At 29 years old I have been waterfowl hunting for thirteen years. I grew up in Western IL outside a town called Rushville which is where I have just recently migrated back toward after getting my B.S. and M.S.degrees from the University of Illinois in Agriculture. I have a beautiful wife and two girls.
Growing up in that area I had many opportunities to hunt all kinds of game, and my father was the one who introduced me to hunting when I was very young. Squirrel, rabbit, quail (when there used to be several around), turkey, and of course deer were all very exciting for me to hunt and still I love to turkey hunt. However, there was one thing that my father didn’t hunt very much and that was waterfowl. He took me when a friend drew a blind on a public hunting area and wanted to go out for a youth hunt when I was thirteen. I killed one wood duck, but I don’t remember the action being super hot. As a high school kid that liked to ride ATV’s I needed a job to support my hobbies and I got a job working for a local farmer. The farmer had a duck hole in the river bottom near the Illinois river and asked me to come along one day so I did and that was the beginning of the addiction for me. The mallards started pouring in on us about fifteen minutes before shooting hours were out and I have never been able to get that picture out of my head.
Since that day I have done very little hunting other than turkey, and have pursued the waterfowl hunting addiction and all its facets ever since. Waterfowl hunting is so opportunistic in many ways for people.
You have so many activities to choose from between mastering the call, training a dog, brushing blinds, learning to boat, setting decoys, etc. It is always a great social event to get to know people or to bond with your parents or children. I love it! I have hunted in Canada for the last 7 years, Indiana, and of course all over Illinois with my dog Jaeger. I enjoy hunting ducks and all goose species.
