# What year did you start duck hunting?



## Spartan88 (Nov 14, 2008)

The conversations on point systems, season length and early teal seasons have me wondering.

I started duck hunting in 1977, what year did you start?


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

1978


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

When I tuned 14, 1973.


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## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

1965


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## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

DecoySlayer said:


> 1965


1976 with a gun. Many times prior as a decoy winder


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## tuckersdad (Oct 30, 2010)

1972


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## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

Jerry Lamb said:


> Many times prior as a decoy winder


I am reaching an age where I could use one of those!


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## Sampsons_owner (Dec 30, 2005)

Went once in 1976 for a 10 day tent camp on the shores of St martins bay. Brrrr Again in 1998 as a second adult on the youth hunt at Nayaguing pt. Then in 2002 when my oldest turned 12. Haven't stopped yet. Steve


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## Duckhunter66 (Nov 24, 2013)

1979....man am I getting old


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## FISHMANMARK (Jun 11, 2007)

Duckhunter66 said:


> 1979....man am I getting old



2016


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## walter sniper (Jan 21, 2010)

Born in 74'
Born to kill ducks


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## cvg6 (Jan 7, 2016)

1968


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## Divers Down (Mar 31, 2008)

1985
12 yrs old


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## smoke (Jun 3, 2006)

1973

We had to wait until we were 12 years old back then and there was no youth day, youth size waders, youth Drake wear, no thinsulate or goretex either. It was dang cold and wet and the waders didn't have any insulation and your feet got cold, really cold. But I loved every wet cold minute of it and have been hooked ever since.


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## TrapperJohn (Jan 14, 2001)

1972 when I was twelve was the first time I was allowed to carry a shotgun. A few years prior to that I carried my trusty Daisy into the duck blind!


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## Sofa King what? (Nov 1, 2016)

1987. 12 years old. Jump shooting wood ducks drifting down a small river with my dad and field hunting geese at the local dairy farm. River's still there. Dairy farm is now a subdivision full of McMansions, minivans, and soccer moms


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## Wallis (Nov 10, 2015)

'92 at 12 years old unless you count the duck I shot with my pellet gun when I was 9. Dad said I wasn't old enough to go so I thought if I proved to him I could kill a duck I could go. The neighbors weren't to happy about me shooting their duck. Got my tail tanned for that one. I felt that sucker shouldn't have been trespassing on our pond.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

smoke said:


> 1973
> 
> We had to wait until we were 12 years old back then and there was no youth day, youth size waders, youth Drake wear, no thinsulate or goretex either. It was dang cold and wet and the waders didn't have any insulation and your feet got cold, really cold. But I loved every wet cold minute of it and have been hooked ever since.


Nope, none of that fancy **** back then. I was a pheasant hunter born and raised, and when they started tanking in the 70's, a college buddy said "hey come duck hunting". Since I was a pheasant hunter, I showed up in my dad's old brown canvas upland jacket, a pair of waders that had a few holes in them, and an orange hat...yes, and orange hat. I had no clue you didn't need blaze orange to hunt ducks.  So my buddy took one look at me, and said "give me that!" and snatched that hat off my head. That was 1978...never looked back.


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## hankrt (Nov 7, 2007)

1974 for me, loved every second of it since.


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## duckbuster2 (Aug 14, 2008)

1967 on Saginaw Bay the same place I hunt now.
Here's me in 1967 or 68


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## Divers Down (Mar 31, 2008)

smoke said:


> 1973
> 
> We had to wait until we were 12 years old back then and there was no youth day, youth size waders, youth Drake wear, no thinsulate or goretex either. It was dang cold and wet and the waders didn't have any insulation and your feet got cold, really cold. But I loved every wet cold minute of it and have been hooked ever since.


Yep patched up pair of Red Ball waders...shoulda named em froze balls.


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## peters (Sep 28, 2010)

This was prolly in 1996-97 I was 5 years old hunting with my dad. 










Haven't skipped a beat since then!!


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## Wall-llard Willie (Sep 10, 2004)

1982 at the age of 14, still have all my liscense and stamps from then till now. but I did skip a bit in the first 10 years.


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## kskenny (Nov 25, 2016)

1966 killed my 1st mallard drake with an Ithaca 37. Eight years of age.


