Youth Waterfowlers

[Flash]

Good Luck to all you Youth Waterfowlers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you all have a good time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Be Safe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Flash

"Set the Hook"

[bullzeyez61]

thanks

My friend called me up to see if I wanted to catch the youth hunt for the last time. My original plan was to go up to our cabin to do some bowhunting, but I decided to shoot some ducks insted. His dad went out to uor hunting spot to check it out and he said ducks were flying everywhere. So I think I made a good decision.

I will report back our results.

[icecold]

Just got done packing our gear and lunch for my 2 sons ,My 12 year old is going on his 4th youth hunt and my 9 year old is going on his first one. Im getting pretty excited for the boys, the place we hunt is loaded with woodies and teal, a few mallards and a few geese, I hope the boys can get a few shots in and just enjoy the sunrise and being out in nature the way I did when i went with my dad ducking hunting for the first time at age 12, I will never forget my 1st woodduck,shot with my grandpas 410 and good old lead shot. Good luck to all . Cant wait till Oct 4th.

[icefishing21]

My dad and my little brother just got done getting ready for the youth hunt tomorrow. its his first youth hunt and they will be hunting down in savage by rice lake.we have been seeing a ton of ducks down there so hopefully he will do good. this will be my first year not doing it cuz im 16 but i will be goose hunting tomorrow morning with a few buddies down south of lakeville in a wheat field. cant wait so see who will shoot more birds me or him.

[bassislife]

Icecold,

I'll never forget the my first duck either. It was a teal, overhead with my dads 410, @ age 12.

Duck hunting is the greatest!!

[SSSTaxidermy]

I took my 6 yr old daughter out this morning...Also in the blind was my hunting buddy, his son & nephew. This was the first time my daughter has been in the blind with me. She was very excited to get out there and experience it all. She sat right along side me and our lab...Watching the woodies dive in on the boys, and her puppy retrieving them. The boys limited out with their woodies, and when I left, they had some mallards working the decoys. We had to leave because my daughters feet got wet, so she was getting cold....The funny thing about the cold feet was, once we got back to the truck, the chips, pop, and cookies came out, which meant no more cold feet!

I'm already looking forward to future youth days with my daughter, when she will be able to shoot and harvest her first bird.

Here are a couple pics I took

[Fishhappy1986]

Sounds like everyone is ready or already having a great time... Shoot some birds and enjoy your weekend kids and parents.

[IceHawk]

Good luck to all the youth hunters!

[bmc]

My 10 year old daughter Amanda and I went out this morning for YWD. Someone else beat us to spot 1 so we paddled over to spot 2 and set up. Lots of woody's around! She wasn't getting any shooting so we went farther back in the bay and re-deployed. She missed a few shots at woody's and we also saw a few dozen geese, but all were well out of range. At 0930 we pulled up stakes and did some grouse hunting and jump shooting, with no luck. At 1:30 we decided to paddle a little stream and we found a good number of mallards and woodys. Long story short, she had 2 boxes of bismuth for her .410. She had 2 shells left and not a bird in the boat. I saw a mallard (eclipse drake) flying our way from left to right. I told her to cock her gun and get ready. The mallard crosses about 15-20 yds out and she nails it!!! I will never, ever forget the look on her face when she turned around........PRICELESS!!! The duck dropped about 50 yds back in hummocks, grass, and willows. Maggie made an awesome retrieve and it was hugs and kisses all around! Here's a pic.

Brian

[tweedlap]

Great story ! Good shooting Amanda !

Congrats,

tweed

[Crappiechaser]

Its always fun seeing the kids hunt ducks! I took my little brother out for his 3rd ywh. He wanted to beat last years # of 3 ducks. Well long story short he made his dog work hard (me lol). It took him 2 1/2 boxes of shells but he did it. He got his 6 ducks. 4 teal,a hen and drake mallard. He was useing the gun we got him when he finished his gun safty so it ment alot to him getting his limit on his first trip with his duck slayin machine lol.

