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, frustrated with the miss- to larger size shot for geese late in hunting experience as possible. ost guys I hunt with are the season, like BBB, I stick with 2 Last season a buddy who is one hots, and their misses were shot backed up with BB and shoot racteristic. for the head and neck. I’d rather of the best shots I’ve seen, said it a hunt in Texas last January, have more pellets with a chance to best, after shooting 23 shells he’d my phone to record a buddy kill a bird, than try and drive bigger never before used to get his seven ng decoying redheads. He and fewer pellets through tightly ducks. “I’d rather shoot a different d a drake then proceeded to packed feathers on a body shot and gun and choke than change shells!” on the water with his two risk a cripple. Up to that point, he was averaging up shots. Another buddy about 10 shells per limit, with shells t with ease. I’ve used extra-full chokes on he was used to shooting at ducks My friend who missed was shoot- late goose season hunts, as well as over decoys. ing a load he’d never before used, when chasing snow geese. While and no, he did not pattern it prior fancy chokes look cool sticking Don’t punish yourself over to the hunt. Played at regular speed out the barrel, be sure to switch misses until you understand the on my phone, the video showed them out when shooting ducks whole picture, because shooting a sparse pattern. But when we over decoys. Chances are, if you random loads can explain a lot of scrubbed through the video frame can even hit a duck with this hyper errant shots. Confident, accurate, by frame, we saw some of the size 2 choke at 25 yards, there won’t be bird-killing shooting starts with shot hitting the water 10 feet from much edible meat left. knowing your gun, choke, and espe- the barrel, while other pellets soared cially the shells. out to 100 yards. At 30 yards the When you shoot a specific load, pattern was wide enough to cover a traveling at a certain speed, you Scott Haugen is a full-time author. Volkswagen, bumper to bumper. learn what to expect. This kind Follow his adventures on Instagram In this day and age of many of familiarity comes with pat- and learn more at scotthaugen.com hunters recording shots on their terning loads to understand their cell phones, try and capture some performance and gaining as much of those finishing shots on water and study the pattern. Download it on to a big computer at home and look closely at the pattern, frame by frame. It will reveal a lot about the loads you’re shooting. My preferred shell is Browning’s Wicked Wing. I like shooting size 4 shot for decoying ducks, size 2 and BBs for geese. If shooting ducks on windy days, I’ll back up the 4s with 2 shot to cut the wind and finish off birds that can quickly gain distance. Wicked Wing is fast, holds a tight pattern, has impressive penetrating power without ripping meat apart, and it shoots to perfection in my Browning Maxus II with their fac- tory full choke. The second most impressive shell I’ve shot in my gun is Federal’s Speed-Shok. It’s a very close second to my beloved Browning loads. Last season I shot nine brands of shot- gun shells. A few others caught my attention, some, not so much. Keep in mind that as the season progresses, feather density contin- ues to build in waterfowl. An early season September honker is easier to knock down than a December bird. While some hunters like going W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M • O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 49



GREENHEAD HUNTING LIKE GUNNING FOR MALLARDS IN THE FLOODED TIMBER OF ARKANSAS BY CHRIS INGRAM W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M • O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 51

hunting?” The phrase generates a certain mental picture depending on where you’re from or how you’ve been chasing the migration. Before I had any reason for my mind to paint the canvas any other way, duck hunting to me meant strings of mallards cascading down through a flood- ed timber hole in Arkansas, as cadences of quacks and chuckles echoed through the trees. For as long as I could remember, at least until my first duck hunt in Vermont, this distinctive scene was synonymous with all I knew about this timeless tradition. To me, greenheads in the green tim- ber was simply duck hunting in its purest form. I chased a few whitetails in Wisconsin with my father as a kid, but finally had my first taste of the fowl factor later in life, after moving to Vermont and becoming a “reactivated” or “adult-onset” waterfowl hunter, whatever they’re calling us nowadays—I’m running with the “late to the hunt” description I recently saw on social media. We certainly don’t have the iconic flooded timber conditions here in New England, nothing near the likes of which were ingrained in my mind, so duck hunt- ing became rewritten in a new form that now included stunning sunrises and open water gunning for Lake Champlain divers, skinny, creek wood 52 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M

hunt. I made camp with the Bill Byers Hunter Club near trees and shimmered across the water to provide just peration that is as steeped in the enough illumination to navigate calculated footwork ng as are hand-me-down shot- through the submerged entanglement below to claim d wet dogs. Time-worn photos, the perfect tree for the morning. I precariously hung my tiqued hunting memorabilia of blind bag around my arboreal watch post, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was about to experience the epitome walls and filled my mind with of duck hunting. ere the good old days” adage ind.
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had rhythm. A nearby feed of thousands of snow geese xactly the right place. gabbled into a wall of sound. An overture of overhead rning, I climbed into the boat but chattering cued our guides to join this avian anthem k in time. We rode away without with gritty cutdown barks and synchronized leg-twirling veil of darkness, with only the faint splashes. I joined in this perfect harmony as my childlike chuckles indicated complete captivation. d our way. We slowly motored up W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M • O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 53

