My new neighbor, Tim Moore, was an avid waterfowler.  Having grown up in southeast Missouri and lived in places that provided good duck hunting, it was his passion.  I was a deer hunter.  I liked climbing trees with a rifle in hand.  I loved to sling arrows and trying to outsmart big bucks on Dale Bradley's farm.  I dragged Tim along for a hunt at Dale's that Fall, but he didn't get the chance to tag a deer.  On Thanksgiving Day of 2002, I killed an eight-point buck.  That pretty much signaled the end of my season, and I had no problem with that.

During the first week of January 2003, Tim convinced me to go along with him on a duck hunt to his hometown in Missourie.  Seeing a chance to repay Dale Bradley for allowing me to hunt on his farm, I invited him to come along too.  Little did I know that I was taking the first step in acquiring a new passion of my own.  I had no clue that I was about to take the first step in becoming a Duck Hunter.

Tim, Dale, and I drove to Charleston, Missouri on Friday the 3rd of January.  Tim loaned me a set of waders, one of his Remington 870 12 gauge shotguns, and a fist full of steel shot shells.  Dale was fully equipped and even brought along a dozen decoys.  Dale and I checked into a hotel and got ready for the next morning's hunt.

Tim had secured permission for us to hunt a flooded milo field that he had hunted several times before.  It was located southwest of the Ten Mile Pond refuge next to the land farmed by Tim's brother-in-law, Gary Hess.  Gary had an irrigation pivot on his land that he used to flood the milo field for the landowner.  This fact, combined with Tim knowing the landowner, won us permission.  It was late season and waterfowlers around Charleston were on the downhill side of the season.

Saturday morning we awoke early, on par with my experience hunting deer.  We drove out to the land we were going to hunt in my truck and Gary's truck, which Tim was using to tow a four-wheeler.  We parked both vehicles at a Silo that was due north of the flooded field we were going to hunt.  We unloaded everything and Tim ferried Dale and I from the silo to the northwest corner of a hardwood stand.  I still couldn't see the flooded field because it was too dark, but I watched as Tim and Dale headed off into the water which was southwest of the hardwoods.  I was elected to stay behind because Tim and Dale both had experience putting out decoys.  As I was standing there in the darkness, things began to become quiet as the four-wheeler moved farther away from me.  All of the sudden, I realized that I was hearing duck sounds in the sky above me.  As I focused on the sound in the sky above, I realized that the ducks were everywhere!  Although I couldn't see them I could tell that there were thousands of ducks on the move and that we were going to be standing smack dab in the middle of them.  Awhile later, just before sunrise, Tim returned on the four-wheeler in order to carry me and the remaining gear out to the spot where we were going to hunt.  Tim dropped me off and contined south through the flooded field so that he could conceal the four-wheeler in a treeline.  With no prior coaching or advice as to what I should expect, I was standing in waist deep water in between rows of flooded milo staring out at a dozen or so decoys placed in the open water in front of me.  The hunt was about to commence.

As Tim walked from the treeline to the area where Dale and I were standing, there were ducks dropping out of the sky into the decoys.  I didn't have a clue what to do and what not to do.  I could see the ducks landing in and taking off from the open water in front of me.  The early morning sky revealed hundreds of ducks passing over our heads and circling in the sky.  When Tim took up his position next to us it was obvious that he was eager for me to take my first duck.  He had me take some shots at passing ducks that I probably wouldn't take today.  Our initial position on the east side of the stand of flooded milo was ideal for having ducks work into the decoys, but it was less than ideal in the concealment department.  We were green (Mossy Oak Breakup) blobs in the middle of the brown milo.  Behind us on the western edge of the crops were several clumps of milo that we taller and offered better concealment.  After about an hour of taking passing shots at flaring ducks, we decided to move to a the position that offered decent concealment.  As we were moving the decoys Mother Nature decided to test our resolve a bit.  She started spitting out pretty decent snow flurries and kicked the wind up just a bit.  Although our new position offered better concealment and a workable setup as far as wind direction was concerned, the water was a bit deeper.

Over the next couple of hours Tim and Dale were able to bring several ducks down.  As I remember, Tim dropped two Gadwall drakes.  Dale had a tougher time actually getting birds in his pocket.  He knocked two Greenheads straight out of the sky only to see them either get up again or swim away.  I witnessed early on the frustration of trying to kill waterfowl with steel shot.  I, on the other hand, wasn't able to drop a single duck.  I took plenty of shots but I think I was a bit taken aback by the conditions and the excitement of my first hunt.  I had neglected my shotgunning skills for many years by opting for rifle and bow hunting.  To say that I was humbled by my first experience goes without saying.  We stayed in that flooded field, crotch deep in the cold water and fighting the snow, until sometime around noon.  At that point my partners, who were much better shots than me, proved to have gear not quite up for the challenge.  Both of the were wet and cold and ready to get into a warm set of outer wear.  We exited the field with only two Gadwall to show for our efforts.  We headed into East Prairie for lunch and a stop at the local feed store which offered a pretty good selection of waterfowl hunting gear.  I bought my first set of waders as Tim needed the set he had loaned me because his had gotten wet inside.

After lunch we headed back to the flooded field but the wind was too strong and the ducks must have been holding tight.  I don't remember us firing a shot during that afternoon hunt.

