Well here it is, early February and duck season is long gone; however, this season was very different for me than any of the other duck season I have ever had the pleasure to hunt. The season started as usual, hunting with my good buddy Rooney. But during the second split I got a phone call from Rooney asking if I would be interested in becoming more involved in FLG and be a part of the staff. I was honored, to say the least. I have been hunting with Rooney for the last 3 years and this was far unexpected, so of course I told him I was in!!! So, here we are at opening day of second season and it started off with a bang! We scouted all day on Friday and found a field with about 500 mallards on it so we decided that was the spot for the morning. We woke up at an unpleasant hour to beat the crowd, since we were on public land. We got set up and had ducks flying before shooting light which is always a good thing! We waited for what seemed like an hour and finally Rooney said “It’s time!” so we started whackin’ em and in fifteen minutes we were limited out! Towards the last few minutes of the hunt I dropped a bird way out in the tall grass and Rooney told his dog to go retrieve it. He came back and asked if I was the one that dropped that HEN in the weeds, I reluctantly said yes and when he threw her to me in my layout blind there it was, shining like a diamond, my FIRST band!!! What a great way to open the season! We didn’t slow down much; if I wasn’t working I was spending time with the family and scouting or hunting ducks. We were covered up on ducks this year; this couldn’t be a better season to be my first season with FLG! Not only did I get my first band but I also killed my unicorn, a fully mature pintail drake!!! Rooney and I were hosting the good folks at Fowled Reality and The Management Advantage when I picked that pintail out of a group of 80 mallards! But overall this was an awesome season! I met some awesome people and learned a lot about what being a part of a group like FLG is all about! I do not consider myself a professional, just a good ole Oklahoma boy that loves being outdoors! We are all here for the same reasons. We all love being outdoors. I enjoy all hunting but duck hunting is my true passion!

There are always certain things that stick in your head more than others from previous seasons and my first year with FLG was very memorable. The teamwork with these guys is awesome. It means a lot to have great people around me! Not only are we a team, but I consider each and every member of FLG Down Patrol a friend which means a lot! It’s pretty awesome how they have taken me in as one of their own immediately, we can all go on a duck hunt that morning and that night we sit around a fire and tell lies like we are a family! That’s not easy to come by and something I am very thankful for! Also the people I met this year are unforgettable!!! I learned that these people that I have watched and looked up to are just the same as me. We are dedicated water fowlers that love this sport! I got to rub shoulders with some of the top duck hunters in the nation and I learned very quickly that we are all humble and love what we do. I grew up here in Oklahoma and Oklahoma is the only place I have ever hunted ducks so I am one dimensional but this season changed that. Hunting with these guys that have hunted big numbers of birds all over the country sure taught me a lot! And what’s really great is the guys from FLG are not afraid to teach me and help me learn about other ways to hunt waterfowl. I went from hunting pot holes with a dozen and a half decoys to hunting big water and fields with 6 to 8 dozen decoys so that was a bit of a culture shock, but these guys all helped me learn. I can now get out there with the confidence and set a big spread the way it needs to be and get those big numbers of birds in. All in all it was an awesome season and I am very thankful for the lessons learned and the opportunities given to me from the guys at FLG. I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to share the blind with! Y’all take care now and thanks for reading!

Be safe and have fun out there!!

​​Bubba

Find Bubba on Twitter: @FLGBubba

It seems the optics industry is all wrapped up with big game hunters, professional shooters and even archery now with the popularity of the crossbow, but there is definitely a place in the optics world for the “little ole duck hunter.” The “weekend warrior” waterfowl hunter probably does not use optics often, but someone that chases them every day like a diehard hunter or guide service relies heavily on optics to get on the birds day in and day out.

With the rise in waterfowl related TV shows and social media channels, the competition has become pretty stiff out on public and private land. Farmers are seeing increased requests to hunt their land. Federal and state programs are buying up land and making it public. More and more hunters are able to obtain the larger boats needed to get on the bigger waters where the ducks and geese like to “hide out”. With this kind of competition out there, the serious waterfowl hunter needs to rely on optics more than ever before.
Let me give you an example, when the weather is cold, the ducks and geese need to feed on crops like soybeans and corn for the extra carbohydrates to keep warm and survive. This is when I would be scouting for birds in the morning and evening in the fields. As I am driving around, my goal is to find large concentrations of birds flying off the nearest body of water to go feed in a field. When I find this with the naked eye, I would use my Hawke Nature-Trek 10×50 binoculars to identify the birds in the air. All birds fly differently. They have different flock patterns. Their wing beat speed is different. I mostly concentrate on mallards and Canada geese in the dry fields, so those are what I would be looking for during these scouting trips. A good pair of binoculars will give you the edge on bird identification and make your scouting trips more successful.