box of “Big Green Ammo” at my side. You know what before they willfully dropped down in hopes of finding a I mean. Those legendary, green-hulled, beak-busting safe place to rest among our decoys. payloads that have been longstanding staples in duck blinds and goose pits across North America for what With another break in the action, I continued to seems like forever. Whether question Cason, asking about mallard behavior and you’ve only spent a single season in the swamp or a lifetime in what compels them to drop from the skies to investi- the blind, you’ve surely cycled gate our ploy of decoys in steady streams throughout several boxes through your own the morning. “These birds will take to the woods shotgun. And just like us diehard during the day for various reasons. There’s lots of waterfowlers that weather the food for them here, but later in the day the woods also storm to pursue the ducks who provide a lot of natural cover from hunting pressure are born and bred to adapt and and predation,” as he pointed up toward a nearby bald thrive amidst a changing climate eagle nest. “And there is a lot of variation day-to-day and shifting migrations, Reming- and throughout the season. Our woods hunting really ton Ammunition has stood the picks up when the bulk of the birds are here by early- to test of time. Big Green Ammo is mid-December and into January, but usually by Christ- back and better than ever, with mas. The acorn production is pretty strong throughout their Lonoke, Arkansas factory the season and when it gets cold, they might be driven cranking out shells to meet to store up fat reserves, but one often overlooked hunter demands. Old classics like aspect, is that the woods are great for invertebrates. Sportsman Hi-Speed Steel, newer When a mallard’s need for protein increases later in the favorites such as Hypersonic Steel season, the woods are a great source of bugs.” With all and Nitro Steel, as well as brand- things factored in, this fowl formula has surely proven new offerings like their Premier Bismuth are being manufactured and distributed as fast as possible. There were so many ways in which this hunt was unlike any others I had ever been on. Back in the north country, many mornings are met with a single stream of birds or a short flight time before all the birds in the area seem to get scarce. But here in Arkansas, in the heart of the Mississippi flyway, we worked smaller bunches of ducks all morning. I was wildly out of the know in this classic southern shindig, so I began to pry at Cason as to what makes this style of hunting so special. JUST RIGHT “It’s just such an intimate style of hunting,” he grinned. “You’re poorly hidden standing next to a tree, but it makes you feel so close and personal as ducks are flying all around you and landing in front of you with their ripples on the water hitting your boots—you just don’t get the same experience when you’re covered up and hidden in a blind.” 54 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M

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to be a recipe for success on my hunt. The warm sun burned brightly, making it much easier to pick out the iridescent greenheads amongst the flocks of incoming ducks. Our group was able to take turns picking off the prized drakes and now I finally understand the need for a sturdy game strap as I secured my bag limit. Feeling complete, I leaned back against my tree and reflected upon my time as a duck hunter. The journey to the timber and a smash-up morning of mal- lards validated every ounce of motivation I ever had and HONORING THE TIMELESS TRADITION Whatever it is, I felt like I was right where I needed to be at the right time. And although this was a high-cal- My neck ached from hours of skyward arching and my iber hunt of a lifetime, I’m already looking forward to face felt permanently strained from a simpered smile. the next hunt on my home turf in the Green Moun- As I stepped back into the boat to leave the flooded tains of Vermont. I guess that’s why we keep going back. woods, I couldn’t help but think about all of the hunt- We never know if the next hunt could be the best one, ers who came before me in this very timber stand to the worst one, or God forbid, the last one. So, whatever spend their mornings to meet migrating mallards. duck hunting means to you, I hope you do it, and I hope As I rested contentedly in my soft, breathable wad- you do it as much as you can, because I fully believe that ers and warm, fleece-lined jacket, I thought about we’re living in our very own “good old days” of duck them in their buffalo-plaid flannels, waxed cotton hunting right now. coats, and rubber waders. While they’d assuredly scoff at my contemporary comfort, I acknowl- © HISTORIC PHOTOS COURTESY OF CASON SHORT & BILL BYERS HUNTER CLUB edged that we do indeed share the same desire for the flooded woods, fellowship among friends, and a full strap of greenheads. Although I’d never been there before, it somehow felt intimately familiar, as if I’d already experienced it, maybe even a hundred times or more. Perhaps it’s part of that primordial pull that’s embedded in our DNA that my woods-wise guide alluded to. That siren song of quacks and whistling wings that beckons us to the marshes and timber holes to stand for endless hours to brave the bare- ly-above-freezing water at the mere chance to test our ability to outwit—or maybe just outlast—the smartest and hardiest of birds in the migration. 58 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M





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in Hyder, Alaska, I was en- with dozens of migrating rufous hummingbirds, many of which drinking from my hand. Then I heard the unmistakable sounds of cranes in the distance. spring, and the northerly bird migration was underway in Alaska. The residents had been talking all winter of the coming Everything they’d been telling me was right; but when it and

the Elias Mountains, dropping their long, lanky legs for a landing, and hearing their deafening calls echo in every direction, I texted my longtime buddy, now a guide in Texas, Will Granberry, and set up a hunt. Not long after arranging my first crane hunt, I received a call from the folks at RealTree asking if I’d be interested in trying their new Max 7 pattern. Always eager to test the latest, I agreed, then the offer got sweeter. Teaming with Academy Sports, the new Max 7 pattern was featured on a complete line of Magellan waterfowl clothing, and they weren’t just sending it to me to try out, rather inviting me to Texas on a hunt, yes, for cranes. My dream of chasing cranes had just turned into a double-hunt journey, and the Jan. 2 start date couldn’t come fast enough. PRE-CRANE WARMUP Before hitting the fields for cranes, the crew spent a couple days hunting ducks with Storm Brodnax of Baffin Bay Fishing & Lodging. Puddle ducks were scarce in the drought conditions, but the diver hunting was off the charts. Hundreds of redheads made up flock after flock that spilled into the decoys, and scaup were easy to come by. An afternoon dove hunt made up for any lack of shooting on puddle ducks. Then we headed west, to the farm fields around Crystal City. It was here we met up with the Speck Ops crew and wasted no time setting specklebelly W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M • O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 63