After discovering how easy it is to sleep after spending a day in the field chasing ducks, we were off again to check out another one of Tim's old hunting spots.  This morning we were off to 'Blue Heaven', another property farmed by his brother-in-law.  Again, we arrived bright and early and took a muddy ride on the four-wheeler out to the spot we were to hunt.  The flooded field we were hunting did not have any standing crops but the bottom was a bit firmer and we actually had the dry ground of tree line to hunt from.  'Blue Heaven' is east of Charleston and within a mile of the convergence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.  The hope was to lure traveling ducks down from the their high flight pattern.  The majority of the day was very uneventful.  We saw a ton of geese, Canada and Snow, traveling high in every direction.  Sometime in the mid-morning while I was watching the field behind the tree line we were hunting from, I heard the quack of a duck.  I told Tim and Dale, who were chatting away and monitoring the decoy spread.  The told me that it was a hawk or crane they had seen in the distance.  A moment later, I heard the quack again.  Now you have to appreciate that I am the guy who had been on his very first duck hunt the day before.  Dale and Tim again told me not to worry because they were guarding our decoys.  Within a couple of moments saw the two ducks as the came straight over my head and dropped into the decoys directly in front of my hunting partners.  Both ducks had just dipped their webbed feet into the water before Tim and Dale were able to get their guns unslung and safeties off.  How those two ducks were able to evade the steel from the six shots that were fired between the two is still a mystery to me.  I suppose that a duck hovering over the decoys is sort of a tough shot!

That was the extent of the action for the day.  Dale and I left from 'Blue Heaven' and drove back to Murfreesboro.  When I got home that evening I really never considered that I would be aching to go duck hunting ever again.  It had been a tough two day hunt and I had proved myself lacking in the shotgun shooting department.  Would I ever choose to hunt ducks over deer?  No Way!

After a couple of weeks of no hunting of any type, Tim didn't have to work me too hard to talk me into heading up to Reelfoot Lake to hunt with a guide.  It was sort of close to my birthday and my wife and kids surprised me with a new 12 gauge shotgun and told me to hit the road.  As was the norm for my first year of waterfowl hunting, Tim and I drove through the snow and frigid cold on our way to the Reelfoot Lake area on Friday evening.  We called our guide, Jeremy Seals, to get directions as to where we should meet him the next morning.  We spent the night at a hotel on the shores of Reelfoot Lake.

The next morning we showed up at the store where we were to meet Jeremy.  We knew what he looked like because of a picture we had seen on his website.  At the appointed time Jeremey showed up with a couple of other hunters in two.  He seemed to care less whether we intended to go, I guess the reason was because the frigid cold (near zero) had the lake frozen solid in most areas.  We were able to avoid the guides attempts to lose us in route to the boat ramp, and we loaded our stuff into two boats for a harrowing ride out to his blind on the open water.  I must admit I was amazed at how these guys broke ice with their flatbottom boats for the ride.  When we arrived at the blind our guide, his 'cook', and a friend of the 'cook' dug the decoys out of the flooded Cypress trees behind the blind.  On Jeremy's website, there was a promise of a HUGE decoys spread.  I guess everything is relative because all they managed to put out was 30 or 40 decoys.  The pod on the left side of the blind were Canada Goose floaters.  The right side of the blind was split evenly between Mallard and Bluebill decoys.  The finishing touch was a Mojo Mallard placed strategically between the two pods in the hole directly in front of the blind.  Once the guide, cook, and the cook's friend joined us back in the blind we were introduced.  Tim and I were quite taken aback to discover that we were the only paying hunters in the blind.  Nevertheless, we loaded up our guns and got ready for the sun to rise.

I have mentioned a couple of times that the weather was particularly brutal that morning.  We were in a blind over the main body of Reelfoot lake, which was about the only spot free of ice.  The temperature was in the single digits and the wind was absolutely howling.  The blind was pretty nice with plenty of room for the five hunters on board.

Just after daylight we had some divers land in the decoys.  After getting the approval of Jeremy we stood up, spooked the ducks, and dropped them on the water.  Without a dog to retrieve the ducks, Jeremy had to pile into the boat and do it the old fashioned way.  This proved to be a frustrating point for the entire day.  During the course of that day on Reelfoot Tim and I were able to take a couple of limits of ducks.  Between everyone in the blind, we had quite a variety of ducks fall to our guns that day.  Hooded Merganser, Mallard, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, and  Gadwall are the ones I remember.  The position of Tim and I as the only paying customers didn't get us any preference in the blind that day.  While Jeremy didn't do much shooting, the cook and his friend went at it pretty hard.  The cook took passing shots at just about anything that flew within 50 yards of the blind, including a seagull or two!  It was frustrating to say the least.  All in all Tim and I were happy because we did get to shoot plenty of ducks that day.  We had to break ice on the way out and it was quite late before we returned to the dock.

At the end of the day Jeremy took our fees, but he didn't press the matter too hard.  If anyone ever asked Tim and I for a recommendation to use Jeremy Seals as a guide for watefowling, I think we would both decline.  He has a very nice open water blind location, but his skills as a guide are woefully lacking.  The upside of the adventure was my exposure to some real duck hunting at a time when I was able to appreciate what was going on.  I definately had the beginning of the watefowl bug once the hunt was over.  It had been an adventure!

I had a fantastic time during my first few duck hunts.  Post-season Snow Goose hunting would seal my fate, but I was well on my way to becoming a fanatic.  The small taste of duck hunting I was able to get during January of 2003 was enough to wet my appetite and make me realize that this sport was definately one that I could see myself doing in the future.

Thanks Tim!  I don't know if my wife feels the same way.