Wood ducks feel right at home in West Virginia.  With plenty of small waterways next to thriving hardwood forests, this state offers abundant habitat for wood ducks to roost, nest, and feed.  From 1997, the King & Rooster have been floating or wading a lot of those waterways in search of the best tablefare in the waterfowl family.  We have had more success than we could have ever imagined, and with wood duck populations continuing to grow in numbers every year, we see good things for years to come.

1997

October 1997 was our first attempt at duck hunting.  As the following pictures show, we started as true novices - no gear, no tactics, and suspect shooting.  We learned a lot in that first fall, the most important being that we were hooked.  We only  shot 2 wood ducks and found 1 in 1997, but it was the beginning of what would become our most consistent hunting success.

10.04.97

The Rooster with the first wood duck taken by the K&R.  Notice the blue jeans and plaid shirt.   

10.04.97

The first wood duck taken by the K&R.  We didn't even know how to take a good game picture at this point. 

10.04.97

The King cooking up the first wood duck on a homemade spit.  We quickly learned that the wood duck was a fine tasting bird. 

1998

In 1998, we improved on gear, tactics, and shooting.  Judging by the results, it was worth the effort. We took our limit of woodies on opening weekend and two weeks later, on a day the colors exploded from the trees, we took another wood duck.  We  brought home 5 wood ducks overall in 1998, and were proud of the improvement we had made in only one year.

10.02.98

The King with the 4 wood ducks taken on on opening weekend.  Out of these four we took 2 hens and 2 drakes.

10.02.98

The Rooster with the four doves.  Notice, the gear is still spotty; jeans are still present but a camo vest has been purchased. 

10.02.98

A close-up of the wood ducks.  The iridescence of the drake heads can be seen in this picture.  

10.17.98

One of our favorite pictures showing the fall colors in all their glory. 

10.17.98

The King in what would become the standard kneeled pose with the game (tough to see in this picture). 

10.17.98

The Rooster starting to lose the smile.
  

1999

In 1999, we took our duck hunting to another level.  We finally got the gear that we needed, we finally expanded our duck hunting options in both locations and game, and we finally began to shoot with confidence.  As with the last two years, we began our duck hunting season at our favorite small impoundment in search of wood ducks.  Twenty minutes later, we had our limit.  It was an amazing morning, one we still talk about every October.  We were able to get one more woodie right before Thanksgiving in 1999, we brought our season total to 5.

10.01.99

The Rooster showing the bright white markings on the drake's head.

10.01.99

The King on top of the four woodies taken in twenty minutes.  The camera did not do very well in this shot but does show we finally got some better clothing to hunt in. 

10.01.99

A close-up shot of the 3 hens and drake all taken before 8:30. 

11.25.99

An after dusk shot of a wood duck hen (on the left) taken in what would become a tradition: a duck hunt on the day before Thanksgiving.  A good shot of the size difference between a young wood duck and an adult mallard.