© JOHN HAFNER © JOHN HAFNER © JOHN HAFNER decoys in a plowed corn field. “Nice to meet ya, but and fast until I say to stop,” encouraged Bledsoe. we’ll do the introductions later, for now start grabbing Sitting next to me was none other than Duck Com- decoys,” smiled an energetic Luke Bledsoe, the point man for Speck Ops Waterfowl (speckopswaterfowl.com). mander Justin Martin. Once Martin put a speck’ call to You couldn’t help but instantly fall in love with the his lips, I was glad I’d left mine at home. On the other passion and excitement Luke and his team of guides side of me was our pilot, Bledsoe. brought to the game. In a matter of minutes, thousands of white-fronts In a matter of minutes, 12 dozen full body decoys, swung in front of us, and when they started losing 15 dozen Big Al’s silhouettes, an electric flying decoy altitude, our calling stopped. We shot well at the first and an A-frame blind were set. “Just in time,” chimed a flocked that dropped into the decoys, making the two huffing and puffing, even more excited Bledsoe. “Look dogs happy. Then another wave came, then another. behind us!” The calling, watching the geese work, and seeing Labs do what they’re born to do was a great start, Twenty thousands specks had risen from their roost, and as we picked up the decoys against a glowing gained altitude and were headed our way. “When I start sunset, I couldn’t help but think ahead to the next blowing, hit ‘em hard, everyone who has a call blow loud morning’s crane hunt. 64 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 ¥ W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M



HILL COUNTRY CRANES “We won’t see another crane hunter here,” pointed out Bledsoe as we chugged hot coffee around the breakfast table. “When I first started guiding for geese and cranes out here, people thought I was crazy, but we’re still here…for a reason.” For the past six years, Bledsoe has had access to over 100,000 acres spanning a 415-mile triangle. Dove and deer dominate the hunting scene, but Bledsoe is chang- ing that, at least among his devoted clients and elite cir- cle of hard working and fun guides who work with him. Soon we were scuffing our way across a dry dirt field, putting up a blind. As dawn broke, Bledsoe had 12 crane decoys in strategic position. When the sun crested the flat land behind us, the moonscape on which we hunted seemed lackluster. Flock after flock of cranes arose, flew by the decoys and kept going to a nearby field. I went out with Bledsoe to reposition some decoys. That’s when I saw all the loose corn strewn about the seem- ingly barren, plowed dirt, along with droppings, feathers and tracks. “These birds have been pouring into this field d ys ” confirmed Bledsoe, of cranes © JOHN HAFNER

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they’re going,” Garcia smiled. never offered one word of direction to Finn.

ever seen, and it happened more than once. I’d book this hunt again just to see Finn in action. Later that morning, Garcia and I headed to another pond. “There’ve been some Mexican ducks hanging out here,” he said. “We don’t have time to set out decoys, but if you want to try and jump shoot one, you can.” I’d never shot a Mexican duck, so I was all in. “Crawl right up to the edge of that berm then stand

up,” Garcia whispered. “When they jump let ‘em spread first time we’d seen one another in almost 30 years. out then pick the biggest bird.” As with the mottled “You’re going to have a blast with Will,” said Garcia duck, it’s a one bird limit. I did what Garcia said and when we walked up on the Mexican duck with hints of when I left the Speck Ops camp. “He’s kinda the guru green on the head and curls in the tail, it felt like I’d hit of crane hunting in that part of Texas! He really knows the lottery. “Are you kidding me? Congratulations! You his stuff!” just got a Mexican mallard hybrid!” Garcia beamed with enthusiasm. It was a fitting end to a very memorable Granberry just wrapped up his 10th season of guiding hunt, especially my time with Garcia. I’ll be heading back crane hunters, though he’s been hunting cranes for years. to hunt with the Speck Ops team, that I know. “I started hunting them in the late ‘90s while away at col- lege,” begins Granberry. “I had good success so decided SOUTHBOUND to hunt them once I moved back home to Edna. No one hunted cranes here, only geese, so I just applied what I That afternoon I headed to Edna, Texas. The long drive learned in those college days, and it took off.” went quickly as I relived all that had happened the past few days. It was at a little motel where I met up with Granberry is self-taught, having learned pretty much my 81-year-old dad, Jerry Haugen, and a couple buddies all he knows through personal trial and error. If you’re a from Oregon who’d flown into Houston a few hours ear- lover of duck and goose hunting, crane hunting will test lier. The next morning we’d hunt with Will Granberry of you. “This is a game of patience, where less is more,” Avian Skies (avianskies.com). notes Granberry. “Less calling, less decoys, less time in the blind…it’s all intentional.” We set up in a plowed dirt field, and though we had cranes look, none came into the decoys on the Granberry’s ideal crane spread consists of eight foggy, very windy day. That would change over the feeders, one searcher and one upright decoy. “You want next three mornings. 80 percent of the decoys to be feeders, not uprights with heads on the alert,” he points out. “Cranes come in to I first met Granberry in the mid-1990s, when he was feed and get out, quickly. Too many decoys with the a biology student in college and I was teaching high heads up are a red flag that something’s not right, mean- school in the Arctic. We fished together one summer in ing birds won’t decoy.” Texas, vowed to get together again, soon, then life went different directions for both of us. This January was the Over the next three mornings the closest decoy to the blind was 30 yards, with the farthest set at 45 yards; Granberry didn’t want them too close to us. Multiple Author, Scott Haugen, with his father, Jerry Haugen, and friends from Oregon, who experienced the ultimate crane hunt on this morning with Will Granberry in Edna, Texas.

