shovelerslayer
02-01-2004, 02:22 PM
I met two great future waterfowlers this weekend. Brad and Mike are brothers ages 12 and 14 who had a lot of experience with rifles but had never hunted waterfowl. A mutual friend asked if I would consider taking them on the junior hunt. I jumped at the chance and boy was I glad I did!!! We hunted the grasslands on Saturday, and the birds were everywhere. We started out by finding out through miscommunication we had only one shotgun ( I only brought one because I was told they had one). Neither of them knew duck identification, so we did a quick crash course. I also had brought each of them a gift of a shaker mallard call.
Our game plan was one would shoot for a half hour then the other. I felt this would help in getting used to leads etc... Mike graciously let his little brother start while he and I called. Knowing how hard teal are to hit I reccomended they avoid them. Besides there were plenty of big birds. In the first half hour Brad managed to shoot 18 times without touching a feather. I kept giving pointers, but he was just having troubles with the lead concept. Finally it was his brothers turn. After 6 or 7 close shots and no feathers Mike started paying attention to his leads. The next bird was a pintail and Mike folded him at 25 yards. 5 minutes later a pair of mallards dropped in and this kid kills the drake on his third shot. He had never shot a shotgun before and was doing better than some veterans!!! Now comes the cool part to me, he handed the gun back to his brother so he could shoot while the birds were still flying.
Brad shot up most of our shells in the next half hour, and Mike offered to go back for the last box. When he returned we were out of shells and mobbed with ducks still. Mike got the shooting honors and showed us that the first two birds had not been luck, he nailed another mallard and a hen spoonie before his half hour was gone. Brad finished up our shells by 10:30 and we were done. The boys sat and called birds with me until about 11:00 when we picked up and headed to Gustine for lunch.
Both of these boys thanked me for a great day and for their new calls. I just wish we could have got together earlier in the year. Maybe next year we will get another chance.
Our game plan was one would shoot for a half hour then the other. I felt this would help in getting used to leads etc... Mike graciously let his little brother start while he and I called. Knowing how hard teal are to hit I reccomended they avoid them. Besides there were plenty of big birds. In the first half hour Brad managed to shoot 18 times without touching a feather. I kept giving pointers, but he was just having troubles with the lead concept. Finally it was his brothers turn. After 6 or 7 close shots and no feathers Mike started paying attention to his leads. The next bird was a pintail and Mike folded him at 25 yards. 5 minutes later a pair of mallards dropped in and this kid kills the drake on his third shot. He had never shot a shotgun before and was doing better than some veterans!!! Now comes the cool part to me, he handed the gun back to his brother so he could shoot while the birds were still flying.
Brad shot up most of our shells in the next half hour, and Mike offered to go back for the last box. When he returned we were out of shells and mobbed with ducks still. Mike got the shooting honors and showed us that the first two birds had not been luck, he nailed another mallard and a hen spoonie before his half hour was gone. Brad finished up our shells by 10:30 and we were done. The boys sat and called birds with me until about 11:00 when we picked up and headed to Gustine for lunch.
Both of these boys thanked me for a great day and for their new calls. I just wish we could have got together earlier in the year. Maybe next year we will get another chance.