I know a lot of bowhunters and I know a lot of duck hunters, it seems we share a common bond. Every duck hunter I know is completely absorbed by it. Most bowhunters are also this way, if they aren't they don't last long, think of it, a duck hunter has to hunt in the worst conditions for the best results, a bowhunter has to endure the heat of the early season, sometimes the results aren't good, but worth it if they are, bowhunters have a special bond and certain element of peace within their soul, duck hunters have this too, they have the sunrise on the water and the tranquility of nature's sounds, so do bowhunters, no gun shots to deal with unlike the duck hunters though. Still there is something unique about both, I think it is the bond or brotherhood that each group shares that is different than other types of hunters, not that they are better, just different, anyone relate to this idea??? This is not meant to be taken out of context, no one type of huntingis BETTER.I know some of you are duck hunters too..

I can surely relate!
I basically started out duck hunting the marshes of SE TX and SW LA. I love the marsh. To me it's one of the most beautiful places God created.
Since I began bowhunting though, I've not put mucheffort into the birds. I still love itthough. I have to drive past a large marsh everyday on the way to & from work. During November, I swear i can smell ducks in that marsh when I drive by.

I am a bow hunter, upland bird hunter, duck hunter & rifle hunter. I huntbecause I love being in the outdoorsnature is beautiful. I alsoenjoymatching wits was game animals. I love the hunt no matter what game animal I am hunting, or method of take I use. I love the hunt.

See, you are eat up with it!!

Im passionate about both and am absorbed in both. But I think your righ that bow and duck hunters share a common bond of passion and obsession. Both take total commitment and time to be done succsefully, the scouting, the setup and the kill. Its about commiting your time and effort to the cause and the ultimate goal of the harvest of a mature whitetail or a limit of ducks.

I can relate.

I love the mornings.......and I think that's something duck hunters.....deer hunters.....turkey hunters.........and even the fisherman all have in common. There's something about being up and in/on the field/water that's special. Starting out in the pitch black and watching the land/water come alive......is just something that we can't explain to people who don't get it.

Thats why I love all hutning and fishing right there you hit the nail on the head gmmat

Jeff, you are very right. I have been on a few ducks hunts and to watch the those birds come in when you can just barely see is truly breath taking, it is like hearing the crack of leaves at first light just behind you in the stand. I will say, Im not an avid duck hunter at all, I have not been in about 2 yrs, but the sound of those wings and how they come in to decoys is awesome.

You wait until you spend countless hours training a dog.....hunting buddy.....and she spots that first duck coming in silent....with only a glance in that direction.

I can't explain that feeling.

Landon, I have a special saying about this when it comes to duck hunting..... it ain't about the sunrises... never had been.... never will be.....

When we hunt this winter in a tidal timber creek and are standing up againest the old growth forest the river has now taken and you hear out of nowhere the wing on wings whistle of a group of mallard working the spread.... and you look over at Dutch and see him looking straight up watching the birds that we humans cannot see for the dark... and suddenly you feel yourself sink a little tighter to the tree but also tilt your head up to watch yourself.... then hear a splash as one lights in the blocks and then calls herself to the rest of the bunch of come on down....you'll hear me tell Dutch to wait and to sit, because he is ready to go, shooting time be damned..... the duck that landed will jump and quack as she flys off... a few minutes will pass and the alarm goes off..... legal shooting time..... no sooner than that and you'll hear more wings....this time you can see them... three ducks, little more than black footballs with quick moving wings.... they work once overhead and fly up the creek.... I'll cut loose a quick comeback on the call and see the birds turn and they'll whip back down the creek, circling to get downwind.... I'll tell Dutch to stay again as I click the safety off, because he KNOWS what that sound means..... get ready.... three seconds later they appear again drifting in 20 feet off the water..... they lean their heads forward and go into a hover and nobody can stand it any longer..... 'kill'em y'all'......

I do understand bowhunting, and I love it, but I'm not as ate up with it as you are. I guess you'd probably say that you live for the moments from the time you first see a shooter to the very instant before you loose the arrow.... because I live for the moments from when the birds first work until the gun hits my shoulder... or you could say from when the safety goes off until Dutch brings the duck to hand. Sunrises and hearing turkeys tree call from the roost and breakfast in the blind and all that good stuff are great in their own right... but I can watch the sunrise from the comfort of my back porch and have a hot breakfast in the kitchen rather than mt. dew and cold poptarts in the mud.

So basically, yes... the whole damn lot of us are crazy in our own special ways.