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landing pockets were created with the decoys spaced in than any bird hunting we’ve done,” shared my dad one family groups in a T-style arrangement. More time was evening at dinner. spent brushing-in blinds than anything else, as Granberry justifies. “These birds have incredible eyesight and see On the last evening I went scouting with Granberry. things from the vertical, so I want to make sure every We went to a field that’d had cranes in it the last five hole in the blind is covered and that no one moves until mornings, but nothing came in to it that evening. The it’s time to shoot.” flat field looked like nothing but gray dirt, void of any- thing that might attract cranes. But the next morning we Granberry has guided hunters from around the were setting up our blind and placing decoys in that spot. world, and his methodical approach is well-planned with purpose. “Cranes get off the morning roost about 7:30, “They’re after snails and grit,” Granberry pointed feed, then head back to the roost around 9:30 or 10. out, kicking the dry dirt in the beam of his headlamp. From 4:30 to 6 p.m. they’re back to feeding, but we only The temperature that morning was freezing, and it hunt the mornings as these birds are smart and can’t take was clear and calm. The orange glow of a rising sun that much pressure.” reminded me of Africa, then the silence was suddenly broken with an eruption of crane chatter. When the morning hunt wraps up, Granberry and his father cover about 150 miles every afternoon, “They’re getting ready to leave the roost,” confirmed separately scouting across four counties. The hunts may Granberry. “Get ready and be sure to shoot only the bird seem short, but logging Will’s scouting time and mileage in front of you, this could happen fast!” makes you appreciate how demanding crane hunting can be. With a two crane limit in this part of the state, most Two miles to the east, the sky crawled with cranes. hunters are done in the morning, anyway. As they lined-out in formation, every bird headed our way. The first flock of five nearly touched dirt with their The next two mornings we had good hunts with claws before we shot, dropping each one. I doubled on Granberry, limiting one day, coming in just shy the the right end, so I was done. next. Our intentions were to hunt cranes two morn- ings, then chase ducks, but everyone in the group My dad and buddies each had one bird to go and wanted to focus on cranes as it was new to all of us, and selectively picked them from flocks as they continued it was addicting. “This is more like big game hunting dropping in to the decoys. By 7:35 we were limited. “Now that was one of the most amazing bird hunts I’ve ever been a part of,” smiled my buddy, Chris Johnston. “Let’s come back next year!” As Granberry put it, the three Cs of crane hunting make for the best days: cold, calm and clear. That final morning even surpassed what each of us who were new to the world of crane hunting, had envisioned. Cranes can be finicky and they play with your mind, just like any waterfowl. Though decoy spreads are small, calling minimal and sub- dued, and the hunt itself, brief, it’s all worth it when you see cranes approaching, bodies flat, wings barely moving as they slowly and graceful glide your way. And when those big feet and long legs fall from their body, their tails fan, wings cup and neck bends into an S curve, that’s the decisive moment that makes you realize crane hunting is something every waterfowl hunter must experience at least once in their life. NOTE: Scott Haugen is a full-time author. Check out his many books at scotthaugen. com and follow his adventures on Instagram.



Werhner von Braun with a Saturn V rocket. PHOTO: © NASA VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

PUT A MAN ON THE MOON AND WITNESSED THE EMERGENCE OF ARKANSAS AS THE DUCK CAPITOL OF THE WORLD BY WAYNE CAPOOTH PHOTO (ABOVE) © PHILIP CLAYPOOL | (BOTTOM) DAVID HALL/NCTC

with great anticipation and a deafening roar, 25 tons of thrust lifted a 26-foot-tall V-2 from its launch moorings. For the first time, humans had managed to propel the world’s first large, liq- uid-fueled ballistic missile into space. It was one of the twentieth century’s most epochal and impressive technological achievements, developed by the Nazis to attack Allied cities in retaliation for the bombing of German cities. Scientists and engineers at the missile research facility near the village of Peenemunde had carried out the first successful launch of the V-2. The village, located on the northern tip of Usedom Island in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea, was the nerve center of the V-2 rocket program. The site was chosen on the recommendation of Wernher von Braun’s mother, who recalled that her father hunted there, especially on holidays. It was a remote, sylvan wilderness of dunes, On November 20, 1931, the St. Louis Post Dispatch marshes, and forests inhabited by deer, many kinds of wrote about a duck hunt at Art and Verne Tindall’s wild birds, and waterfowl. 450-acre, rice-irrigation reservoir near Stuttgart. The hunters were Pittsburg Pirates baseball player Heine Von Braun was of the main scientists in the V-2’s Meine and five local friends. Under the headline, “Stutt- development, and said it happened this way on Christmas gart, the Duck Capital,” the newspaper reported “Meine day 1935: “I went home to my father’s farm in Silesia. I has splendid connections at Stuttgart, the capital of the told my parents that we were looking for a suitable site Arkansas duck country.” from which to fire rockets over several hundred miles. ‘Why don’t you take a look at Peenemunde,’ my mother The “Duck Capital” name stuck, and hunters from suggested. ‘Your grandfather used to duck hunt there.’ I across the country began returning from Stuttgart followed her advice, and it was love at first sight.” remarking how wonderful the hunting was. The rocket specialists at Peenemunde were bound In a story by Jimmy Robinson, famous outdoor together with a single mission—that of launching the writer for Sports Afield, dated Dec. 3, 1944, in the Min- V-2, but, he was occasionally able to duck hunt in the neapolis Star Tribune said, “One always gets a good same places where his grandfather had. Who would mallard shoot at Stuttgart. It is the mallard capital of believe the “Rocket Man” would one day become a the world.” He was hunting with Spencer Olin, of East NASA director and develop the U.S. Saturn V rocket Alton, Illinois, the ammunition executive of the Win- that put six teams of American astronauts on the moon chester-Western Company. Robinson reported, “Here from 1969 to 1972? you will find more concentrated duck hunters per square mile than any place in America. The concen- That journey started when by January 1945, an tration of ducks in Arkansas is unbelievable. The rice untenable war situation had become unwinnable. On fields sometimes hold ducks that literally darken the May 2, von Braun surrendered with 500 missile spe- sun when they get up.” cialists to U.S. troops and the German missile program came to an end. In late 1945 and early 1946, the Army transferred 120 former Peenemunders to Fort Bliss in Texas, where they assisted in similar experiments that were taking place at White Sands, New Mexico, to help the U.S. missile program. In 1950, the group was transferred to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. Here they formed the vanguard of a space program that built the Saturn V rocket, which sent crews to the moon. Once in the U.S., as the space program progressed, he had some leisure time to hunt. 78 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M

