An Outdoorsman's Journal

Mississippi Duck Hunt 2026

Hello friends,

      Fifty-five duck seasons ago I camped on an island on the Mississippi River near Ferryville with my brothers Mike and Tom and my dad the late Robert Walters. I took one shot, was scared of the kick of the gun and could not believe it when a beautiful drake wood duck fell out of the sky. I spent the 2026 southern Wisconsin duck opener with 12 friends and family members and this year’s story will just be bursts of memories from another great adventure.

     Friday, October 2nd
     High 75, low 46

     The mood is better than incredible for the start of this experience; we have as much fun at camp as we do hunting. As usual my mode of transportation during the hunt and scouting would be my 17-foot canoe with my trusty "duck dog" Red in the front. I put a good 4 miles on the canoe, saw very few ducks and watched the sky until dark. What I saw is undisputable, mud motors can go anywhere that I can go, almost, and they make a lot of noise, simply put, you cannot stop progress.
     Our camp consists of a bunch of guys that cook great meals and we sit in a circle around the campfire and laugh a lot.

     Saturday, October 3rd
     High 72, low 46

      I paddled 1.5 miles and was very comfortable 90 minutes before shooting started at sunrise, I no longer care about numbers, just quality shots and Red doing well. I fired two shells this morning, the first dropped a teal, the second was a miss, Red retrieved the teal and I was happy.
     Joey Snodie and my stepson Joey Dushek limited out "6 each" and were all smiles at the midday campfire. Travis Dushek was hunting by himself and fired a total of 9 shots and dropped three geese, 5 teals and a drake mallard. Some people in our group did not get a bird, others came back to camp with a couple.
     Joey Snodie had an eagle just about grab one of his dead teal when it was being retrieved. On the afternoon hunt Riley Schuster, Trent Schuster and Troy Ringlestetter were hunting the same spot, Riley dropped his first duck of the day which was a drake wood duck. Trent's golden retriever Ivy was swimming out to fetch the woodie and what was probably the same eagle flew over and snatched it, the boys said the eagle had a heck of a time flying with it, but did.
    Tonight I hunted a good two miles from camp and was paddling back in the dark when Jeff Moll and his 30-year-old son Nate came across me. Nate and I have been doing outdoor stuff since he was born, his dad and I have been doing outdoor stuff for about 53 years. I held onto their rig and took a very nice ride back to camp and on the hunt, I dropped a drake woodie which Red did a fine job of retrieving.
    The campfire experience was epic with everyone forcing themselves to stay up as late as possible and quite successful.

    Sunday, October 4th
    High 77, low 50

    I took the ez route so that I could hunt with Travis this morning. It paid off when I bagged a teal and a pintail and was able to shoot the jaw with a boy, "I guess at 35 he is a man," that I have been doing outdoor stuff with since he was 6.
    Everyone but Jeff and I left today. The two of us had a great time watching the campfire and as usual, laughing a lot!

    Stay active til you die,

    Sunset