Over the past 4 years, Mike “Tuck” Poddo has made a trip to Oklahoma to come duck hunting with me. Without going into details of each of those years, basically our success rate has fallen each time Tuck shows his face around here. Somehow he brings bad luck with him everywhere he goes or at least it seems that way. This last weekend was no different. Although the ducks are few and far between right now, there’s always those spots you can scratch out a few. The first morning we hunted my creek. I had just scouted it the day before and it was holding a couple dozen mallards and gadwall. Friday morning we didn’t fire a shot other than Tuck jumping a few that had landed down stream. He missed of course. We scouted a few spots I’ve been to in the past and found a backwater holding a few birds so we setup on that the next morning. Saw 2 and they never hit the decoys. I sent a message to my buddy Scotty and asked if he had a place that we could kill a few. He took us out to one of his spots that always produces. Saw 3 that never hit the decoys. On the way back last night, Tuck and I decided that he would sleep in his last morning here and I would sneak down to the creek and see if I could get him a duck to take home to his kids (they told him he better bring a duck home). Here’s the story of this morning:

I woke up at 7:45, grabbed my gun and took a walk with Cody, my old lab. I checked 3 spots along the south side and not one bird on the creek. I walk over to the north side and checked a few spots and nothing. Not one bird on the water. As I walk towards the point where my two creeks meet, I hear a drake gadwall make their notorious buzzing quack. I look downstream and he’s down there quite a ways feeding. I decide to make a sneak attack out to the point of my property to see if I can get Tuck a duck to take home. As I get out there hidden behind the last tree, he’s still about 60-80 yds away and there’s also a drake mallard with him. I stand up and as they get up I make three hail mary shots at them which was obviously not successful at that distance. I look down in disgust and I look back at them as they fly way. Well, for some stupid reason the drake mallard ends up flying towards me instead of away. I grab one shell out of my pocket, chamber just in time for one shot. I dropped him dead on the ground on the other side of the creek. After several attempts, Cody finally picks up the scent and makes the retrieve. As he brings it back to me and drops it on the bank, there was a shine on his bright orange leg that I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was a band! I just stood there and laughed and thought to myself “The Poddo Factor”

Kill em!

Rooney

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

With my parents in town visiting for Christmas, I decided to take the opportunity afforded to us with a free babysitter to take my wife, Erika, duck hunting. My options of blinds were limited due to the fact that she does not have all the proper gear so I chose a little slough that has easy access and a decent bottom for her to walk on. I’ve been to this spot quite a few times so I figured it would be the quickest setup and it was easy access by boat.

The wind was hard out of the NW which made the ride a little rough but we made it into the backwaters without too much hassle. As I approached the slough, my 18′ flat bottom rode up on an underwater stump. We struggled to get the boat off the hazard with no success. I decided to check the depth of the water against my waders. Seeing that it was shallow enough to get out, I slowly slipped over the edge of the boat only to find out I couldn’t touch bottom! I was hanging onto the rail as my wife tried to pull me back in. It wasn’t working. I took a chance to rest a second and remembered my outboard had a planer fin enough for me to get my foot on. I slid around and get positioned on the outboard and instructed her to raise the trim. I was lifted right into the boat with only a little water seeping down into the back of my waders.

We were able to finally work the boat off the stump, get to our spot and setup just before shooting light. My wife shot her first duck today even if she was mad at me for being “stupid”. Good quality clothing and my hunting partner possibly saved my life today. Be careful out there, there are so many factors that go into having a safe and successful hunt. The weather is turning cold on us. If you don’t have the proper gear for it, don’t go!

Kill ‘em!

Rooney

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

The FLG Down Patrol crew is dedicated to getting youth into the outdoors. This year’s Oklahoma Youth Waterfowl hunt was just one example of this.

This past week proved to be tough for scouting. A cold front moved in later this week and we thought birds would be plentiful. It actually got cold enough to push the fair weathered teal out of the area but it did bring in a few big ducks.

The major hurdle with picking a spot for a youth hunt is it must be accessible by these kids. Most do not have waders and we do not take them in a boat so it is a walk in hunt only. We chose one of our favorite sloughs on public land and made the best out of it.

After getting setup, I presented the kids with a short safety speech and we were into shooting time. Right away we had a flock of 20 mallards working our decoys. One nice drake was quickly taken out of this flock and the kids were on the board. Next they took a green wing teal out of a flock of ten and then a lone drake gadwall decoyed right in and they made a nice crossing shot on it. After the bird action slowed down, we cooked them up a field breakfast, chatted a little and packed it in.

What an amazing feeling it is to get those kids out away from home and into the outdoors. The smiles…the wide eyes watching those birds. One of the older kids made the decision later in the day that he wanted to hunt more with us throughout the year. Our work paid off!

A big thanks to the parents for letting us have their kids for the morning. Thanks to Hoss for running camera. Also thanks to Earnie and Lincoln for helping keep the kids safe and doing most of the calling. This year’s youth waterfowl hunt was a complete success.

Thanks for reading and get a kid outdoors this season,

Rooney

The Kids Were All Smiles After a Great Morning Hunt

It was foggy this morning, very foggy! We knew there would be hot competition for this little slough on public land so we arrived early. Legal shooting time was a little after 7am on this cool morning and we rolled up to the parking area around 5:30am. It was Kenzie (Hoss’ 14 year old daughter), my boy Aidan and myself. We were there early to get to our favorite spot, setup “camp” and disperse a few decoys. The Mallard Mafia HitKids, 5 total, would not be too far behind us with their mentor, Steve.