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Newspapers across the country echoed the “Duck clubhouse, a modest shack with a kitchen, bathroom, Capitol” moniker as hunters flocked into the county and a single room full of bunk beds. from Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, and other states. The Stuttgart newspaper began printing He was in complete ecstasy, hunting ducks on Mad- “The Rice and Duck Capital of the World” right under dox’s place. Maddox, the hunter, conservationist, and its masthead in 1951. But on March 9, 1956, the Jones- self-made millionaire from Nashville had land adjacent boro Sun newspaper headline stated boldly: “DUCK to a large area where tens of thousands of ducks passed POPULATION RISES—WEINER NEW DUCK along the Mississippi Flyway while eating leftover rice CAPITAL OF THE WORLD—HUNTERS REPORT in flooded fields and resting in the woods. SHOOTING HERE TOPS STUTTGART.” U.S. Con- gressman E. C. Gathering, who represented the Poinsett The 1956-1957 duck season presented scenes frozen County district, remarked on the House floor March 15, in time and memory after NBC’s “Wide Wide World,” 1956, “The duck capital now is Weiner, Arkansas.” hosted by Dave Garroway, aired live the greatest spec- tacle ever telecast from Claypool’s Wild Acres at a cost Sports Illustrated, among others, on Jan. 9, 1956, of $16,000 to produce. TV ads had blared all week: “If published photos that were taken on the most famous you have never seen several hundred thousand ducks at reservoir: Wallace Claypool’s Wild Acres, located six one time, tune in to Wide Wide World on December miles east of Weiner. Seeing the Sport Illustrated story, 23. You have a treat coming. If everything goes right, von Braun expressed an interest in hunting both “duck millions will see thousands and thousands of ducks flash capitals” and in November 1956, he traveled to Stuttgart onto your screen.” for his first duck hunt when he went on an unforgetta- ble three-day hunt, one month before the memorable At 3 p.m., on Sunday afternoon, 40 acres of ducks NBC’s Wild Acres’ telecast. After landing at Dan Mad- were in front of the cameras. The producer in New dox’s dirt airstrip on his rice farm, they headed for the York was ecstatic. At exactly 3:14 p.m., he pushed a button while four million viewers looked on. Cameras located in different spots chalked up live television’s 80 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M

firsts as TV screens were literally jammed with camera the Moon when he isn’t capable of shooting an Arkansas action shots and more than 300,000 ducks exploded duck?” Von Braun answered, “I should have brought into the air. On the opposite bank, the legendary Herb along some guided missiles from the Redstone Arse- Parsons, Winchester’s greatest exhibition shooter, fired nal. We’re coming back just as soon as I can get away three mortar shells into the air, each filled with a block again.” of exploding TNT. For nearly eight minutes, ducks saturated TV screens across the country. The sky was He wasted no time in arranging a hunt at Wild literally filled with ducks, Acres through his friend Robert Anderson, who knew almost blackening it out; the noise from their wings Norfleet Turner, a frequent was unbelievable and guest at Wild Acres who thunderous. n 1966 he was one of four Memphians that bought With the TV camera he grounds. Anderson centered on the soft-spo- was Secretary of Treasury ken Garroway in New York City, he closes the nder President Eisenhow- segment by saying, “Now, r’s administration and at if you will brush the duck ne time Secretary of the feathers off the sofa, we Navy. will go on with the rest of the program.” The trip was nearly ancelled due to severe After seeing the tele- rought on the north- cast, von Braun just had rn breeding grounds. to hunt at Wild Acres. On Nevertheless, he and Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet three others flew from Union launched “Sputnik,” the first man-made satel- Huntsville to Walnut lite, and the space age was dawned. Afterwards, von Ridge AFB, where they Braun returned for a duck-hunting trip to Stuttgart in drove to Jonesboro on Dec. 26, 1959. On Sunday, they November. hunted southwest of Jonesboro on the Craighead Rice Milling Farm as guests of Lowell Simpson. Because But 1958 was a busy year for von Braun. It began of extremely high winds, ducks were able to change with his team assembling and launching the first Amer- course and altitude quickly, so shooters had to down ican satellite, Explorer 1, on Jan. 31, 1958. On Nov. 29, a duck first shot or not get one at all. Rain and high von Braun and three friends left Huntsville for a secretly winds made it almost impossible for birds to land in arranged 24-hour, duck-hunting trip. They landed at the woods where they were hunting. However, expert Walnut Ridge AFB and drove to Jonesboro, calling by Simpson lured the ducks close enough for Arkansas. That afternoon, with optometrist Dr. E. R. Calame, a well-connected sportsman and Maynard Reese's painting of \"Hot Spot\". owner of the 1955 national champion pointer Lone Survivor, they hunted northwest of Weiner on 640-acres, owned by Robert Martin, a busi- nessman from Huntsville. But hunting is hunting. He had two frustrat- ing days of shooting, getting skunked on the first day. As he explained, “None of the birds came within range despite there being thousands of ducks.” On the second day, Von Braun bagged just one mallard. The Huntsville Times reported: “Von BRAUN FINDS MALLARDS HARD TO HIT AS MOON— Shooting for the moon and shooting for ducks are both apt to be frustrating. Just ask rocket expert von Braun as the ducks didn’t see fit to cooperate with the world’s top Space Age rocket scientists. He said, ‘It was a lovely hunt and I loved every minute of it. Just one of those days.’” The Jonesboro Sun learned about the hunt and wrote, \"How does von Braun expect to shoot W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M • O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 81

