As some of you may recall from previous year’s articles this is my least favorite portion of the deer season.

And if you recall that tidbit, you might recall the reason for that. It’s because I have never had much luck with muzzle loaders. Except for bad luck, that is.

But I don’t dwell on misfortunes past and having evolved into the optimist that I am, I keep my chin up and continue to give it the old college try. Besides, it’s the only weapon that’s legal right now, for deer.

I had a call this week with an offer to go duck hunting in Mississippi.

As of this writing it’s still up in the air, but I’ll let you know next week if I end up going.

I haven’t been duck hunting in a few years, but I have enjoyed some great duck hunts in years past. I’ve also not enjoyed some duck hunts that were terrible in the past.

Those have usually involved wading, falling, getting wet and freezing. Sounds like fun, huh?

And, of course, the real duck hunters take great pleasure from the miseries of the once in a while duck hunter.

Nothing like the guys sharing a good laugh at your expense. Come to think of it, I may just grab that muzzle loader and stay on dry ground.

I’ve got several nice stories to share with you this week, and I really enjoy starting off with a first deer for a lady. Becky Jones collected her first deer last week, an 8 point on her very first hunt, as well. Becky downed her buck with one shot at 200-plus yards, with a .243, while hunting with husband Louis Jones. Way to go Becky.

Here’s a story about the King family from Austin, Texas, in town to visit their Natchez relatives the Tuccio Family. Nine-year-old Sam, 12-year-old Stephen and 15-year-old Evan all enjoyed their first hunt, with their Uncle Joe Tuccio at Buck Island H.C. last week.

Stephen was the only one who collected a deer &045; a doe &045; but they all loved their first hunt. These guys don’t know it either, but their mother Elaine (Tuccio) King was a classmate of mine growing up. Hello Elaine.

Here’s a hunter sharing a memorable hunt with a youngster. One of my golfing comrades, Woody Allen, took Andrew Ellard, son of Mike and Sandra Ellard on a hunt, and sat in the stand with him.

They got to watch a great 9-point make scrapes and rub trees and stand on his hind legs hooking limbs, wishing all the while, that they had a video camera. When it looked like the buck was about to leave, Andrew downed him with one shot at 208 steps.

For this week’s Shirt Tail Club I’ve got the aforementioned Sam King, who missed an 8-point. I heard Mike Williams and his son Austin Williams have been shooting up the St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge each with multiple misses last week.

In their defense though, the refuge is full-time muzzle loading, and that does make a difference.

And last, but certainly never least, this week I got a report that my old buddy Corbett Edgin missed what was called a tremendous buck last week. Then, he followed up that miscue by missing a doe on the same hunt.

It’s kind of funny that I talked to Corbett at least twice, maybe three times since that hunt, and he didn’t mention a single word about it.

Chuck Fields writes a weekly hunting column in the fall for The Natchez Democrat. You can reach him at (601) 446-7859, or by e-mail at

sports@natchezdemocrat.com.