Outdoor Bucket List Sees Another Item Scratched Off

PROTECTED CONTENT

If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.

Lost your password?

Username and Password Help

Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.

← Back

 We all have some type of “Bucket List” item that we think of now and then. Some of them may not mean anything to someone else, but to you they are the things we dream about and long for the opportunity to fulfill.  I remember a long time ago when a friend and I canoed the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota. The fishing was very slow, but we managed to catch some small pike, walleye, and smallmouth bass. When we got home my buddy was lamenting to his mother about how slow the fishing had been to which she gave the classic response, “If you just wanted to catch fish, you could have stayed home and did it!”  It was true we wanted much more than just to fish, we wanted to experience the Boundary Waters first hand. I am a waterfowler as was my father and his father before him. My brother was also a waterfowler and it’s what we grew up enjoying and have a passion for it. I cannot explain it, so I do not try.  Some people have a passion for music or antiques and that’s great for them. But as a waterfowler I not only enjoy hunting locally, but I always wanted to hunt locales away from my home turf. For some hunting Mallards in the flooded timbers of Stuttgart, Arkansas is their dream. For me, I had always wanted to hunt the famed waters of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland for Long tails and Scoters. In December of 2023 that dream became a reality.

  This past week, my two Long-Tails came back from the taxidermist and they brought back all those memories of the past hunt, which was why I wanted them on the wall to begin with. The hunt came about after my wife had asked if I had ever wanted to hunt ducks on the east coast. I don’t know which occurred first, whether it was to visit family in Maryland during the holidays and while we were there, we would hunt sea ducks, or while we were hunting sea ducks, we would visit family. It doesn’t really matter only that we were able to do both, which is how I found myself in the front of a 24-foot boat hunkered down as a Long-Tail was approaching the huge decoys that were strung out downwind of the boat. My first shot was a complete miss, but I dumped him hard with the second shot. I was told that sea ducks are extremely tough birds to put down dead and my duck was no exception but with help we managed to finish him off.

  The Long-Tail is the smallest of sea ducks we were after. The males have a white head, neck and upper breast with a gray cheek patch and a large black patch below the cheek. The males have extremely long central tail feathers, which is where they get their name. However, that is not the only name they go by as I grew up knowing them as “Old Squaws.” According to my taxidermist Jeff at Wild Wings in Burlington, Iowa who researched the duck, “They are the most vocal of all ducks, and were given their name by native Americans because they sounded like squaws yelling. They are also the deepest divers of all ice ducks going down as far as 60 feet to feed!”

  The hunt took place with Marc Spagnola of Maryland Waterfowl Guide Service.  It was a great deal of fun, but completely different from hunting here at home. The decoys were of magnum size proportions and on long strings with about a dozen decoys on each string. We probably had out three strings of Scoters and one of Long Tails. They do not call to these sea ducks, but at times they will attempt to flag them in.  If you go to their website, you will notice that everyone is wearing camouflage in the pictures, but in actuality, that is a mistake and which we made as well. Camouflage is meant to blend in with the surrounding cover. So where is the cover out in a boat on open water. If I would do it again, and I may, I would probably wear a gray rain coat over a heavy gray hooded sweatshirt.  While you will not be in the water, waders are recommended as they keep you both dry and warm as they stop the wind from penetrating your clothing and there seemed to be wind every day and wind out on the open water is brisk on warm days and downright bitter on cold days.

  Besides the Long-Tails we also took some Scoters, which are a strange looking duck that is quite a bit larger that the Long-Tails. The drakes are mostly black with the exception being a white path on their forehead and a white triangle on the nape of their neck. The bill of the duck is multi-colored white, red, yellow, and black. From a distance the bill appears to be orange. My son-in-law Colin sent one to the taxidermist, which may be done and on his wall when you are reading this.

  Speaking of taxidermy, finding someone who works on waterfowl can be a bit of a chore.  Having said that I know they are still out there, but waterfowl taxidermy I would imagine is a real pain dealing with feathers as well as skinning the duck out. Then you have to make something dead look alive. I wanted to find a taxidermist who hunts ducks and appreciated their beauty. I was given the business that I would go to and am not disappointed. You want a taxidermist who is so picky that they are a perfectionist in how their finished product looks.  If it pleases them, then more than likely it will please you as well.  

  We have a great deal of taxidermy on our walls, but I rarely make mention of it as you might get the wrong idea. First of all, it’s not bragging, but more importantly I do not see them as dead animals, birds, or fish. They are simply memories. All are special, but not because of the size. I have a couple drop tine bucks that may be average at best, but I took them with my now gone brother Kent. There is some African game as well, but they are so unique and beautiful that alone make them special. But I see those sunrises and sunsets and hear the baboons yell in the valley below when I look upon them on the wall. As far as the two Long-Tails are concerned, yes, they are cool and beautiful, but when I see them, I hear and feel the waves hitting against the side of the boat in the pre-dawn. I also see the oyster boats leaving the harbor as they head out to gather oysters.  I also can hear the Long-Tails off in the distance with a near yodel call they make. Those memories, no matter how old still bring a smile to my face and a little sad as well as friends and family that I shared those hunts with are no more or I do not get to see them as much as I would like.