who do we owe a thanks to???

This is a topic that I think of from time to time. Somewhere along the line we owe a thanks to someone for giving us the the chance for our first waterfowl hunt. That person or group of people have got us to the point that waterfowling is a part of our lives and for most of us a huge part. For some its their father or uncle maybe an older brother. We all have someone to thank for giving us our start and teaching us the lessons that they were taught.

So let's hear it who do you owe a thank you to for that first duck hunt or goose hunt. Who was that first person in your life who took you under their wing at a young age and helped you get you waders muddy. Showed you how to clean a duck. I know we all have a neat story to share and someone to thank.

I will start . . . For me I was raised by a single mother. Needless to say she wasn't taking me out in the jersey marsh at 4am. I grew up in a small jersey beach town with a winter population of maybe 20. Down the street from me was a family who had a son a few years older then me. Every winter I would see their sneakboxes all grassed up and see them coming home with ducks. I always wanted to go. When I turned 14 I got my first 12ga. I signed up for my hunter saftey And was invited to duck hunt with the family down the street. I also was able to duck hunt with 2 brothers who lived a few streets over. They were both Vorhees cops and showed me and taught me a lot.
I was very lucky to have nice people in the town I lived in to teach me and take me duck hunting. So for me I owe a thanks to a nice family down the street and the 2 brothers. I was able to meet up with the family down the street the father and son and we did a hunt together this past season and it was great. Felt like old times again. Thanks for reading let's hear your story.

My younger brother got me into duck hunting when we were in college. He coordinated a duck hunt for our father and the two of us and secured a guide in Chincoteague, VA and we went. 22deg in waders with no insulation, didn't feel my feet for two days and for some reason I was hooked. Up to that point, I didn't know that saltwater froze. I tried deer hunting but it was a little boring, no cigars, no talking, no peeing, no fun. I'll stick with feathers.

I am the waterfowler i am because of Dennis known as smitty...he'd invite me up when ,i was a young glowing kid...he was a caretaker of a piece of property and he'd have blinds all setup and just everything,the old boy had 6 to 8 labs in the back yard...he was truely an oldhead of the waterfowling world...after we'd come out the fields hunting his wife would have a full breakfast on the table for all the guys...Smitty and his wife were truely a blessing....he and his wife have passed away, but thier not forgotten...i think of them all the time. wearing all his turkey spurs around his neck, yulping on his homemade wingbone calls....i miss that old feller...Rusty...

Great story rusty.

Way back when I was 10, we used to go over to my Uncle Jims every Sunday and watch the original American Sportsman with Curt Gowdy. My Uncle Jim and Uncle Pete had both just started hunting a few years befor the show started airing.

Before I turned 12, they mentored me through my safety course and got me started with gun and bow safety.

We started out small game hunting and then a few years later we eventually went on our first duck hunt.

But I have to give props to John H. also. He was my neighbor quite a few years back. As things go, we wound up taking different paths then made contact again about 5 years ago. I had become an avid bowhunter and he a waterfowler. Well needless to say, a couple of goose hunts later, now I'm a die hard waterfowler.

For those who haven't read the new member post, my name is Neil, 33 from Mississippi. I started hunting at a very young age of 3 with my grandfather. I grew up in Texas and was in a deer blind with him every chance I got. From the dove field to the turkey blind to the rows of corn for pheasant and quail he was always there with me. After I got a little older my dad was the one who took me out showed me more of the ropes. After going to college I was out on my own chasing anything with feathers which lead me to waterfowl. Since getting that bug I have not set another foot in the woods chasing deer and really don't plan on it ever again. Now that I live in Mississippi I call my dad any chance I get and try to talk him into taking a long weekend and chase ducks with me. I now have two young boys of my own and try every chance I get to bring them to the marsh or into my carving shop. My dad passed the hunting bug on to me so it's my turn.

Neil

My dad and uncle got me into hunting by taking me small gaming here in PA. I still remember that first pheasant that flushed and I got to shoot at it...pulled both triggers of the old double 12ga! i dropped the gun and thought "what the hell just happened!?" Dad said I pulled them both! Needless to say I learned from that experience! Later that morning I shot my first bird and I was hooked! Dad used me as his "dog" back then too ...and I loved it!

In high school I met other guys that hunted (I went to the old farm school in Philly) so we would all hunt together with our dads and then without them as we got older.

Let's see...the first time I waterfowled was later in life when a guy here at work who had a farm in Hilltown asked if Iwanted to try to kill some geese at his place. He said he made some decs outta old tires that he cut and put what looked like goose heads in a slit in the tires. We set up in his horse paddock (horses were in the barn!) and waited for the geese to fly over at which time we blew on our calls! Back then all you had to do was make a sound that remotely sounded like a goose and they would come! That first small flock glided right in and we shot all 6! I thought "this is pretty neat!"..so my waterfowl hunting was off to a great start! Over the next couple years I slowly aquired better goose decs and better calls (that I blow ok). We would occasionally kill a duck or two too! I then bought a Roy low boat and started duck hunting. First in PA, but there are no ducks in PA so I then set sights on the coast of NJ where the ducks fly. Last year I "upgraded" to a 14ft TDB...so it continues!

As Sam Wright mentioned, he and I got back together after some time and we both hunt ducks and geese together with other guys from the area. We even hunt ND and MD as well as PA and NJ

BTW...the fellow that got me on my first geese...we still hunt together from time to time

I think it is really neat to hear how others got there start in waterfowling. Its a kind of hunting like no other. Once you start and get hooked there is no turning back. I mean we have to love it with a passion. Why else would we all want to and feel the need to go out at 4am in December with 30mph winds and freezing temps in little boats for the chance at ducks. Its great and wouldn't have it any other way.

