“When nature calls you, answer.” Ever since I was very young, nature has always called me to enjoy her peaceful benefits. Growing up on a lake, I was fortunate to be on the doorstep of so many sights and sounds of the wild. When I turned twelve, I experienced duck hunting for the first time. There is something so calming about listening to the birds chirping at first light and hearing the many voices of the eager wood ducks getting ready to fly. I was taught to cast a fishing line and how to handle a 12 gauge shotgun by my father and my Uncle Joe. We’d spend countless hours fishing for trout, but most of our time went towards duck hunting and it is still the best way for me to relax and clear my mind.
Duck hunting is a very social kind of hunt and that means it calms my spirit. Hunters experience nature in such a way that they become part of it, and when that experience is shared with another human, it forms a bond like no other. Some of the best conversations I’ve ever had took place sitting in a duck blind, waiting for the ducks to fly overhead. Under the blind, the distractions and contraptions of everyday life are stripped away, leaving human interaction as the only thing left. Here, heart to heart conversations come easily.
I recall one time when my Uncle Joe and I went hunting. We had our eyes to the sky and brought our duck calls
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He passed away two years ago due to skin cancer. Duck hunting has helped me with my father’s passing because it lets me take my mind off things and I am able to lose all track of time, just sitting and listening to the many stories. I keep my Dad in my thoughts while ducking hunting and always look up thank him when I have a good shoot. When things began going downhill with my father, my uncle became a source of strength. I knew I could lean on him and that he would always have my back. He told me this under the blind on one of our hunting