Guide Service

CAN YOU SEE THEM

The sun is slipping up form the east the first pink glow of the morning is coming. You hear the whistle of their wings, the rustle of there feathers as they slide into the decoys. Still to early to shoot,

my young Chesapeake Cuda, trembles with anticipation, he looks sideways at me as if to ask CAN YOU SEE THEM!!! Curtis Peterson my hunting partner looks down at me from his end of the boat and even from 12 feet away you can see his smile.

We are as excited as a child at Christmas. It is opening morning 2003; the place is an ox-bow of off the Mississippi River, just fifteen minutes before legal shooting hours. For the next fifteen minutes we will experience the anticipation of that child waiting to open that special package. Our gift is one that continually amazes me with its sights, sounds and camaraderie the opening of Duck season.

Since I have been six years old I have been in a Duck Blind on opening morning, not once in that

time has it failed to make my heart beat faster my hands tremble and a smile come to my face. There is no substitute for it; the combination of ducks in the decoys, good friends and great dogs has given me an obsession that is only sated by the beginning of another season. This season like all that have gone before will have its memories each special in its own way.

I am building a treasure trove that will continue until I am no longer able to have another opening morning. Then I will draw from memory that great passing shot that my Grandfather made on those two Mallard Drakes dropping them in the decoys with two shots, the look of pleasure on his face when he turned to me and said “How bout that my first double” this from a man that had been hunting Ducks since the late 40’s, and then when his dog brought the last one in it had a band on it. I was 9 years old and I can still see the smile on his face when he found it. That band hangs from my call lanyard and I think of that day each time I see it.

Or the time my Brother’s Ken and Dan came to Mississippi to hunt with me. I took them to a slough and we had a great time we didn’t get a limit of birds but the limit of memories I got from that weekend will stay with me forever. Ken in camo face paint, Dan in waders to big for him and both of them falling and tripping in the water making as much noise as a bull elephant in a china closet clumping through the slough. The two of them struggling to shoot at wind swept mallards, streaming teal and low flying wooducks can still bring a smile to my face. I finally had to shoot a few and let them claim them, unless they read this, to this day they still think that the out shot me.

Or the season my hunting buddy Curtis Peterson was recouping from triple by-pass surgery. I picked him up four times a week and took him hunting we didn’t kill a lot of birds that year but replayed every season that we hunted together. It has been 5 years since his surgery and we still think that was one of our best seasons ever.

My eight year old son Michael has gone with me as I did with my Dad and Grandfather, I probably more than he am looking forward to his first banded Mallard. I have camera and journal all ready they will be used to help he and I as we grow up together.

Can you see them, they circle overhead dropping slowly towards the decoys, Cuda looks up and watches and waits trembling with anticipation. The Mallards drop lower and lower their feet just over the water. We spring up and a shoot dropping three of the flock. Cuda trembles to retrieve and I send him for the first, look to my right at Curtis and smile. Were both excited, two kids that just got to unwrap the best gift of all Opening Morning.

Can you see them?

I have kept the guide service side of my business quite for several years. Taking only clients and their dogs hunting to ensure that everything went smoothly for them and their dog on their first few trips to the blind.

After doing this for several years I have to decided to offer this service on a limited basis. If you would be interested in a guided Duck Hunt in the Mississippi Delta hunting from a pit, cypress Slough or boat hunting on an oxbow off of the Mississippi river. Come hunt with us and we will create you a memory that will last a lifetime