After I have located the flights of the birds I want to concentrate on, the next step is to figure out what field they are using. This is where having a good spotting scope (yes, I said spotting scope) comes into play. I do not want to drive right up on the field I am scouting. If there is someone else scouting the area and they see that, they now have used me to locate birds and I now have competition on that field. I will find a high road somewhere within the field of view of where the birds are feeding. Using my Hawke Nature 24-74×70 Spotting Scope, I will pinpoint what part of the field they are using and get a good estimate on the number of birds using that particular field. Numbers are key when hunting in a field. I will not hunt a field that is only getting used by a handful of birds because at any moment, half of the birds could move on to a different field. I like to see a couple thousand birds using a field before I take the time to do a labor intensive field hunt.

The same goes for scouting from the boat. I always carry my binoculars in the boat if I am going scouting. I do not want the other guy seeing me motor right up on a concentration of birds and I also do not want to spook those birds off that daytime resting spot. If I can count and identify those birds from afar, my chances of hunting that spot the next morning with success has increased tremendously.

So if you want to be more successful hunting waterfowl and make your scouting trips count, get yourself some good optics with clear glass like Hawke has to offer. Bird numbers and identification are just as important when you are scouting as when you are actually hunting.

Good luck!

Josh “Rooney” Dickerson
First Light Gear

In 24 hours, the FLG Down Patrol crew will be set up on our favorite slough listening to whistling wings as we monitor our clocks for legal shooting time. This week has been filled with scouting, scouting and a little more scouting.

Something we’ve been dealing with here is an increase in new hunter population. Don’t get me wrong, I love that we have new hunters in the sport but they seem to be concentrating more due to the drought conditions. This does not make for great hunting. The issue of hunter’s etiquette has become an increasing problem. Folks are not respecting public land, skybusting, not staying away from other hunters and I’ve even heard of fights occurring at public gates as hunters are “in line” waiting to get in.

We have decided to back off from our favorite public spots and find where the birds are going when they are pressured. It has worked good in the past and it looks like it’s going to work this year as we have found some great “off the beaten path” spots with very little sign of hunter activity.

Opening week is shaping up nicely with a cold weather front coming in on Sunday. Even with a perfect weather situation, you still have to be in the right spot and the key to success is scouting, scouting and a little more scouting!

Kill ‘em!

Rooney

All our hard work this summer and fall on the FLG Down Patrol timber hole is finally complete. We are now just maintaining water levels and waiting on the migration. Wood ducks are using the creek as well as the new pools. Lots of acorns and pecans have fallen in the water. There is some millet left although the deer have eaten the tops off most of it. Just sitting on our hands waiting to echo the words “Kill ‘em!” through the timber…

Rooney

Since my accident and subsequent shoulder injury a little over a month ago, I have been forced to “take it easy”. Doctors tell me I have something called bursitis which is basically inflammation of a joint in my shoulder at the outer end of my collar bone.

I was feeling really good coming into the first of November so I decided I would start shooting my 12 ga Benelli during the opening week of duck season. After a couple days of hard hunting, I realized I should have waited a little longer so I let it rest for another week and it starting to feel better again. I decided to start taking my son’s Rossi single shot .410 shotgun. I found some steel shot ($$$) and off I went with the crew this week killing ducks.

Let me tell you something, when you know you only have one shot, your bad shooting habits change quickly. This has been a very humbling experience for me but I think it will be well worth it. I’ve now went through a couple boxes of .410 shells and I’m off to buy more tonight….

Kill ‘em!

Rooney

Hey y’all! Rooney here reporting on one of the best early teal seasons we’ve had yet here in Oklahoma. I personally was only able to hunt 7 times in Sept due to a trip to Michigan for a wedding but those 7 hunts were spectacular.

Almost every hunt our straps were full and those limits came quick and early. As some of you know, teal are my favorite duck to hunt and they make great table fare. They decoy well and respond to calls. Most importantly, they taste good on the grill.

The boys and I here at the FLG Down Patrol ended up harvesting 85 birds in September. We’re just getting warmed up!

Happy Hunting,

Rooney