You might recall from last week’s article I mentioned I had an offer to go on a duck hunt last weekend.

Well, I did go, and I would like to share a little about the trip.

This would be my first duck hunt in three or four years. I had to borrow some waders. I had to buy shells as well as state and federal duck stamps, got the old Super Black Eagle plugged back to three shots, from the five it holds for deer hunting, and dug out the necessary apparel to stay warm.

I hunted with golfing buddy Richard Edgin, and we were the guests of Nathan Stubbs. I’m not sure exactly where we were, but it was somewhere in area of the Rodney.

I got up at 4 a.m. to be ready for Richard to pick me up as the designated time of 4:45. He was right on time, pulling a trailer with a four-wheeler on board.

We grabbed a cup of coffee and touched base with Nathan via cell phone. He was running a little behind, so we struck out and settled in for the hour and 15 minutes or so drive to our destination.

When we arrived, we donned our waders and boarded the four-wheeler for the ride to the blind. That ride was extremely chilly.

We were running late getting to our spot, and ducks were jumping up off every little pothole we passed. When we got near our blind we jumped, at least a hundred or so ducks. I felt like we were looking good to bust the heck out of some ducks.

Now came the part of the hunt of which I was most leery: the dreaded wading out to the blind. I have fallen and gotten soaked on more than one cold morning.

Fortunately, the water was not deep, which made wading easier for a short guy like myself. I took my time and made it to the blind without incident.

So there we sat, waiting on the ducks. And there we sat, still waiting on the ducks. Can you see where this is headed? We gave it up a little after 9 a.m. and returned home without a duck.

I still count the hunt a great success based solely on the fact I did not fall while wading and end up freezing my tail off.

I greatly appreciate the invitation and all of the effort the guys made on my behalf. I hope they will ask me to join them again. Hint, hint.

Only a few deer reports for you this week. However, they are the kind I like the most.

Amanda Graves bagged her first deer &045; a doe &045; a while back, hunting on family property in Jefferson County. Amanda is a freshman at Co-Lin and was unbelievably excited about collecting her first deer.

Young Jordan Herring bagged her first deer &045; another doe &045; on a youth hunt a few weeks back. Jordan was hunting with her dad, former Natchez resident Richard Herring.

The Herrings have lots of friends and family living in the area that will, no doubt, be excited at hearing about Jordan’s first deer.

Finally, this week I had a first buck report for 13-year-old Wells Middleton. Wells downed a nice 8-point for the first of what, I’m sure, he hopes will be many nice bucks in his career.

No Shirt Tail Club reports this week, so I’ll call that a wrap until next time.

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.