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## N M Mechanical (Feb 7, 2008)

1991 on a beaver pond between sits of tree watching. No one in the family hunted ducks did not go much till I had a driver license then I would go 4-6 times a year till 2011 when I got Kenny


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## Socks (Jan 8, 2007)

I got my first hunting dog in 2007 to hunt pheasants now and then(he ended up being great at upland and waterfowl) and my son was born in 2008 so it'd have to be 2009 or 2010.


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## shotgun12 (Jul 19, 2005)

started at 15 and still doing it,


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

This was my 21st season. Started when I was 14.


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## carsonr2 (Jan 15, 2009)

1991

Hunted Todd Farm regularly and the Highbanks Unit.

First goose out of a Highbanks post
First Duck out of 8C at the farm unit


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## K-zoo (Jul 19, 2008)

Must have been around '72 or '73.


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## daddyduck (Nov 2, 2001)

1979


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## daddyduck (Nov 2, 2001)

daddyduck said:


> 1979


I couldn't wait till I was 12


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## John Singer (Aug 20, 2004)

I started duck hunting in 1976. I was 15 years old and had been pheasant hunting since I was 12. Alpena High School had a "Hunt and Fish Club" at the time. We had an annual trip to Fish Point. 

My first experience duck hunting was the old "Firing Line" at the end of Clark Road.

After that first duck hunting trip, I hacked my first decoys out of slab firewood. Late that season, I shot at goldeneye over those decoys in front of my parents house on Long Lake, north of Alpena.

I do not think that I have missed a season since then.


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## deadduck365 (Nov 5, 2010)

2000. I was forced to live out of state and then went to college. I did kill bunnies and deer when I had off time. When I moved back here and got to spend my first full fall in Michigan in 18 years. Game over. I never went back south.


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## The Doob (Mar 4, 2007)

I believe it was 1969 when at age 14 my Step-dad rented a blind from Gib at Pops Place. Tried off and on through high school by pass shooting some ponds. Started work after High School with some guys that duck hunted and three boats, two blinds and 200+ hand made decoys later, here I am.


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## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

pulled first trigger at a duck 1980, NQP in a field behind clubhouse. Shot 2 mergs in 1 shot runnin on the water with my cut down H&R single 20g.


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## BillBuster (Apr 25, 2005)

1990


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## The Reel Slacker (Mar 7, 2016)

Started to tag-a-long with Dad in 1983 at Rondeau Bay in Canada. Actually hunted in 1985 at 12 yrs old and shot first duck at Rondeau Bay. Was too young to hunt as non-resident at the time, so Dad and i shared the gun. Still have the greenhead on the wall! Got sidetracked with deer until 1997, then jumped into the ducks full force. Havent missed a season since


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## mintgreenwalleyemachine (Jan 18, 2005)

Went from a deer hunter to waterfowl hunter in 2002 and never looked back!


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## bc993 (May 6, 2008)

1971, 12 yrs old. I shot my 1st duck that day at Harsen's with a borrowed bolt action Mossberg 20 and was hooked. Remember the whole day as if it was yesterday.


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## old professor (Oct 26, 2008)

Outdoor Gal said:


> Looks like I'm a newbie. Lol. Went on my first duck hunt in 2006. My husband's coworker invited him out and being newlyweds I somehow pled my case to tag along. I think we saw one grebe, but I loved it. The next year we did quite a bit more hunting with him, killed a few geese and some wood ducks and I've just been sinking further and further down the rabbit hole each year.


1969


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## sswhitelightning1 (Aug 31, 2016)

Probably around 96 when i started. Tried a few things i had no knowledge of. Trapping, waterfowling, and upland hunting. Stuck with one, but id like to revisit trapping with my son someday. I miss the trap line i ran 5 years.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

1988 sitting in a cut silage field in East Saugatuck with 100's of mallards in a holding pattern above us. I flock shot with my 20 and a hen fell down. Later that night I made a decent shot on a drake skirting the edge of the field for my limit.

1989 I took my dad to Bravo and he let me carry his mint 30" barrel trap Beretta A303. We are walking out early as nothing was flying, and a flock comes over. Drop a round of T's into the tube and wiped out the lead bird at what had to be 70 yards. He pin balled through the woods and was half plucked when he hit the ground. Not mounted material by any means.

