This morning at set-up time, a boat passed my position and then headed to the shoreline about 100 yards away. I took a chance and extended an invite to them to join me, rather than compete with me. They replied "Sure." It turned out to be one of my best experiences this season.
In the boat were three young hunters, all in their early twenties. They had a bag of used dekes, some new calls, some apps for tutoring their calling skills, and a young, energetic yellow lab. We quickly set up all of the dekes and built some really nice blinds. After that, they used their apps to listen to Jase Robertson tutor them on duck calling. I just smiled inside.
For the next several hours, I watched these young guys try their best to get some ducks. We were bombed with Cans and some Mallards. The gun shots were plentiful....dead ducks were not. Finally, they started to connect and managed to get three nice Bull Cans, a Triple Curled Drake Mallard, and two Ringbills. Their young dog also found two cripples from the day before, hiding in the shoreline not far from our blind. You couldn't have wiped the smiles off of their faces with a chain saw.
The whole experience just warmed my soul. Taking a chance this morning proved to be a good thing. Watching these guys practice their calls, eventually improving their shooting skills, and watching a young dog retrieve was priceless.