Braun to get his limit. After lunch, the four traveled to shots among the limbs. His shooting with his Brown- Wild Acres, where Claypool told him they would hunt ing A5 12-ga. was described as “uncanny,” knocking tomorrow in his favorite hole: “Hot Spot.” down a limit of four mallards with four shots. Then he tried duck calling. It didn’t take long before everyone Monday morning at the clubhouse, von Braun said suggested he might want to stick to launching rockets with eagerness, “I can hardly wait. Let’s get it done. It so that they could get their limit. Soon thereafter, Clay- will be shooting time before we know it.” Von Braun, pool and Sally got mallard limits with their Model 12s, Claypool, “Miss Sally,” manager of the clubhouse, and while the others returned with their limits. Once out of Claypool’s Lab, George, went to the green-timber hole the flooded timer, he killed a rabbit. Hot Spot, later painted by the famous artist Maynard Reese. The other 11 hunters split into three groups, At the clubhouse during lunch, with good natured each with one of Claypool’s and Miss Sally’s retriev- ribbing occurring, Turner asked, “We’re going to name ers—Ike, Buck, and Rip. you “Weiner von Braun after the town of Weiner instead of Wernher von Braun, and just how high was Beneath a clear blue sky with a morning tempera- that rabbit flying when you shot it?” After the laughter ture of 39 degrees, Claypool’s and Miss Sally’s calling subsided, he was asked how he acquired his love for duck had the ducks helicoptering down through the timber, hunting. “It came from my grandfather, who hunted at where von Braun made some very skillful and tough 82 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M PHOTO (ABOVE) © PHILIP CLAYPOOL

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a long peninsula near the village of Peenemunde. It was loaded especially in spring and autumn with thousands of woodcocks, Nordic geese, swans, and all kinds of ducks that followed the coastline and glacial valley of the Oder River on their journey to wintering grounds. Grandfather hunted at one of the three regional lakes and various marshes. It soon earned the name ‘Paradise of Peenemunde.’” He remarked earnestly, “I had more fun shooting today than ever before. This hunt was fantastic. Getting away to Wild Acres, which has become famous, you just leave all your stress behind. This couldn’t have come at a better time. We have been so busy that there has been no occasion where we could escape from the pressure. I can’t wait until our hunt tomorrow. Miss Sally is one of the finest shooters and duck callers I have ever been around. ‘Clay’ taught her well.” © PHILIP CLAYPOOL © NASA VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS Von Braun with Miss Sally. All were captivated by his charm, his personal In 1960, after becoming the first director of NASA’s warmth, engaging personality, and honor, but the mood new Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, he was quickly changed to sadness as word arrived by telephone back at Stuttgart for duck hunting on Dan Maddox’s from Dr. Calame that von Braun’s mother had died in place. This would be his last duck hunt ever.. the early hours of Monday in a Munich hospital. Before departing, he lamented, “I will never forget this hunt.” The “Rocket Man” was the father and superstar of our space program, and hunting was one of his favorite During the afternoon of Monday, after Braun had left pastimes. He was a musician, pilot and loved traveling, and everyone was lounging in the clubhouse, Miss Sally swimming, sports, and the outdoors. But most of all, he wrote a birthday card to her daughter whose birthday was a devoted family man. was on the same day. She closed by writing, “P.S. Dr. Von Braun is a most wonderful person.” Of all the guests that have visited Wild Acres over the years, von Braun was something special. 84 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M

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THE GOOSE THE MYSTERIOUS SODAK MOULT MIGRATION IN THE LAND OF 15-HONKER LIMITS BY SKIP KNOWLES © SCOTT MOODY W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M • O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 87

r Prairie Potholes Region at just the right time before our late Septem- ber hunt, and dawn broke with high expectations as we huddled in the blind backed up against standing corn. We’d come from all over to try to cheat the season and get a leg up on the fall migration, hoping to hammer honkers at the tip of the spear where they pour into the Central Flyway from the Prairie otholes Region. But like big geese often are, the birds were late, acting more like nkers do when it’s bitter cold. Finally, around 9 a.m., “Everybody down!” and guide Austin Kaufman opened up with his crazy y to sound like 20 birds. The Canadas played ball and came in nd slow, but not slow and low enough for our embarrassing g, and we only knocked down a few. After that barrage of nd jitters, the geese started trading back and forth between in front of us, but with no sense of urgency, and mostly ur field. d front that had seemed perfectly timed had faded too g is hunting and we soon found ourselves slapping mos- too-warm morning, scratching a handful of honkers. PHOTOS (TOP AND RIGHT) © SKIP KNOWLES



