The element of excitement isn’t always as glamorous as we would hope. Yes, it is heart-pounding to see a mature buck chasing does.
But the adrenaline of cupped-up ducks coming in is about as good as it gets–if you see more than one at a time. But the excitement of going on a trip with a prominent outdoorsman is a little different than I expected.
Over the break I had the priveledge of going on a Missouri duck hunt with Tom Wiley of Wiley Outdoor Products. Tom had told me of all the ducks they had been killing in the boothills of Missouri and, needless to say, I was very excited about the possibility of killing a mess of ducks. But the trip just wasn’t what I expected. It was what I needed.
Tom and I met at his house early one morning and headed to Jackson for a meeting that he had to attend. While Tom waited for all of his partners to arrive at the warehouse, I hopped in with one of the Wiley Game Call makers and headed to Port Gibson to pick up a tripod for the video camera.
We returned three hours later only to find that the meeting hadn’t even started.
“I don’t know where he is,” Tom said. “I apologize.”
I wasn’t really worried about it because I was going duck hunting the next day, no matter what time we left Jackson.
And eventually we left Jackson and hit the road to Missouri.
We arrived at our hotel about midnight and awoke about three hours later to go after some flying friends.
After a little breakfast, and a good yawn, we headed to the duck hole.
The forecast called for abnormally warm weather and Mother Nature played into the meteorologists every call that day. It simply was going to be hot.
I was worried that the warm weather would hinder our day. My hunch was right.
We tallied a grand total of four ducks that first morning. All of which were Green-winged Teal.
That afternoon we killed two Pintails.
To the other guys that was no big deal, but I was used to hunting public land in Mississippi, and we simply don’t get Pintails down here. On the final hunt, we stomped two more Teal and a hen mallard. Not exactly what I had hoped for, but it wasn’t a skunk.
“Jake, I am sorry, man,” Tom said. “I didn’t expect this.”
I simply replied, “Hey, you can’t control the weather or the ducks.”
On the way home I got to catch up on a little sleep and got to attend Professor Tom’s Duck Calling 101 class. I learned a lot by working with Tom on my duck calling. That in itself was worth the trip for me.
After we arrived back in Starkville, I reflected back on the events of the few days in Missouri. We didn’t kill many ducks, the weather was terrible, didn’t get much sleep, but I did have a great time and met some great people.
In talking to Tom, I learned that he was just a good ol’ country boy who is fulfilling his dream by making duck calls. He wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, except for his duck calling. And the most amazing thing was that he cared that I had a good time.
That made this particular trip worth getting excited about.
For more information about Wiley Game Calls visit:
www.wileyoutdoorproduct.com.
For information on hunting in Missouri visit:
www.northdeltaduckclub.com.