I didn't enter my life as a waterfowler until I was in my early-30s. I grew up in the "burbs" and none of my family nor friends hunted. However, I was always intrigued by the sights and sounds of deer, turkey, ducks & geese. When I moved to Slower Lower Delaware back in the mid-90s, I took up deer hunting upon the suggestion of a friend. It wasn't long before I was hunting the bow and gun seasons every day that I could.

During one of my November deer hunts, I saw and heard a few mallards using a nearby wooded wetland. It was a wet year and the knee-deep water was loaded with floating mast and seeds. When the first flight happened that morning, I watched several mallards make a few wide circles before falling from the tree tops right into the wetland. At that point, I knew where I wanted to be when the next duck season opened.

So... there I was about a week later sporting my new waders and leaning against a gum tree while a 1/2 doz plastic mallard decoys that I just purchased floated in a small open pocket in that wooded wetland. I heard the "chuckling" before I saw the ducks in the faint light as dawn was breaking. I readied my 11-87 as the ducks began circling my spread. I hit them with a "QUAAAAACK, quaaaack quaaack quaack quaack" on my brand new Haydel DR-85 call and to my surprise, a pair broke off and started backpeddling through the forest canopy, intent on finding an open spot amidst my decoys. Well, the drake never got that chance... I fired twice and the greenhead splashed down about 20 yds away! As the hen was making her quick ascent back to safety, I turned on her and touched off my final shot, but missed.

That was the only opportunity that I had on my first duck hunt, but from that point on (and many thousands and thousands of $$$ later), I was ADDICTED!!! I guess I owe my thanks to the friend who got me started as a deer hunter.

Where do you begin and were does it end. I'd have to thank Zack Taylor of sports afield mag for writting an article about Andy Tanners boat. Andy lived around the corner from me and I walked past that boat everyday to school. I sent him a letterabout the article and my interest in hunting. Never heard from him. Now this is about your mother having your back. My mom ran into Mrs Tanner somewhere and told her of my interest. Mrs. T said I was the only one who even contacted him. It was a done deal from there. Andy took me hunting my first time. loaned me a gun and shells. I went broadbillin. Andys boat was hugh to a 13yr old. 100 decoys a couple labs. 16 or 17 ft. Collasal..... Well the first day we were to go.. he picked me up at O dark 30. But its blowin so hard the trip gets cancelled. My parents who are not hunters and no one in my exteneded family are hunters are relieved. Duck hunters were always crazy. So some one was responcable Next day we go. O dark 30 Boats and motors forward and revese...decoys going over the side in the dark....crazyness...super cool.

The sun comes up. Actually it did'nt it was a Chet Renneson morning ...gray... cold but no snow... then the birds started moving. I'm in awe, three or four flocks come in and I'm sitting there watching. Finally Andy turns to me and says "this is not going to last for ever...shoot." So here comes this drake and I pull up on it and shoot it dead. Feet up....next thing I hear is goins. Why did you shoot ect... Well I had blinders on... behind that bird by 100yds was 2-300 birds cupped up and coming straight in. Best shot I ever made... Thanks Andy...Thanks Mom and thank you mrs. T

I was raised by my Granparents from the age of 5. They were one of the first people to build on the Island of Brigantine way back when. We grew up on the bay and my Grandfather was an avid Baymen. He started taking me duck hunting before I was old enough to have a liscense. When I was 10 he gave me a single shot 20gauge that i still have today. And I went with him as much as I could. I remember back when he built me my first sneak box I was 17 years old. I ran the bottom out that boat I whish I still had it. they were great days back then. Every time i am riding out from the boat ramp in Brigantine. I thank him for taking me with him and teaching me the old baymen ways. What I would give to have him go with me one more time.

Super idea for a topic and all great stories. I pretty much self taught myself through trial and error and can't look back to any mentors growing up. I made a ton of mistakes and somehow I lived to talk about them.

I do try to get as many new hunters out as I can and have taken a bunch of friends under my wing so to speak. I guess it would be nice if they tell some stories in this forum in ten years or so.

Awesome stories I remember the family down the street the grandfather was an older guy he told me there is 2 kinds of people duck hunters and pussies. He told me that hunting ducks and eating the meat will put lead in your pencil. At 14 hearing a 75 year old guy say that was the funniest thing. Its weird the little things we remember. Its all about memories.

Mine started out as a squirrel hunt along a creek with my Grandpa. I was carrying a single shot 20 ga. and we were easeing along the creek watching for tree rats. GP pulled me to the side and whispered "listen". After a few seconds he told me to get ready and step out around a big old sycamore tree on the bank. Well the flush was wood ducks and when i pulled the trigger a drake woodie hit the water. All I did after that was walk along and just look at the colors in the duck. And I have been hooked on duck hunting for 48 years now. Have seen good times and hard times out there but wont trade any of them from that day to now.

Rick

In 1975 Our family moved from town out into the country. No one I knew Hunted. My dad did own a Mossberg bolt action 16 gauge. Several ponds were located around where we lived. Most had ducks on them from time to time all fall and winter. I took Dad's old Sixteen and sneaked over a pond dam one afternoon in 1975. I lined up the sites on a Drake Pintail. That one shot lit a Fire in Me I have not been able to put out since. I got every Book I could find on Duck Hunting. Bought some decoys and a call. Then in 1980 I made my first trip to Lake Texoma about 12 miles from home. It was on Texoma I put it all together. My whole life has revolved around Duck Hunting. I love every thing about it. Boats, Decoys, Calls, Shotguns, Early Mornings, Everything.

My First Duck 1975

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My First Real Duck Hunt on Lake Texoma 1980.

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Rob..great story and the pictures are awesome....something about old pictures that bring back goodtimes...Rusty