© SKIP KNOWLES rock star in person, and a Browning pro staffer who is pretty handy with a Maxus ll 12 gauge. A former com- petitive snowboarder, she had everyone at ease with her rowdy raw humor and storytelling in no time, and it was pretty clear she has a career in stand up if the music thing doesn’t work out (though it has, with hits like Walls Come Down and My Left Hand). Alex Russo is a rock star in his own right, a tall, square-jawed, gregarious ex-Marine who started Flatland Flyways to try to create an elite hunting experience from top to bottom, “because hunting is more than the hunt, more than just trying to shoot birds.” The lodge is a luxe experience on a hilltop overlooking the Sand Lake NWR, complete with skeet range. It’s a spot where you can hunt the migration, and then come back and relax with a beer and watch it unfold, with ducks and geese on the move through PPR north of Aberdeen, South Dakota, a few miles west of Hecla (across from the refuge). Russo holds court announcing the hunt details, cracking jokes and making all feel welcome. But point a camera at the man and ask for a quote and he is all ‘aw-shucks’ shyness, and he won’t touch a podcast. Typi- cal outdoorsman. Flatland Flyways founder, Alex Russo, was caught off © CRISTINA WING | COURTESTY OF BROWNING guard by that morning's slow hunt. He had expected a massacre, asking us before dawn as we stood in a dirty good X, goose poop sticking to our boots, “So how many is the most y'all have seen killed in one rainout.” I loved the swagger, but he’d jinxed us. Simply too warm, in a place where the limit is now 15 honkers in early season. So we gunned for evening action over a spread of five dozen full bodies, waiting again in that dripping, rich golden evening light on a corn field that backed up against a bottom in which birds were loafing. Another perfect setup, but alas, a honker is a cold weather crea- ture and they just wouldn’t move. Every aspiring waterfowl guide should come hunt with Russo and see how it is done. The brushed-over panel blinds melted into the cover, a brilliant use of backdrop to hide a big party, and the Dave Smith decoys—the kind that make you do a double-take—were in place long before sunrise. The Tanglefree stand up blinds were placed well and easy to use, simple to prop up with support poles. The biggest problem by far is being seen above, and properly brushed, these eliminate that shortcoming. With the treatment we’d had at the lodge and the gorgeous weather, as well as arriving to find the spread set, we all felt like rock stars. Which was cool because we actually had one with us. Nashville phenom Meghan Pat- rick might be a country singer but she is pure glamorous 90 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M

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Flatland Flyway's lodge setup is about much more than a place to sleep. A clays range on the backside overlooks the refuge and a sprawling patio with firepits for socializing. PHOTO © CRISTINA WING | COURTESTY OF BROWNING , but it hunting moults, and lots of Illinois and Iowa birds that was not the migration I thought it was any- fly up. ways. It turns out the birds we were seeing weren’t necessarily from the north any- “We call it the reverse migration. They go up and ways…nor locals. Early geese in this coun- come back, like snows do in the spring because of try are often part of the mysterious moult migration. storms. In June you shoulda SEEN the geese that were “Mid to late September we get those moult migra- up here,” he says. “We’re out working and suddenly 30 tors from Nebraska and Kansas,” Russo explained. “They flocks of 30 to 50 honkers appear. Lots of times our locals are losing their feathers so they can’t fly well…and they haven’t even hatched their nests yet! Moults.” are trying to get back to their home state, so when we are hunting you might find a field of 200 and the next day The local South Dakota hatch is one thing, he says, it might be 300. Moult migrators coming south out of “and if we get a good one awesome, but is also nice Nodak that are inching their way back south. We shoot when Nebraska and Kansas have good hatches because a lot of bands from North Dakota and neck collars from we know we are going to pick up a lot of those geese.” Kansas, and that’s a clear indication it’s the moult migra- tion. These birds fly north and moult (get their winter During this September hunt with Browning and feathers) and then head back south. That’s why they do Winchester, flocks of really high geese would pass, and those studies. I am not sure why they don’t stay where the guides would start calling like crazy. Those were they are at.” moult migrators at that time of year, Russo says, “and We see that in southern Colorado and Kansas, too. they can be super-susceptible to decoying.” Fishing on lakes where you encounter islands covered in hatched out goose egg shells where it’s 105 degrees Waterfowl season in this region sees a few differ- mid-summer and the geese are all gone. ent peaks. The latter part of September into the first Minnesota has probably the strongest moult migra- week of October is the killing season for Canada goose tions, Russo says, with a culture of guys who love hunters. For local ducks it is quite good the last week of September, but the peak for migrators, when the refuge is loaded and there are Duck-nado cornfield feeds, happens right around Veteran’s Day weekend and into Thanksgiving. Ducks, but also juvenile snow geese move 92 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M

