Cold Hunt in Hyde County

When my sons were about 10 and 11 I took them up to Hyde County for a late season Swan hunt. Being new to hunting they barely had enough hunting clothes to keep warm in October, much less January, much less the coldest 2 day hunt I was ever on in North Carolina.

They tried their best for 2 days, but just couldn't put down a Swan. Too frozen and too bundled up in a dozen layers of camo T-shirts to shoulder their guns, much less knock down a bird.

After the first day we decided to stay over and try again. Stayed at the old hunting camp at Lowland, split an MRE for supper and all slept in the same bed to try to keep warm. No luck again the second day. We had to call it quits (the season ran out). But I'm sure they would have stayed with me until hell froze over.

Their Mother was not overly pleased that they both got real sick and missed a bunch of school. But you can't kill them if you're not out hunting. They recovered, and now, for the rest of their lives they won't ever back out of a hunting trip due to the weather. If they survived that hunt when they were just little boys, they are good to go.

Quick on the Trigger

I consider myself a pretty fast shot. Many times I get the single that comes by. Partly because I hunt harder than anyone else, and partly because I can shoot pretty quick. Competing with other good shots will help make you fast. For a period in my life I probably tried to shoot too fast, trying to beat the competition. But I got over it. I began to sacrifice accuracy for speed, so I forced myself to slow down a little and make the shots count.

When I started my sons hunting they both struggled with shouldering their long 870's. Just like all young hunters, it took a while before they grew into their guns. Then their speed started to pick up. By 15 years old they were both blistering fast shots. I recall a single Ringneck that made a thousand mile an hour pass over our decoys up on Catfish Lake Impoundment. I saw the bird and never even attempted to shoulder my gun. Mike tumbled it out of the air. It was one of the most impressive shots I've seen, much less by a youngster.

Might have bragged him up a little too much over the years about his speed, because he developed a tendency to short-shuck his 870, trying for more speed.

Whatever. The shot he made on that Ringneck really showed me that he had arrived.

A year or so later we were hunting at the Spring Creek Impoundment when Kevin showed some speed. It was mid-morning and I thought the shooting was about over. Coming from the wrong direction I saw a small flock of Teal (I thought) coming across the marsh, real low and coming really fast. I hollered out to the boys to try them on and before I could get a shot off, Mike had one and Kevin had a pair down. All three birds fell within 10 feet of us due to their momentum. I was impressed. Even though I had mis-identified them and they were actually Ruddy Ducks, it was some fast shooting.

If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.