Must be nice to have the time and money to do that. Its not that some folks.are lazy and wont get off their azz to scout, some folks can't. I cannot afford to to scout that hard nor do I have the time with my work schedule. I believe many folks also have that problem. I would love to be able to do things like that. I dislike like how quick people call some one a barney cause they aren't fortunate to be able to.scout and are looking for some help. I commend you on your hard work scouting and I hope it pays off for you. I will continue to be stuck in this duckless hell hole they call college station. Lol
IMO if you're going to duck hunt, the challenge of preparing is what it's about. It's the scouting and the umteen million 'unpleasantries' that we come to love (thigh-deep mud, freezing cold water, biting wind & weather, exhausting treks, toting gear thru unforgiving terrain and more.) And the dog... ever at our side, who understands this call of the wild and who adores us for the priviledge of being able to tag along as together, we border on the insane, testing our mettle against the elements. Somehow, all this lets us know that we are alive and living large - because we're doing what so many others would not. It's the inner satisfaction of surmounting great challenges that equals quality of life.
That said, I wanted to expand my options this year and have lots of new places to hunt on the central coast, which is a 3 hr drive from home. This would be in addition to where I've been going, which is anywhere between a 15 and 90 min drive from home. The new place is my 'luxury'... it's a lease and I pay someone else to do the scouting and give me access to many great spots. It's a different kind of pleasure to just show up, chunk some dekes out and wait for the birds (yes, I'm over-simplifying it.) But nice as that is, I can't shake the feeling that I'm cheating because I'm gleaning (killing ducks) where another man has sown (found the ducks.) Plus you can just drive right up to every spot. Yes, it's nice and definitely has it's advantages, but to me, it does feel like less than half the sport. I battle with myself because I paid for this "
luxury", yet struggle to look at it as such. It feels too easy, yet it was meant to be - and I tell myself it's practical, wise and safer for a single, almost always solo, female hunter in her 50's who must admit she is getting a little slower with each passing year.
However, I will always feel that the difficult to attain public spots are a unique treasure for their challenges. And crazy as it sounds, I yearn for this challenge and in many ways, prefer it over the luxuries of the lease. I need the occasional 'fix' of having to work to get to where the ducks can so effortlessly fly (and fly
away. lol) And whether I kill ducks or not is secondary to having put in the effort. Something in me just needs to know that when I see ducks, it's due to
my, not someone else's efforts. Maybe it's because I'm from an earlier era when you worked for, rather than bought, a good hunt. Maybe it's because I and grew up hunting public, which was common in my day up north. OR, maybe it's because I'm just a purist... which I suspect is the heart of every
true waterfowler. We want what's untamed, often untouched and out of reach for the masses. We live for those raw mornings when, while the rest of the world is asleep in their warm beds, we have paid the price with an exhausting trek, set up our spread in freezing water, then hunkered down in the blind, the salty taste of sweat, mingled with ice cold rain/snow our lips. This is the pay-off for that sweat... our best buddy at our side, our eyes to the skies, watching in silent anticipation and a familiar, yet invigorating sense of awe as the aerial show at dawn's first light begins.
