12 year old gets his first duck...

[Redthies]

I am mentoring my wife’s best friends son. She is a single mom, who is cool enough to have gone out and gotten her CORE since her son is such a keen hunter. I’ve taken him out for grouse, and now twice for ducks.

His 13th birthday is a week away, so I surprised him with a trip to Reliable yesterday (said we needed steel shot) and bought him his first gun. He is a big kid, so I got him a Canuck 20 gauge pump. Mossy Oak bottomland stocks and dark bronze ceracote on the steel. It’s a pretty cool looking gun, so he is super thrilled.

We assembled, cleaned and lubed it, and then headed to the bay. We got there a bit early for the night flight, and I dropped a lone bird almost right away, and then we had very little action until dusk. He had taken a shot at some high flying ducks more to just pull the trigger on the new gun than anything. With about 10 mins of legal light left, he got his first duck! A wigeon flying fast and low. A great shot for anyone frankly. I taught him to “try an miss it in front”, and that is what he did. Hits in the head and neck. This was his first animal of any sort, so a very significant moment for an aspiring hunter. We are headed back out again this afternoon, but with a lot less pressure for him to put on himself.

This kid has an amazing grasp of ethics and integrity for his age. I think he’s going to be a heck of a hunter and ambassador for our sport.

https://i.postimg.cc/zfxPvgzB/73-FA2406-3-FEA-474-D-AD39-360-B2-EC51503.jpg (https://postimg.cc/jWJhkCJ0)

https://i.postimg.cc/BZr7js0x/6-A8-E97-AD-0-C12-47-DE-9-C15-9-AA8-D50-E19-AA.jpg (https://postimg.cc/dD9jfbD1)

[Bustercluck]

Good on you Redthies! I bet it was a proud moment for yourself as well.

[Ride Red]

Great job Redthies!! Wish there were more people like you out there. Congrats to the young man too!!! Taking a wigeon on the first go is impressive for sure.

[The Hermit]

Well done to both of you!

[Arctic Lake]

This a great thing you are doing mentoring that young fella ! Hurray for you and way to go young fella !
Arctic Lake

[Redthies]

I’ll pass on your congratulations to him. I don’t have kids of my own to bring into the hunting tradition, so this is as good as I can do. I was definitely stoked to see him get one!

[todbartell]

awesome stuff! Good on you for taking him out!

[dru88]

Love reading stories like this, keep up the good work and congratulations to the both of you.

[silveragent]

Fantastic! You're a good one for doing this.

I would put in the time to do the same if I knew any young ones who's parents were willing to participate.

[HarryToolips]

Great job both of you congrats!

[Blacktail1]

Awesome job. I remember my first duck shoot. Lots of shooting no duck. Good shooting young man!

[REMINGTON JIM]

Very KOOL of you Redthies - Your a Good Man and Mentor to the Kid ! Congrats to the NEW duck hunter - RJ

[Weatherby Fan]

I’ll pass on your congratulations to him. I don’t have kids of my own to bring into the hunting tradition, so this is as good as I can do. I was definitely stoked to see him get one!

congrats to both of you, that’s awesome and thank you for helping him with all that stuff, that’s so good of you, please enter him in the youth hunting contest, link below



http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?167186-2021-youth-hunting-contest

[Redthies]

congrats to both of you, that’s awesome and thank you for helping him with all that stuff, that’s so good of you, please enter him in the youth hunting contest, link below



http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?167186-2021-youth-hunting-contest

I absolutely will enter him in this. It’s a great thing you are doing too! Very generous of you!

[Redthies]

We went back out today, and he got his first goose too! A nice snow goose. There have been a ton of them way further east than normal. It’s 10:15 pm and we just finished plucking and wrapping the birds. He and his mom live in Victoria, so up at 5:00 to get the ferry home in time for school.

As a side bar on firsts, I shot my first Cackling tonight. We decided to pack it up a few minutes before last shot to get home and eat and dress the birds, and just as I was finished putting the decoys in the bag, a vee of geese came super low over us, and I realized I had #5 in my gun, started fumbling for some BB, and then said “bugger it, they are so low I’ll take a poke”. Dropped one instantly. Bang plop. It was a great end to a couple of fun days.

