Essay: What Duck Hunting Means To Me / By: Wyatt Bradley

Essay: What Duck Hunting Means To Me / By: Wyatt Bradley

 

Wyatt's winning contest entry to have a duck mounted for free! Many thanks to Facebook page PNW Waterfowl Hunters, Eternal Flight Taxidermy, Chad Gooch, Scott Johnson & Jon Book for making this all possible. 
Age: 10 Name: Wyatt
What Waterfowl hunting means to me!
     What waterfowl hunting means to me, is getting to spend time with family and being outdoors. I like the rewards in the process, like meat. I also like the scenery, but that is not the main part. The main part is the memories. They are what it is all about. I like all aspects of hunting.
      I started hunting at age 2. I was going once a week with my dad. At age 5, I passed hunters safety. I have been hunting ever since. This is my 5th year of hunting. Now I’m training my sisters at age 6 and age 8, sharing all my knowledge. My first duck was a female Green Wing Teal and I was so excited at age 5 in 2018. The duck I have never shot is a Wood Duck. I see them sometimes, but they are rare where I live.
      What got me interested in waterfowl hunting, is my dad. He has been hunting since he was 9 and it inspired me to hunt at age 5. My dad is 38 now and goes on every hunting trip I go on.
      When I was going hunting before I got my hunters ed. finished I would take a cap gun out duck hunting. When I would use that I would think I hit the duck, but now I figured out I never did. I learned a lot about gun safety and hunting ethics at that time.
     I have shot 3 banded ducks. My first duck band was when I was 6, on my youth duck hunt. On my next hunt, on opening day, I shot my second duck band. My 3rd duck band was the next year, on my youth duck hunt.
I started a waterfowl company because I like waterfowl hunting so much. That’s why I called it Wyatt’s Waterfowl Co. With the waterfowl company, it makes hunting more enjoyable because I can use our gear. Test our gear to make it better. I can come up with new products and hunt with new people.
      I like how they do a youth duck hunt, when only kids like me can shoot ducks. We go to summer lake most of the time. It is really nice to go out hunting where only hunters like me are, and to be out of city limits. We camp both days we hunt and we give out duck calls to youth hunters. When we would give out our duck calls, we would get to hear their story about their hunt. Which was so nice to hear. One part I liked about it was that we gave a call to a kid that was young and going to hunt next year. Which means a lot to me because one of the main goals of the company is to get more youth into hunting.
      My favorite waterfowl items are a Franchi Affinity 3 shotgun, Fast Steel shells, Deeks and White Rock decoys and my handmade duck lanyards. My favorite waterfowl calls are from Bill Saunders, and the calls I make. My favorite recipe is duck jalapeno poppers! My favorite ducks to shoot are Pintail, Mallard, and Wigeon, and Wigeon are my favorite.
      We started a YouTube channel with a lot of hunting, cooking, and shooting. To get advertisement and most importantly to get more kids to hunt. I like all the support that everybody has given me, to get this far in the waterfowl industry.
Happy hunting,
Wyatt
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