First time Duck hunter!!!!

[fabsroman]

TJ,

Is that invitation open for me too? I might just take the drive out to Illinois. Almost took Doc up on an invitation to hunt with him last year in Cali.

As far as what is needed, about the only thing you need is a desire for waterfowl hunting, a shotgun, shells, and some decent camo if you are going with guides.

I agree with TreeDoc about the clothing. When I was in undergrad and law school, I could barely afford to hunt, much less afford $300 jackets and such. So, I used two sets of coveralls for almost everything. It was miserable when the weather got cold or wet because they weren't very insulated or waterproof. However, I love hunting and got cold and wet doing it during those years. Once I got out of law school, I spent the money on a nice Benelli Super Black Eagle, a Columbia 3 in 1 coat, Columbia bibs, Cabelas Icebuster waders with 1000 gms. thinsulate in the boots, some Rocky Pac boots to wear with the bibs, $40 Cabelas waterfowling gloves, and a bunch of face masks. I am loving life right now and hunting in style. If you can afford it, buy the nice clothing. I still have my coveralls and they are over 10 years old and I can still use them. However, the rest of the clothing described above is about 7 years old and they are just fine and they feel a lot better on those great waterfowl days where it is snowing or raining cats and dogs and it is cold out.

Now, if you were doing this on your own (i.e., without a guide) like the rest of us, I would recommend several dozen decoys, a decent amount of calls, a lot of practice on those calls, a boat, some layout blinds if you decide to hunt in fields, and the list goes on.

As far as the dog is concerned, it comes a lot later in the equation after you are sure that you really love waterfowling. There is nothing worse than buying a great retrieving dog to only have him sit at home. Nitro, my yellow lab, is sitting here biting my leg off right now because we haven't been hunting in two weeks.

At the end of the day, go out there, make sure you stay warm, and have a great time. Afterward, you will end up reading so much and asking so many questions on here that you will know exactly what you need to buy and learn.

One of our members, Tater, just started waterfowling last year and he is addicted.

I started 9 years ago and absolutely love it.