All of the preparations had been made. … The decoys were untangled, shotguns were oiled and functioning as they should, camouflage clothing was laid out, shell bags were properly packed with all of the necessary items, a chair for each hunter was accounted for, and Penny’s dog crate was waiting for her arrival.

Everything was carefully packed in the back of the trusty old Suburban. If vehicles could talk this one would have stories galore. She had taken us from the borders of Mexico to northern Kansas in pursuit of fish, fur, and fowl through the years.

Surely she knew that opening day of duck season was upon us in and we were all excited.

Duck season around our house had become more than just a hunt, it was a family tradition. This all started years ago when I was an anxious 9-year-old little boy. I can clearly remember my dad taking my brothers and I on duck hunts when we were young boys. We would also make the preparations and set our alarms for the wee hours of the morning. At 3 a.m. the clocks would cry out and dad would begin to brew his coffee and our hot cocoa for the hunt.

We mainly hunted the refuge at McFaddin and built memories that would last a lifetime.  These hunts are where we bonded.  We ate donut sticks together, froze together, swatted mosquitos together and shared victory and defeat in the duck blind.  I’m convinced that through the years these hunts helped us make the transition from boys to men.

It didn’t matter that I really didn’t expect to kill a lot of ducks on this hunt. In fact I was hoping for maybe six or seven total between the five of us.  What mattered is that I had my two boys, my duck hunting buddy of several years, and one of my sons friends with me, and we were sharing opening day!

Morning finally came and we found ourselves parked on the levee working as a team.  Each person had his own role to play. One was throwing out decoys, one was setting up the mojos, and the others were carefully preparing our blind and getting our gear in place.

We were functioning like a well-oiled machine. Once we were all set to go I had the responsibility of hiding the truck. I drove several hundred yards away to make sure the old suburban wouldn’t scare ducks but close enough that she could still catch a glimpse of the action.  I then unloaded my trusty Labrador (Penny) and slowly walked to the blind.

I had a smile on my face.  I was opening day and I was sharing it with ones that I loved.

Once I was back at the blind, we checked our clocks and noticed we had about 15 minutes until legal shooting time. We took time as always to bow our heads and pray, thanking God for this amazing opportunity and asking him to not only keep us safe but to maybe send a few ducks our way.  A few short stories and therma cell adjustment later, and it was shooting time.

The morning was slightly foggy and it played to our advantage as flight after flight flew lower than normal into our spread. We had ducks everywhere.  They were coming from the north, south, east, and west.  Sometimes we missed and other times we killed the whole group.

As the morning progressed, our shooting improved and the high fives and laughter began to increase.  Penny was doing her part and marking the birds as they fell and retrieving them to hand.  It seemed like my trusty ol’ sure shot duck call, made right here in Groves, Texas, had a special magic quack this morning.  The ducks were responding perfectly and the hunt was one of our best opening day hunts in years.

The ducks were still flying as we started to pack our gear.  We were a few shy of a 30-bird limit but we learned long ago that it is a limit and not a quota.

Extra ducks on the stringer might have made for a pretty picture but it couldn’t have made the hunt any better.  We were all happy and content with leaving a few birds for seed.

Once we left the ranch we had one stop left. No duck hunt is complete without breakfast. Sometimes we eat in the blind and other times we eat in a restaurant or even a drive thru in the truck. One thing is for certain and that is we are going to eat. My nephew once said we don’t always limit out on ducks but with uncle Brian … we always limit out on burritos!

We are truly blessed to live in Southeast Texas and have some of the finest duck hunting in the world right in our own back yard. I encourage you to get outdoors and enjoy God’s wonderful creation. Go shoot some ducks. ‘Tis the season!

Here is a great recipe for all of those ducks you kill!
Ingredients:
• 1 dozen duck breasts
• 1 jar of sliced jalapeño (you will have leftover for more ducks later!)
• 8 ounce package of cream cheese
• 12 slices of maple bacon
• 1 container of Tony Chachere’s More Spice seasoning
• 1 small package of toothpicks
• 1 bottle of Italian dressing
• Local honey
Directions:
• 1. Soak the duck breasts two days in Italian dressing in refrigerator.
• 2. Heat grill to medium
• 3. Rinse duck breast in cool water. With a sharp knife, slice each duck breast down the length of the breast to create a pouch. Be careful not to cut all of the way through. Stuff the pouch with cream cheese and one jalapeño (if you are bold). Lightly sprinkle Tony’s on top and wrap in maple bacon.  Secure everything in place with toothpick.
4. Cook on open grill until bacon is done and the cheese is starting to ooze out. Medium rare duck will taste way better than well done, so be careful not to over cook.
5. Coat in local honey (local honey helps with allergies and will make you feel like you are being healthy!) and cook an additional 90 seconds.

Give thanks and enjoy with family and friends!

Brian Johnson, originally of Port Neches, is pastor of the Outdoorsman’s Church in Winnie, owner of DuckDogTrainer.com and the outdoors writer for The News. Email him at brian@duckdogtrainer.com