# How was the Youth Hunt?



## MWScott72 (May 23, 2011)

My bro and I took our sons out to FB, and while there were alot of birds around, they seemed to already be quite wary. Maybe it was the blue skies and dead calm of the afternoon, but they were both decoy and call shy...something I wouldn't expect in mid-September. We only ended up scratching a couple, but the boys had chances missed too although they were far fewer than years past. Anyone else notice a change this year? What were your experiences?


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Afternoon Youth Hunts were always tough for us. The morning hunts brought much more shooting and success for my kids. The ducks get smart in a hurry when pressured.


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## Slap That Quack (Mar 2, 2017)

Took my two girls out and there were tons of ducks! They decoyed pretty well, but didnt really responded to calls except for the teal. My oldest limited out and the other got 4 which is her record, so I was pumped and so were they!


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## utahbigbull (May 9, 2012)

Took em about a half hour to realize they were safe loading out in the middle at OB in the morning. Even with the weather and rain they didn’t fly too good. That first half hour was great though. My youngest scratched his limit roughing it out getting a good shot every 15 - 20 minutes or so. LOTS of teal.


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## gander311 (Dec 23, 2008)

I took my son out in the afternoon to a little hidey-hole at FB, and we were covered up in teal and mallards. The most I've ever seen in this spot. If I had been hunting it probably would've been the best Utah duck hunt I've ever had. Like 7 greenheads in 15-20 minutes. 

Having said that, this was my son's first hunt and he was TIMID about the whole thing. I only got him to pull the trigger twice, and we came home empty handed after about two hours. It was a great day. We enjoyed quite the show and he says he had fun. 

On a side note, I spent hours and hours all spring and summer training my lab to be steady to shot. Training sessions anywhere from 3 to 6 times a week. She's been nailing it and doing so good. But yesterday you wouldn't have thought I've ever trained her at all. Apparently I need to get some more field time with her this season to get all he initial jitters out and drive home what we dialed in all off-season.


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## MWScott72 (May 23, 2011)

Maybe I'll have to start hunting mornings again. As a foot soldier, I never noticed much difference in morning v. evening, but I hated trying to navigate the phrag in the dark, so gravitated to the evening hunt for that reason. Now that I have a floating platform, I may need to get back to morning hunts. It does seem that the weather typically mellows during the afternoons here in UT, so the birds just don't need to move around much. I'm going to miss sleeping in though - that is a given!;-)


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## MWScott72 (May 23, 2011)

gander311 said:


> I took my son out in the afternoon to a little hidey-hole at FB, and we were covered up in teal and mallards. The most I've ever seen in this spot. If I had been hunting it probably would've been the best Utah duck hunt I've ever had. Like 7 greenheads in 15-20 minutes.
> 
> Having said that, this was my son's first hunt and he was TIMID about the whole thing. I only got him to pull the trigger twice, and we came home empty handed after about two hours. It was a great day. We enjoyed quite the show and he says he had fun.
> 
> On a side note, I spent hours and hours all spring and summer training my lab to be steady to shot. Training sessions anywhere from 3 to 6 times a week. She's been nailing it and doing so good. But yesterday you wouldn't have thought I've ever trained her at all. Apparently I need to get some more field time with her this season to get all he initial jitters out and drive home what we dialed in all off-season.


Gander-
That is some "funny" stuff about your dog (actually, I imagine it was pretty frustrating). This was only the 2nd hunt for my boy, and it was my brother's boy's first. Both we frustrated that the birds were just zinging by and not giving them much time to make the shot. In fact one was so confident that he would shoot birds just like clays that he thought he'd only need 14 shots to get his 7 ducks...having never hunted them before. Needless to say, he received some "hard knocks" on the difficulty of shooting live birds and the need to STAY STILL! He won't be quite so confident the 2nd time around.

So yeah, the real deal is so much different than training. I'm sure your pup will come around pretty quick. Just takes more real world experience, and she can only get that by hunting.


