Kids and Ducks

[Russell]

Christmas Eve morning was a treat.

I took the kids duck hunting with my brother Bubba and it was their first time to go duck hunting.

It's always fun to take my kids hunting. Just to see the the look of them experiencing something new and this is always inspiring to me.

They were pretty eager to go. We were up early that morning - at 5am - and got dressed in our hunting clothes. When Bubba picked us up we traveled the six or seven miles over to the property and put on our waders to make the walk through the water to where we would hunt.

If you ever duck hunted before you know there's lots of gear that you have to contend with but the kids were really eager to help with carry stuff in.

Once we walked through the water without the kids falling over, we set up for the morning hunt. The duck hunting, however, was slow that morning.

As soon as sun came up the kids start having fun. Bailee painted Ryan’s face with some face paint to try to camouflage him. Instead of painting it in a camo pattern, she painted him a beard and mustache instead. The beard and mustache was pretty funny it made for some great photos and Ryan loved as well.

Because the hunting was kind of slow, we let Ryan practice calling and Bailee practiced shooting at a couple birds but never hit anything.

In all we only killed a single bird - but’s that's not really the reason why we hunted.

To get my kids to experience the outdoors and go hunting for something which they'd never hunted before was well worth the time and the effort. When we finished hunting, the kids were pretty excited about wading in the water and gathering up the decoys and getting all the gear stored. Both Bailee and Ryan were excited to help.

I think in the end, the chance to wade in the water and do something that they had never done before was about as exciting as going duck hunting.

We'll be going again.

[auddii]

Nice series. I love the mustache, and you got some fantastic angles on these. Alright, as someone who knows nothing about duck hunting, what's with the half ducks on a string?

[Russell]

Thanks, Audrey. Those "half ducks" are decoys :)

[Stargazer77517]

Another great series Russell. Really like the way you use DOF.

[lhdvies]

Great series Russell!!!
As usual you & the youngsters, have created a priceless experience & memories for both of you for a lifetime!!

[rph]

Wow...as usual, those are awesome!
What kit were you using there?

[Russell]

Originally Posted by rph

Wow...as usual, those are awesome!
What kit were you using there?

Thanks!

I used a Canon 5D mark II and a 85mm and 70-200mm lens.