[stayman79]

I took my 13 year-old neighbor kid and his dad out duck hunting Saturday. Dad has never duck hunted, did some pheasant hunting a while back. The kid shot a 20 gauge last summer in hunter's safety training, never hit a clay pigeon. He and dad picked up a 12 gauge pump last week (870 express) and he had not fired it. We went out to a very well known local spot with my gear, dog and their gun and 2 boxes of shells. We pulled way back in as far as I could get the boat, kicking up tons of teal and mallards. Teal were flying everywhere so fast he couldn't pull on them in time. He was only loading one shell at a time since he was inexperienced, but on only his fourth shot he hit one of those blue-winged rockets and it was dead on the water! Then he got to see the dog (who he takes care of if we go out of town and the dog can't come with) in action which they both thought was really cool. He burned through 25 rounds in single shots and managed to hit 3 blue-winged teal and one hen mallard. We all had a blast and I think he'll be bugging dad about doing some more duck hunting soon! The next day he said he had a pretty sore shoulder, but he loved the duck tacos that they made!

It was my first time out on a Youth day, exciting to see all of those ducks! My boy is not quite 2, so it will be a while, but I'm glad the neighbor wanted to experience this great sport!

[SrBrits]

i took my nephews out this past weekend also,13 & 11,for thier fifth year, they came and spent the night, and we packed and loaded all the gear so we could leave early in the morning. at 10:30 we hit the sack, but i fell asleep in bed with the tv on and at 1:30, the wife hears jack calling to our brittany, who is asleep in our room on her bed and asks him what he's doing, and he says that he can't sleep, so he was calling for missy to come out, so she tells him to go lay in bed. come 5:30 and up and at it, and off to the pond, get there at opening shooting so we head to the dike and wait for the birds to roll out, after about five minutes here they come, but the first group is down a little ways so we move over and the next group is right on us, POW, jack lets off a shot and down comes a nice honker, well he sees this goose falling and just hoots and hollers,i got one, i got one, and forgets to keep shooting at the rest, his first solo honker.

well now it's time to hit the water so we unload the canoe and paddle out and set up. jack gets his second solo honker, and logan pops one also, and later gets a mallard. they had many other chances through out the morning to, but finish the hunt with two large canada's, one cackler, and a mallard, a good day for them, and the best ywd ever, so far.

jack says, do you think they can see me?

missy on a water retrieve,

logan says, good girl.

a days take,

[AngelicFatum]

Nice Honks! Wish I could've had an SBE II for youth day!

[kc0myy]

i took my ten year old brother out. I wanted to shoot with him friday for him to shoot. but that didn't happen. His 1st shot with a gun. he missed 2 woodies in my decoys. otherwise he shot once. we had teal and woodies 30 yards up the shore line and 30 yards down the shore line. but noting really in the decoys. I knew my brother could not hit anything flying so i just wanted him to swat them on the water. I know I know not the best way to start a kid out. but HE does not get the whole leading birds yet. but he was happy he got to shoot. and I was happy too. I'll just have to bring him out on opener

[SrBrits]

angelic,

yea a SBE 11 would have been a rush for any kid, they normally shoot thier 20's, 1100 & 870, but i was down a little on 20 guage steel, so i brought my 12 with and they took turns with it. when we shoot trap they love shooting the SBE 11, but out hunting ywd, jack says boy those 3and 1/2's really kick, maybe i should try them 3 inchers.

[jparrucci]

I was too old to ever get a chance at Youth Waterfowl Day, but it looks like it is a great experience to get young hunters involved. I do want to keep this a positive forum, but I want to make sure that those of you who are taking out young ones for their first hunt, should be sure to get some time in at the range with shotguns first. Hunters like myself who have only been lukewarm on the whole youth waterfowl day, but haven't objective yet, will really end up fighting against it when we hear stories of boxes upon boxes of shells being shot. As someone who witnessed this last year on the YWD while goose hunting, I was becoming a little bit more negative towards the idea, and unfortunetly it seems that some of these post have reinstated that belief.

As someone who was once young and a bad shot myself, I know that it does take time and practice to hit the moving ducks. Please get these kids to the trap/skeet/sporting clay range! Not only is it a great place to help them become better marksmen, it also is a great time to reinforce firearm safety a week or two before the season starts.

