I always hunted with my dad when I was young but mom got remarried and moved us here to Texas before I got old enough to start hunting myself. I shot a lot of matches, learned a lot in my 7 or 8 years at SWFA, and went on the occasional dove or pig hunt, but never really had the opportunity to learn from an experienced hunter. The fact that I had very little actual field experience or hunting knowledge, other than what you learn really young, started weighing on me last year when I noticed all my son wanted to do was play on the stupid tablet or watch YouTube all day instead of go outside. I was trying to figure out more ways to get him outside and I constantly wished I could take him hunting.

Coincidentally, a buddy of mine told me about a little duck lease he was on that's 10 minutes up the road from my house. I immediately signed up and bought a set of cheap waders and some shells. I didn't do much else since I figured I would learn the ropes with him when the season rolled around. He ended up getting a killer deal on a last-minute goose hunt on opening weekend, but he loaded me down with decoys, a couple of layout blinds, and other misc. stuff before he left so I could at least try it out if I wanted. I started reading a lot and decided to give it a go on my own. I got a widgeon and a shoveler that came right into the decoys early on opening day. I got cocky.
His work schedule got crazy after that so I hunted on my own two or three more times. I quickly realized that I had a lot to learn and my lazy layout setup on a bare pond bank was not going to cut it. Every group that came in quickly busted me after one fly-by.

My buddy called the following week and said he had a morning off and wanted to hunt. I decided it was time for my son to see what I had been up to and brought him along to watch. I was nervous because I had hyped it up so much. He ate it up. He got hunkered down and dialed in early, even spotting several groups before either of us saw them. At one point, he did say, "Dad, you should probably go practice some." after I missed a few birds back-to-back. I said, "You are probably right..."
He laid there playing with the ducks my buddy shot and lit up watching Willow, my buddy's dog, go get them. He would've laid there all day if I let him! I missed every shot I took that day, but it was a success for sure.






Last Sunday was another success for me. I got 2 GWT, 1 BWT, and a Pintail. All were my first. That Pintail fired me up even more than I already was. What a cool duck!

Congrats!

Awesome. Get some hearing protection for you, especially the little man. All it takes is one shot to lose some hearing

Great pics Dillon!

Congratulations. Looks like you’ll have some great times ahead mentoring your young hunter.

Great to see this,, he will be your buddy forever👍👍👍

Congrats

Frame those pics, those days fly by so fast. Good on you for getting him outdoors, you'll always have that bond with him.

Congrats. Now the disease progresses. Before you know it you'll be on some street corner begging for C notes to buy a new duck call.

Yeah, I agree. I did some damage to my ears when I was younger and dumber than I am now. His bright green ear muffs looked like signal flares when ducks circled and he started looking for them. I had to put an extra jacket over his head to cover them up. My wife got me some really nice Axil shooting earbuds for Christmas that she ended up giving me early. They are slick.

My wife and I were sort of in the same boat. She used to hunt with her Dad some but never was able to go much after the early years. My buddy gave her a pair of waders that were way too small for him and she went with us last weekend... I'm never gonna financially recover from this!

She LOVED it. She got her first duck, a hen Gadwall, that we jumped off a pond after ditching the layouts.