Had a great time this weekend, fun camping, lots of ducks around, lots of fish, not a single other hunter on the lake.

My boy did pretty good for his first ever youth hunt. We started off the day with alot of shooting, unfortunately his aiming while wearing a life jacket needs a bit of work. He had been nailing clays easily but in the field it was a different story. But we kept at it and he started knocking them down here an there. We had a few mishaps we'll have to work on for next year (got him within 30 yards of a big flock of greenheads and as they lifted off he realized he hadnt ejected his previous shell... doh!).

Got in some blind shooting and river jump shooting (its GREAT to watch a kid jump a duck and dump it all by his self!). During the day when the hunting slowed down, the fishing was great, lots of action and full limits of grout to keep everyone occupied.

Come dusk, we went back out, missed a bunch more but and he did end up dropping another one (dropped the only scaup out of a flock of greenheads lol). Shot nearly an entire box with his youth 20GA, ended up with 5 ducks, 2 mallards and 3 scaup. Oh yea, and 1 muskrat... "but dad, its fur will be for FLY TYING" ROFL! "OK, blast it"

Great fun for the whole family but my boy had an absolute blast!





-DallanC

I'm still jealous...
but 1 advice: better watch out, when he gets a bigger smile his head could split.
And that's the best practise when you try to shoot with an empty shell in the chamber or an empty gun or even the safety on... it teaches your reaction on recoil. Better this than a shot that was not expected.

DONT LET WIERSY SEE THIS!

Congrats bossman! Wow- nice haul and a load of tasty treats!

Good for your son, he's grinning from ear to ear and this is something he won''t forget.

A matchin hat and pump...and a bag fulla goodies. How's it get any better than that.

Yup- that grin says it all. HOOKED.

awesome day out. those fish look good too, nothing like fishing while after ducks. heres a tip on the lifejacket thing. buy an older/cheap jacket or better still a ski vest and remove the padding/floaty bits fron the shooting shoulder area and just tuck it down further. same amount of floatability but no extra on the butplate area. I have a lifejacket just for duckshooting and it sure makes life easier. ski vests are less bul but be aware they "help"you float but wont keep you up if you are knocked out. I lost 3 mates 3 years ago out fishing with life jackets on the boat not the man!!!

What a great day, and plenty more to come.

Your young fellows smile is beaming so much mate I reckon I can see the glow on the horizon. I reckon that smile is there for many a long day to come mate. An awesome hunt with Dad...and he has "bought home the bacon" too mate...give him our congratulations.

Elvis touched on an idea for a life vest...give some consideration to looking around for the type of vest helicopter pilots (mainly military) wear when flying over water. They are very compact and are small enough to not be a hindrance. This is an Australian website, but I am sure you will be able to find something in the US without any dramas.

Lifejacket

A US website:

Lifejacket

Cheers, Vince

I would be hard pressed to figure out just who was having the most fun...Dad? Or son?

I remember taking my oldest on his first deer hunt and watching him take a forked horn with HIS .30-30.

A proud day for all...Congrats.

Time like this with your son - PRICELESS!!!