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

We had a fun little hunt with my 12 year old. The teal poored into the decoys one after another and the little 410 with TSS did the job. Lots and lots of misses, but he was able to get a handful of birds which is a major accomplishment for such a young hunter. A couple decoys took a couple BBs, but only one took on water. I remembered how much I enjoy being in the marsh when the ducks decoy really well. Watching my son hunt renewed my passion to get out there in the marsh this year.


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## hunting777 (May 3, 2009)

9 boxes of shells and 6 ducks :doh::doh::doh: That is with even going trap shooting a few times before. The kids couldn't believe how fast ducks are. 

Kids had a blast and us adults did too!


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

toasty said:


> We had a fun little hunt with my 12 year old. The teal poored into the decoys one after another and the little 410 with TSS did the job. Lots and lots of misses, but he was able to get a handful of birds which is a major accomplishment for such a young hunter. A couple decoys took a couple BBs, but only one took on water. I remembered how much I enjoy being in the marsh when the ducks decoy really well. Watching my son hunt renewed my passion to get out there in the marsh this year.


What kind of boat is that?


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## 7summits (Nov 28, 2017)

MWScott72 said:


> Maybe I'll have to start hunting mornings again. As a foot soldier, I never noticed much difference in morning v. evening, but I hated trying to navigate the phrag in the dark, so gravitated to the evening hunt for that reason. Now that I have a floating platform, I may need to get back to morning hunts. It does seem that the weather typically mellows during the afternoons here in UT, so the birds just don't need to move around much. I'm going to miss sleeping in though - that is a given!;-)


My experience, and maybe is is just me and where I hunt (FB area). Early season seems to be better in the morning, and later season seems to be better in the evenings.


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

paddler said:


> What kind of boat is that?


It is a poke boat. I had another one that I sold 7 or 8 years ago and I am still kicking myself for that. If anyone knows of one for sale. Let me know.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

toasty said:


> It is a poke boat. I had another one that I sold 7 or 8 years ago and I am still kicking myself for that. If anyone knows of one for sale. Let me know.


I like that it shows you can have a "good OL' boat" of any kind and still get it done. Proof right there that a $20K set up isn't needed, just wanted.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

How did he see anything?


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## twall13 (Aug 2, 2015)

Took my son out on his first hunt for the opener and there were a lot more people out than when I took my nephews the past few years. Most everyone spread out and it was fine but we had some idiots set up about 75 yards behind us just in the bushes, hoping to cut off ducks coming in to our decoys. We flashed our headlamps at them several times and they didn't care that we were there. They managed to screw up probably ten groups of ducks coming into the decoys but my son still got two mallards and a teal. Not bad for his first hunt. The birds did wise up pretty quickly though, mostly because every time they came anywhere near the ponds they were being blasted at from all angles with all the people out. 

A few reckless people out as well, we took some steel shot from across the pond twice and heard someone shooting literally over an hour before legal shooting light. That one I can't understand, aren't we supposed to be teaching the youth the right way to do things?


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## shaner (Nov 30, 2007)

You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.
The WMA’s this season are going to be jam packed, even mon-fri.
Since Covid that has been the way the lakes, campgrounds, and boat ramps have been.
My buddy and I both tried different stores for duck stamps and had to go to back up locations to get them due to being sold out, and one place I went was a post office and they were out.
Sad.
I am dreading ice fishing season.
I am predicting people will be on the ice clicking away on a laptop, with a cell phone jammed in their ear hole
They will be ‘working’ while fishing on the side...


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## APD (Nov 16, 2008)

shaner said:


> My buddy and I both tried different stores for duck stamps and had to go to back up locations to get them due to being sold out, and one place I went was a post office and they were out.
> Sad.


just what the covid doctor ordered:

https://www.fws.gov/birds/get-involved/duck-stamp/e-stamp.php

vaild for 45 days or until yours shows up in the mail.


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