[silveragent]

Redthies could you post a picture of the cackling you got? I would like to know the difference

I put down a Canada with #4 last week

[Redthies]

The only really noticeable differences are the much shorter neck, and the yellow arrow is pointing at a white band that separates the neck from the body. There are some differences in feather tones on the body but that can vary bird to bird. The white ring of feathers at the base of the neck is the easiest tell for me. I’ll take another photo of the front side tomorrow. It shows that ring well. I’m letting it “hang” for a couple of days as I want to try and see what that does for the meat. Apparently it allows any adrenaline etc to settle down. No idea if it will make a difference, but I’m trying it with this one.


Bonus points to anyone who can tell me what the duck is beside the goose. I think it’s a Northern Shoveler?

https://i.postimg.cc/sgLrqfWx/8-F66-C841-CEB6-493-D-8-C4-F-B0-B179-E009-B0.jpg (https://postimg.cc/9DyKqhJH)

[silveragent]

Thanks that is a good comparison and meets the descriptions I'd read about. I doubt I could tell them apart until I dropped one though

[VLD43]

The only really noticeable differences are the much shorter neck, and the yellow arrow is pointing at a white band that separates the neck from the body. There are some differences in feather tones on the body but that can vary bird to bird. The white ring of feathers at the base of the neck is the easiest tell for me. I’ll take another photo of the front side tomorrow. It shows that ring well. I’m letting it “hang” for a couple of days as I want to try and see what that does for the meat. Apparently it allows any adrenaline etc to settle down. No idea if it will make a difference, but I’m trying it with this one.


Bonus points to anyone who can tell me what the duck is beside the goose. I think it’s a Northern Shoveler?

https://i.postimg.cc/sgLrqfWx/8-F66-C841-CEB6-493-D-8-C4-F-B0-B179-E009-B0.jpg (https://postimg.cc/9DyKqhJH)

The bird beside the cackler is a shoveler hen for sure.

[VLD43]

Redthies could you post a picture of the cackling you got? I would like to know the difference

I put down a Canada with #4 last week

Cacklers are visibly smaller in size than a Canada goose and have a different call, hence the name cackler. have a listen on this link Cackling Goose Sounds, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cackling_Goose/sounds#)

[silveragent]

Yes definitely seen a couple flights over Boundary. They are shy to come down. The Canadas seemed to still want to try the low dash across the foreshore, though.

[J-F]

Beautiful! For the young ladd having a chance to start hunting at an age when I had to push on my old man to go out, and on you to take him out and support himt the way you do. Congrats! and thanks!

[webley]

Well done, you will remember that all your life, both of you. Steve!

[nature girl]

Very nice of you to teach the young guy and to buy him a gun. And him getting his first duck.

[Redthies]

Redthies could you post a picture of the cackling you got? I would like to know the difference

Here is a shot that shows the neck stripe a bit better. I cleaned him up and breasted him and got the legs trimmed up too. Now to find a good recipe for cackling goose...

https://i.postimg.cc/CMnpK7h5/2-F3-C17-B6-412-F-43-CD-B1-F5-50239-CF8902-A.jpg (https://postimg.cc/4nGSLzhR)

[silveragent]

Thanks again. Never seen one up close

[islandarcher]

This is beyond awesome! good on you for mentoring the young mand and making memories I am sure you will both cherish for a long time to come.

[Redthies]

Thanks again. Never seen one up close

Me neither until Sunday:-P

[Farmer]

Shot my first ever cackler this morning. 3.69 pounds

[Farmer]

Here is a shot that shows the neck stripe a bit better. I cleaned him up and breasted him and got the legs trimmed up too. Now to find a good recipe for cackling goose...

https://i.postimg.cc/CMnpK7h5/2-F3-C17-B6-412-F-43-CD-B1-F5-50239-CF8902-A.jpg (https://postimg.cc/4nGSLzhR)
The one I got did not have this white neck stripe.

[Redthies]

The one I got did not have this white neck stripe.

Then it was a Canada. At least thats what conventional wisdom says.

[Farmer]

They are all Canadas. And yes it was a cackler.
I got another one today 4.48 pounds. It did have the white on the neck.

[wideopenthrottle]

is that a blackduck? what colour were the feet?

edit: I looked closer and agree shoveler

[fearnodeer]

Always good to see guys taking youth out, good on you for doing so.

[Ron.C]

AWESOME. Hats off to you Redthies

[Imdone]

Congrats to the young Gunner.
I was 12 when I shot my first Duck. That was 50 years ago, and thousands I would guess later, it's just as fun and tasty.

[Farmer]

We got 3 more cacklers yesterday. Only one had the white neck line. 3.3 to 4.6 pounds.
There are thousands of them around. In 60 years I have never seen this many geese around.