I know there have been posts in the past, and I have had conversations with friends and relatives regarding YWD. I have always thought it was a great idea to get kids involved in hunting, without having to compete against the masses of hunters or in the cold of a late season hunt. I never thought it was that big of a deal as far as educating or chasing local duck off the lakes until I saw what some of the previous posters described. I know shooting ducks with smaller shotsizes and lighter loads is no easy task, and still find myself missing on shots I know I should hit, but going through boxes of shells shows that the person or child shooting really should take some practice at the range. Without doing so, it will just lead to more criples, and less local ducks. I do like how one of the posters said he had the youth shoot at the duck on the water, which is exactly what I would do with a youth who was not yet a great wingshot.

I am not trying to stir any pots on this post by any means, but I do wish that those of you that take your child or others to the YWD in the future please take the youth for some clays first, or those of like me who have been in support of this great day will end up voicing our opinions against it. Keep up with the great post and pictures. Good or bad shooting aside, it does look like the kids all had a blast (which is the goal of this day!)

[B420]

JParrucci,

Agreed 100%! Nice post

[bullzeyez61]

My friend and I went out at sun rise at one of there favorite spots and we did ok. We ended up shooting our limit of 4 woodies. It was fun to get out with him because he is having surgery on his neck on the 29th, so this is the only duck hunting he will be able to do this year. We will just have to make up for the lost hunting next year.

[topcat3820]

My son's first bird ever, last weekend ... I do believe I have him hooked .

[brdhunter]

I remember my 1st youth hunt experience, I couldn't fall asleep either. And for that matter I couldn't fall asleep for opening day the next 5 years. Still have trouble falling asleep before opening day. Old habbits never grow old. Glad to see the youth enjoying this great sport. Hope they will for a lifetime to come.

This thread brings back a lot of memories.

[outdoor ran]

jparrucci, very good post!

[Roosterslayer05]

First off lets get this clear: Shooting at clay pigions has nothing to do with shooting ducks. One of my best friends can hit 23-24 out of 25 at the range every time, but he still couldent hit a duck for his first couple years duck hunting. Clay pigions and ducks fly at different speeds and have vary different flight paths. Second: there is no proof that youth day scares away local ducks. Show me the proof if you think thats the case, because i hunt an area that has heavy youth pressure and i still see a ton of birds the first week of the season. I dont think youth day does anything to local birds. If it does affect them im sure they dont migrate out of the state, maybe they just avoid that spot they got shot at. If thats the case you should scout out your spot after youth day and plan on hunting elsewhere if nessecary. Third: I dont care if a kid shoots 4 or 5 boxes of shells, the kid is having fun. I think the fact that grown men gripe about youth day is preaty selfish. Lets say for argument sake that youth day somehow affected the number of ducks around the area you hunt, who cares. The fact that you shot one or two ducks less on opening day doesent matter. What matters is the kids that got out and had a hunt of a lifetime, something they will cherish and remember for the rest of their lives.

[outdoor ran]

LOL, now I remember why I quit posting on the waterfowl site. Thanks for reminding me Rooster . I love the youth duck hunt, I think its a great idea. I took 2 kids out for both days in WI, have for the last 3 years. All he was saying is that he didn't think little kids should be shooting a gun for the first time at a live bird. A little bit of practice at home helps. Good luck this season guys, I'm of to the blind in the morning.

[jparrucci]

As I stated, I was and still am in favor of the youth waterfowl day. BUT, I was pointing out a few things that left a bad taste in my mouth. I can show you two specific lakes south of the twin cities that ARE affected by this. I did take the time to do extra scouting, and have changed opener plans accordingly. I guess the kids are more important to duck hunting than I am? I DO want to see youth involved, but it depends on what expense. Why don't we just make it a youth only sport indefinitely, no adult hunters ever again for entire seasons? I am obviously overstating things here, but this is to make a point. At what expense do we let the youth waterfowlers hunt. I'm ok with them pushing a few ducks around and educating some ducks, but there should be a little restraint and common sense involved here. If there are thousands of kids out there blasting away 2 boxes of shells, I think we have a problem here. Previously I didn't. I didn't realize that saying it would be wise to take them to the range to get some practice was an insult. I thought it was thoughtful insight to keep the kid entertained, get in some practice, and brush up on firearm safety. Since when is THAT a bad idea? I can't even comment on the the fact that taking somebody to the range to practice shooting clays is going to somehow make them a WORSE shot. Clays aren't ducks, but come on, it is great practice for a youngster to learn to lead and swing a shotgun.

Post like the one prior to this are how you get people like me to change our mind, and maybe start actively working against the youth waterfowl day.