When you're dealing with Mother Nature and the great outdoors, it's often difficult to get all aspects of an adventure lined up and cooperative on an outing scheduled months in advance. A special waterfowl hunting opportunity for youngsters 15 years of age and under last weekend had been on my radar since the same time last year.
I had taken my 12-year-old boys to Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area for their first real duck hunt. They shot a few ducks and had a great time. These youth seasons are the perfect chance to get new hunters out and help them get off to a good start as the focus is solely on their experience. My only regret last year was that I didn't get my nephew lined up to tag along with us. I told Dylan he was on the list for this season and he's been looking forward to it for some time as he'd never hunted ducks.
My nephew lives two hours away and not in the direction I was headed to Jamestown Wildlife Area for this year's hunt. But to his parents' credit they logged about 7 hours of drive time in two days to meet me and get him picked up. That's a pretty big commitment of time and money and I'm sure Dylan appreciated it as much as I did.
We arrived at the marsh's primitive campground and the first thing the boys noticed were the mosquitoes which were instant and persistent numbering in the hundreds and hovering around fresh flesh. I sprayed all three boys with repellent and we got busy setting up the tent. We gathered our gear, loaded the duck boat and headed out for an afternoon hunt.
Action was steady to start and the boys had eight ducks down in about the first 30 minutes. All were blue-winged teal and Dylan's first duck would be photographed for posterity. Gator, my 2-year-old black Labrador retriever, was busy and the boys got a kick out of watching him work.
After a short lull in the action things picked back up and flocks of teal started buzzing the marsh. Cody was first to finish with his six ducks and Dylan wasn't far behind. Brandon needed just a couple more and he picked those off and we were done by about 6:15 p.m. One lone greenwing teal was in the mix of the boys' bags as the rest were bluewings.
As I tried to shoot some photos there were ducks landing all around us. It was hard to keep Gator's attention and the boys laughed at his commitment to watching ducks. I finally managed a few decent photos and we picked up and headed back to camp.
The evening was gorgeous. Light winds and crisp temperatures made a big fire inviting. We roasted hot dogs over open flames as we watched flocks of teal headed back to the marsh to roost and listened to screech owls and coyotes start an evening serenade that stretched well into the night. Sleep came easy for the boys as they nestled into sleeping bags.
I couldn't have scripted a more perfect outdoor adventure for my boys and nephew. The weather cooperated perfectly, the ducks were there in mass and all the ingredients were in place to make this experience one me and the boys will remember forever. I love it when a plan comes together.
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