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through and if it’s a good hatch, Russo’s crews tear them © SKIP KNOWLESold-school brown pattern went nuts. The man is a true up even without e-callers. quackhead, and runs his own mud motor rig on the Great Salk Lake. But he will happily throw your call lan- FALL IS FOR SNOW GEESE yard in a lake. Calling is mostly bullshit, he says, immedi- ately provoking me. Last issue, WF advised about hunting snows before the big spring conservation season. Same deal here. “I don’t believe in it. How many times have you come back to your spread after a break or lunch and it’s “If the hatch is good, geese are at the refuge, and we full of birds? It’s cause people stopped calling,” he said. average around 200 snow geese per hunt, in November. We have clients come down even from Canada. One Ouch. His unsolicited contemporary historical trea- year we did 11 fall hunts for snow geese, with no e-call- tise on calling (rant) had many valid points. ers and killed 2,800 geese. It’s a perfect storm,” he says. “Can you honestly say we have called any of these The ducks run hot and geese today?” he said. “I heavy into early December. sure saw a lot we couldn’t Russo jumped in a blind and call. I always wanted to shot his limit in street clothes ask someone what exactly when it was minus five on are you saying to a duck or Dec. 6 last year, the last goose that can see where his day of duck season, in four buddies are at on the ground minutes. or on the water in the first place. With elk calling, it’s Dawn broke on day two sex. Coyotes, it’s food… of our hunt with that magic food, sex and shelter are the golden light and cool clean three main things an animal 35-degree air that made you needs, so I’m not sure what wonder if there is anything you are saying to a duck better than a morning in a or goose that they can’t goose blind with friends. see from the air. Comfort The blind overlooked a tight maybe? But they can see the 20-acre cut corn field that comfort…I will buy into made it easier to hide, and calling when people can tell our blind would put the sun me what the dialogue is. in the birds’ eyes, which can The birds are beating their be a very big deal. wings, they got wings going all around them and geese Birds were working all calling in the flock…can morning, again flying low they even hear it?” but rarely finishing. When He almost made me they did they paid heavily, want to try and keep a jour- and we killed 14–15. I was nal and go a whole season using Winchester Bismuth without calling. Almost. 4s and was impressed. Dense patterns smashed wings, While we have all seen a good caller pull in emotionally heads, necks. Russo flagged with a long jerk cord and a vulnerable singles or indecisive flocks of young birds, it’s set of black flapping wings that was set way out in the hard to argue with his points. spread, something I hadn’t seen for geese. On day one the action started at 9 a.m. and on day two with a little TERMINAL PERFORMANCE: STEEL THE ONE chill in the air, that is when it ended. Guides like Russo have overseen the undoing of The guides were pretty sure they we would have thousands of birds and know a thing or two about ballis- slaughtered them the first day except that somebody tics. Brian Kelvington with Federal ammo helps Flatlands pulled out a banana in the blind and cursed us. Ben Frank stock up with Russo’s favorite loads, 3” #2s or #1s. or Brian Lynne or Rafe Nielsen, depending on who you asked, was to blame, and the result of the banana curse “I love the TSS when I can get it but 3” Black Cloud was that too much time was soon passed throwing corn or the old school blue box, Speed Shok, that stuff runs at each other in the blind…until someone yelled GEESE! clean and it’s fast, and we crush snow geese with that,” Russo says. “I’m not a big BB guy… I’ve done testing, GOOSE CALLING IS BS checked patterns, and you have better control and volume with 2s, 1s, and 3s. With ducks I won’t call the Rafe was clobbering birds with a new 3.5” Cynergy shots unless they are under 25 yards. Geese on edges can Wicked Wing Browning over-under in vintage camo. Social posts of that gun with the A5 and Maxus ll in that 94 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M

© CRISTINA WING | COURTESTY OF BROWNING W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M • O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 95

be different…a little farther and often birds including our rock star, who took a quartering away.” break from wringing goose necks to tune up her guitar and perform in the On our trip, we had enough action to test the buffered bismuth that promises better © CRISTINA WING | COURTESTY OF BROWNING patterning. Ben Frank with Winchester broke the new load down for us, and claims it puts 90 percent of pattern on target at 40 yards, far ahead of competitors, and packs a whallop with a 1 3/8 ounce load of #4s moving out at 1,450 fps. For decoying geese, buy the #1s. “Most bismuth makers use lead-style wads but we build ours just for this load and Drylok shells hold up way better in water. Our bis- muth is really perfectly round because of our process, and it’s tin-coated,” he says. AS GOOD AS CANADA? Sometimes Russo sounds more like a natural- ist than a hunter. He urged me to come back up in October, “and see what it really is up here…see how powerful this refuge can be when there is 1.5 million mallards on it. Our average feed in November is 25,000 to 50,000 mallards. We’ll have 2,000 mallards five feet from your face and I won’t call the shot… and I just tell people to relax and just enjoy it. That’s why I started this. I wanted waterfowl- ers to come and see this gold mine with so limited pressure. You might hunt Kansas and Oklahoma and have a hunt as good as what we do in terms of limits but you are never go- ing to find a place like this. I often won’t call the shot because you’ll be done in 25 minutes. I want guys to see massive flocks that take just one pass and land in the hole.” “We’ve had giant flocks on the ground with 50,000 ducks. We aren’t just killers. I mean we want you to shoot birds but we also want you to experience things you don’t 96 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M



living room for us. With many singers, it’s the craft At the trap range out back, we blew off steam from of playing, songwriting, timing, entertaining and too many navel-gazing hours in the blind with some instinct more than voice. Meghan has all that, is a hell heavy trigger therapy. I have long loved the soft-kicking of a writer, but also has a giant set of pipes that fill Maxus, but to my surprise shot better with the A5, blast- the room as her neck veins bulge. She was trained in ing away with a gorgeous Wicked Wing model in the opera, and is a force to behold. vintage pattern. Must be my model 11 upbringing. It has a slightly shorter length of pull and no trendy raised rib, “It was a breath of fresh air, just fun, I didn’t feel the so it’s a super pointy, slightly lighter gun, though there is pressure of a normal company-type hunt,” Russo said. a touch more recoil. “With Meghan there, when she was singing it was kind of mind blowing hearing her right there in the lodge, Meghan showed us she knew how to lean into a being able to sit in our facility and listen to that live pure shotgun as well as a microphone, and her sidekick on interested in what was going on, interested in the lodge, who would have taken everyone s money if a trap shark no ego…we really enjoyed it, she was one of the guys.” opportunity arose. She shadowed Meghan getting some knockout images, but when she set down her camera Meghan soaked it all in, putting everyone at ease and picked up a 12 gauge, she was lights-out on clays with some great storytelling. with zero warmup. \"This was easily one of my favorite hunting trips,\" she With the accommodations, fine food and weather, said.\"It was my first time hunting with the Browning crew and opportunity to pound clays at the lodge, Flatland so I was feeling a little nervous and wanting to impress delivers an experience that will almost make it okay if them, but quickly realized I was making lifetime friends warm weather hits and the birds don’t play. and hunting buddies. As always I was reminded why hunt- ing is about more than just putting meat on the table!\" Almost…I’ll be back, sooner than later. 98 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 2 • W I L D F O W L M A G . C O M © CRISTINA WING | COURTESTY OF BROWNING