Words & Photo by: Teagan McKewen

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As winter began to approach in the Southeast, cold fronts got even colder, lakes and rivers started freezing over, and wildlife started to come out of their summer shells. After a successful deer hunt in November, I started looking more into duck hunting.

It had always been something I wanted to try but never got around to it, and honestly wasn't sure if I'd pursue it. I started talking to my brother about it, and he said "lets give it a go and see what happens".

Now, looking back in time, I'm glad we had that conversation.

We have a lake within decent driving distance close to where we live, but I never knew how good it was for duck hunting. A couple of weeks later, I had saved up enough money to buy a cheap jon boat to help me get to some places I couldn't on foot to look for ducks on our local lake.

After a few weeks of scouting on our local lake, one night I was sitting around a fire with one of my good friends. I knew he'd been duck hunting in the area for way longer than me, so I very briefly mentioned to him that I was going to start duck hunting. As most people would normally brush this off and just say "good luck", or not care to share any tips or advice, my friend looked over at me with a grin on his face and said, "let me tell you some stories".

For about the next hour he went on telling me stories about how his dad would take him duck hunting in this one swamp on our local lake, and some of his best memories from hunting with his dad and some other friends over the years. Without me asking, he then went into telling me some tips for hunting our local lake and told me what to expect at certain spots. I had been scouting in my jon boat and dropping pins on the map, so I showed him a few of my pins, and when I showed him the last pin he said, "that's the swamp".

The very next day I launched my jon boat and set out to get boots on the ground in the swamp. As I tied up the boat and started walking around the swamp I realized this is the place my brother and I needed to be on opening day of duck season. I scouted and picked out multiple spots to set up to play the wind right and make sure I had good, ethical shot angles.

Fast forward to opening day - my brother and I are up super early in the morning and set out to one of the spots I scouted to set up for a North wind. Right after first light, I look over and see multiple groups of ducks flying in our area, looking for a place to land. But there was no shot.

Unfortunately our first hunt was unsuccessful, but the experience for the first time was unbelievable. I instantly knew this was something I would want to continue to pursue.

After a few weeks of my brother and I going out and trying to harvest our first ducks, I realized this is a whole new style of hunting. I noticed it was more engaging than any other hunting I've done. Between getting out to the water very early in the morning, trying to mimic the sounds of the ducks to get them closer within ethical shooting range, and always keeping your head on a swivel to make sure you don't miss an opportunity. I'm not saying any of the other hunting I do doesn't feel like that, but this was a different feeling.

About a month into the season with no success, I ran into a lake about 2 hours south of where I've been hunting. I dropped multiple pins on this lake knowing I had some time off from work coming up, so when the time came to make this trip, I wasn't going into this lake completely blind. My brother and I planned a trip to this lake 2 hours south. The plan was to hunt and camp their for 3 days.

When we got there, we set up camp and immediately got into the boat and started scouting this lake. We scouted for about 2 hours and found a few more spots to drop pins and potentially hunt the next morning. When we got back to camp, we ran into a local man who was fishing for some bluegill off the dock. We started talking about the lake and he told us a few spots to go and hunt for the morning. With what we scouted on the boat and what we heard from the locals, we had a plan for the next day.

We got up early the next morning and took maybe one of the most eerie boat rides I've ever taken. The fog rolling off the water in the pitch black of this new place put a different feeling in our guts. Although this may have been a little creepy, I almost found a sort of peace in it. We were the only ones out there, the only noise was the water being pushed by the boat motor, I felt like I was a part of nature this morning.

We hunted that morning and the next several days, and saw a good amount of ducks and geese, but never got any shot opportunities. Even though we did not harvest anything on this trip, we still had an amazing time being in nature trying something new to us, and made lots of memories we will never forget.

We got back home with only a few days of duck season left, and my brother and I went back to the swamp on our local lake to try and harvest our first ducks before the season ended. The last day of the season came around and we woke up a little extra early to get to the swamp and set up for our last hunt of the season.

The weather was brutal that morning - 18 degrees, 8 mph north wind, and just about every pocket of water was frozen over, except the one we set up on. There wasn't much water open where we were, but there was just enough.

As first light came I heard ducks circling the hole trying to find a spot to land. As I looked over my shoulder I saw a group of about 5 wood ducks coming through the trees straight to our hole. In a split second I shouldered my shotgun, picked out a few ducks from the group and took my shot.

I got two shots off and luckily I connected on my second shot. Finally, after all the work my brother and I put in that season, it paid off.

We retrieved the duck and just took a few minutes and sat in the swamp and took in everything that happened. We did not shoot a full limit of ducks, but it didn't bother us one bit. That hunt was more about the experience rather than going on a killing spree. We were more than happy with the 1 wood duck I shot. With that, we headed home and shared the hunt with the rest of the family who was super excited to hear about our success.

To wrap up the morning I cleaned the duck and prepped it to cook. With no idea of how to cook wood duck, I figured I would cook it like a steak. I cooked it on the grill for about 3-4 minutes per side and I did not expect it to taste that good, but I was wrong.

Needless to say, my brother and I will continue to pursue these birds for the next several years to come and make up our own recipes on the way. It's not always about how many animals you were able to harvest - it's more about the experience, spending time in nature, and not being afraid to try something new.