First Duck Hunt

Had the opportunity to go on my first duck hunt today with my dad and guide, David Roller. Our morning began at our 4 a.m. wake up. My dad and I had a few cups of coffee at our hotel while we waited for Roller to meet us at  5 a.m. and guide us to the launch. We got in the boat at approximately 5:30 a.m. and set off to our spot for the day. Once at our spot, Roller set up the decoys and blind and it was waiting time for our 7:08 shooting time. Just after legal shooting time a lone mallard came in and I took 3 shots at it and missed. It wasn't long before another group came in and I had the first mallard down of the day. Our day was filled with action and many birds. There was a lot of shooting between the three of us throughout the day. We had a lot of misses but we also had ten hits. The birds were cooperating with Roller's calls pretty darn good. We would see birds off in the distance and Roller would call those suckers right on in to us! Sometimes the birds wouldn't come in close enough for a shoot either because they got spooked somehow or just didn't come in for some odd reason. The highlight of the day was at 3:45 when 3 mallards came in to our calls and decoys and we shot all 3 dead! The day was filled with great stories, chili, coffee, and shooting. Throughout the day we had shot 3 different species of duck. We stayed out all day till legal shooting time had ended at 5:16 p.m. and headed in. Both Roller and my Dad gave me a great first experience in duck hunting. I can't wait to get out more and shoot some more ducks!