We struggled getting going this morning as it was one of our first hunts of the season and all the equipment was not quite “in place”. My headlamp would not stay on so I struggled with a handheld flashlight stuck between my teeth as we gathered all the gear from the back of my truck. Most everything we had was too heavy for my little guy Aidan to carry so it was just Kenzie and I carrying gear in this morning. We took one decoy bag loaded with a dozen G&H Teal Decoys , two Mallard Super Feeders , three stools and, of course, my thermos of coffee. I slung this bag over both shoulders like a backpack, a cooler full of breakfast food and drinks for all 7 kids over my right shoulder and my trusty bag full of video camera gear over my left shoulder. Kenzie handled her gun and her blind bag full of shells. Off we went on the half mile trek to our favorite hole. This walk proved to be tricky with all the low lying fog. It begins through a heavily overgrown field full of small saplings, tall Johnson grass and lots of sand burrs to frustrate the little guy. I was guessing our location as I did not have any way of using my normal landmarks to guide me into the narrow tree line that breaks the slough from the field. Somehow my trusty lab Cody led us right where we needed to be.

Lets go back to how this Youth Hunt began to take shape. Earlier in the week, I had been scouting this area checking to see if any big ducks had moved in with the cooler weather hitting the north. Although I did not find what I was looking for, I did scout about 100 teal using the small slough. The next day, I scouted again and the teal numbers were growing to an impressive amount. I just happened to send a short text message to all the boys over at Mallard Mafia Hitmen and Steve responded “Do you mind us having our youth hunt in your hole?” and my response was “Let’s do it!”. So the preparations began. I wanted to make sure this was a special hunt for these kids. I continued to scout this area everyday all the way up to Friday. The number of teal continued to rise almost 100 per day all week! At that point, I knew this was going to be a great hunt!

After throwing some decoys, setting up cameras, and getting the kids settled, we sat patiently in the dark waiting on the rest of the group to arrive. Many things were going through my mind as we all sat there quietly. How am I going to make sure everyone is safe? Will the ducks still fly in all this fog? What values will I be teaching these kids today? As I think about all these things, Steve and the HitKids are struggling to find their way thru the fog as well. I hear the sound of a duck call come through the woods. I blow my call back and we finally see each others lights. Its on! As the rest of the kids get situated, Steve and I do some final adjustment on our spread. The first hint of daylight is peaking over the horizon, the kids scurry with excitement. We get them all sat down in their respective spots, keeping them all in line with each other the best we can on the bank of this slough as to protect any one from getting behind another while shooting. Steve stands out in front and gives a safety speech, all the kids listening intently. We help them all load their guns and get situated, giving each one of them an idea of the angles they are allowed to shoot while reminding them that safety always comes first even with the excitement of big flocks of ducks buzzing the spread.

By this time we are 10 minutes into legal shooting light and the first ducks swing in for a look. The kids knock down a few Green Wing teal within the first 30 minutes of the hunt, 5 to be exact, and Cody made quick work retrieving all the downed birds. I felt it was very important for these kids to learn that we always exhaust all effort to find and recover downed game. The dog is important in the effort as well as the hunter actually going out and combing the area for downed birds. Sometimes in the heat of the moment, a group of hunters can take down 5 or 6 birds out of one flock and lose track of those downed birds. This is why, during the slow part of the morning, the mentors would take the dog out again and comb the slough for downed birds and sure enough we found one. My boy Aidan was having a great time helping run the dog and counting the birds for us. Even though he was not toting a gun today, he was still an important part of the hunt.

During this slow part of the morning, I broke out the portable stove that Steve had brought along, pulled over the cooler and cooked a nice, healthy breakfast for these kids. We started off with a toasted bagel, egg, sausage and cheese sandwich followed by a grilled hashbrown and some orange juice. I love cooking during the hunts but it never fails, just as soon as the frying pan started popping with a fried egg, the birds start flying again. This is when the action got hot! We had flocks of 20 – 30 teal at a time cruising down the wide end of the slough back into the flooded grass mats we patrolled. Even though the kids had trouble swinging fast enough to keep up with these feathery jet planes, they knocked down a few out of each flock and very quickly the pile grew to 19 birds. Again, my boy Aidan kept the count right and we decided that it was time to pack up. After a little photo session for the memory book, everything was packed up nicely the way it came in. We had each kid help clean the area including ALL shell casings. We started our long trek back to the trucks, each kid happily carrying gear and birds with proud smiles on their face. It was a successful hunt in my books at that point.

The smiles on those kid’s faces told the whole story for the morning. It was a successful hunt but more importantly than bagging game, these kids had a great time and learned many valuable lessons that will stick with them for years to come. I hope each and everyone of them will join us at different times during the season to expand on what they learned and enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. I hope all of you reading this will join me in my quest to get youth outdoors, no matter if its hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, whatever it takes to get kids outside and enjoy what Mother Nature has given us all. If you are on Twitter, give me a follow @JoshDickerson7 and continue looking for updates with the hashtag #YouthOutdoors. With the joint effort of Angi from GooseMafia (@GooseMafia on Twitter) and me, Rooney of First Light Gear, there will be a new youth movement sweeping across the country in the coming years. It will take the effort of all of you to use this tool that we will provide to get Youth Outdoors!!!

Thank you for reading,

Rooney

Rooney Cooking Up Some Breakfast For the Kids

Cody Doing What He Does Best

Sitting in the Fog Waiting For Ducks