth it in the end. I'll definitely take that into this guide season as well.
Keep 'em where they live...
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