Like to thing I've gotten better since then. Still shooting that 20 though. Think about hauling 16' long pressure treated 2x6's down the dune at the end of New Holland Street to rebuild a deck and stairs for the Duthler Family that spring, for $2 an hour, until I had enough to buy that gun at Best in Holland.


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## ducksarge (Jul 3, 2011)

1999


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## jrose (Aug 17, 2011)

1985. Damn, that was a long time ago!


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## Birddoggem (Jul 25, 2016)

2004 when I was 22. My dad was a deer hunter so that's what I did and not for fun for meat. Always new I wanted to hunt birds with a dog by my side so that's what I do now.


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## Fowl Play (Nov 30, 2014)

Fowl Play said:


> Dad started taking me grouse and crow hunting when I was 8, then field hunting for geese at the Todd farm in 1981, first layout hunt in 1982, took a year to convince mom it was safe enough, lol.


Forgot to say the year. 1978 carrying the daisy BB gun. Carried my first shotgun in 1982


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## slammer (Feb 21, 2006)

Fowl Play said:


> Forgot to say the year. 1978 carrying the daisy BB gun. Carried my first shotgun in 1982


1985, 14-15 years old. The following year was one of those once in a life time for bad and good. 86 was a banner year for us with red heads. The Thanksgiving reopener was snowy and we were hunting on shore and having a blast. Back in those days you didn't need a federal stamp until you turned 16 which happen ed during the season and I over looked it. I also overlooked the leadshot left in my coat from the previous year. CO was cool about it, took my gun until we could get a stamp on my license. Good ol' days


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## craigrh13 (Oct 24, 2011)

I started hunting when I was 8 down in Ohio. So that would have been 1992. Had to start down there because Michigan law at the time was 12 years old. My dad is from that area so we hunted Sandusky bay, winous point, Magee, black duck marsh, Ottawa, pipe creek and the Tousaaint. I actually killed my first duck hunting the Toussaint.


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## Bruce Folske (Dec 5, 2007)

TrapperJohn said:


> 1972 when I was twelve was the first time I was allowed to carry a shotgun. A few years prior to that I carried my trusty Daisy into the duck blind!


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## Bruce Folske (Dec 5, 2007)

1967 with cheap waders and canvas coat no camo.


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## toppm (Dec 30, 2010)

Fowl Play said:


> Forgot to say the year. 1978 carrying the daisy BB gun. Carried my first shotgun in 1982


Same scenario for me but wasn't old enough till 85.


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## Wingmaster22 (Oct 29, 2003)

1969, 14 years old. first duck was an old squaw shot in the waste lagoons off of I94, had no clue what it was. on the way there and back we had to walk through K-Part Housing (military housing) on Sugarbush. Stuffed my trusty 20ga single down my pants and made it thru. can you imagine if you tried to do that today? :evilsmile quit duck hunting in 1988 and concentrated on deer. went back to waterfowl in 2000, picked up the addiction again big time. I now make 1 or 2 trips a year out west and own a house in North Dakota.


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## Mike L (Sep 8, 2003)

Started in 1962....Actually hunted FP before it was a refuge. Used my dads ithica featherweight 12ga
Took a shot at some real big long neck snow geese, fell flat on my back in the water as the shot was straight up.
Guys used to spread out along the **** that runs east and west by the watch tower. The minute the ducks would come to the **** ? Up they would go. When the water froze in the now refuge part ? I counted 21 roosters in a row before a hen appeared. Now ! That's a looooong time ago


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## duckaddict (Sep 23, 2014)

2011 I believe for me. Had to find something to do in the fall after I finished playing ball in college.


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## gilgetter (Feb 28, 2006)

62, on the red mill pond north of Tecumseh.every guy in school took the day off.


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## ice bandit (Dec 17, 2005)

2002 when I was 13 hunting a local Creek full of woodies and mallards. Hunted the saginaw bay the next year and never looked back


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## weiss (Dec 1, 2008)

1976


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## deadduck365 (Nov 5, 2010)

This is crazy. I figured most of you were all young punk kids. Never figured most of you were over 40. Sure are a bunch of old guys on here. Lol.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

deadduck365 said:


> This is crazy. I figured most of you were all young punk kids. Never figured most of you were over 40. Sure are a bunch of old guys on here. Lol.


DNR surveys show the majority of waterfowl hunters, and all hunters for that matter, are in that age group. Which is why most of their recruitment efforts are aimed at the youngins....35 and under


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