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First off I would like to congratulate StudlyHunter on winning this years Junior Hunt Giveaway. Remember, all junior hunters are automatically entered in the drawing. Cody aka StudlyHunter is a fourteen year old out of Chico, California. He is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys duck hunting, deer hunting and any form of fishing. For 14 years old he is a very conscientious outdoorsman, and an outspoken advocate for hunter’s rights, having letters published in local newspapers on any variety of controversial hunting topics.

I also want to thank Mark Trione for allowing us to use the Tulle Goose Gun Club to host this year’s junior hunt. I accompanied Cody and his father to the Tulle Goose, located in the Heart of the Butte Sink in Northern California. The Butte Sink is one the most important and heavily used wintering areas for North American waterfowl and the Tulle Goose is located immediately adjacent The Greylodge Wildlife Refuge sanctuary. It features a beautiful clubhouse, 211 acres of natural wetlands, trained dogs and extremely low hunting pressure.

There are only 5 two man blinds on this property and they limit the hunting to Wednesdays and weekends. For the first time in a while mother nature cooperated with us on the junior hunt. We woke to overcast skies, north wind to 10 and occasional rain. Things were shaping up well. We logged on and checked out the averages for the blinds and found that blind 4 had been shooting the best for the current conditions. We loaded Cody and his father up on the Honda and set out to Blind 4. There is nothing like the excitement in a child’s eyes as shooting time nears. In the dim early morning light there was a good flight of bird’s curious enough to come well into range while on the way to the refuge. We set out a couple of spinning wing decoys and set up in a makeshift blind in a stand of tulles 40 yards away from the permanent blind. The birds had become a little wary of the blinds at the tail end of the season and we had experienced great success setting up slightly away from them. We could then catch the birds during their wide swing of the main blind.

Nice Double (1.3 Mb)

Single (1.4MB)

Shooting time rolled around and Cody didn’t waste any time, folding up what we thought was a drake mallard that came over the top. Upon retrieval we saw that it wasn’t a mallard at all, but rather a redhead. That was the first redhead I have seen in several years and was fun for Cody to ID. Several other groups of birds came right into where Cody was sitting, but he had trouble seeing through the tulles. It seemed that the week of rest had made the birds less wary and they were working the blind pretty hard so we moved back into the blind. I was amazed again and again what a conscientious and courteous hunter Cody was. He repeatedly passed on birds (green heads) that were slightly on my side, so he wouldn’t shoot over my head. It didn’t matter though, Cody was a dead eye. Check out the video clip of Cody doubling on ducks. He could have even tripled but he only had two shells in his gun. I think I might have had more fun than Cody did. He was a great caller, and I enjoyed sitting back and watching him work ducks into range before rising up and firing.

Second Shot (1.2 MB)

Only a few flocks escaped untouched. He passed on shots that had the potential to sail birds into the refuge and was patient enough to let the birds get in close for high percentage shots.
Cody was having a great day and we finished his limit by 9:45. It was slightly surreal that the season was officially over. With grins all around, we snapped some last minute photos, and headed back to the club house. It is days like that which make me love the sport of hunting. I could remember when I was that age and the how magical an outing like that could be. And so the season drew to a close and all we could do was count the days until next year’s opener.