Been there done that too

After returning from his fourth Argentina duck hunt is as many consecutive years, a client called to say he'd had a great time but wanted to venture off the beaten path, do some exploring. 

"I want to be Ramsey," he said. "Everyone wants to be Ramsey until it's time to do real Ramsey-type shit," I replied.

This past fall, we explored some never-before duck hunting destinations throughout Eurasia. A couple were real keepers, stay tuned. A couple others were fascinating adventures but offered little more than an interesting passport new stamp in terms of guided duck hunting trips.   

"Most folks have no idea what a professional hunter or guide does to prepare, arrange and facilitate the customer," he stated as we were making our way through a crowded Amsterdam airport after a dozen days of hunting and travel.

A great example of "what we do" happened while scouting Asia recently.  Listen, when Chinese customs officers start posing with your guns and ammo like a major drug bust on the local 6 o'clock news, you're probably not going anywhere soon.  Nine hours spent in an airport dealing with China's in-transit firearm process - all because someone in customs had failed to notify the proper authorities that we had firearms among our baggage - is a small price to pay so that our future clients are spared the hassle.  There's no way to gain that insight without having personally been there, done that too.  And our clients deserve nothing less.

Ramsey Russell is a certified wildlife biologist.  He owns and operates GetDucks.com, a full-time, full-service agency specializing in world-wide trophy duck species and epic wingshooting adventures.  Exploring the world's wetlands for the best client duck hunting experiences his life's mission, but hunting in Mississippi with family and friends, he says, is top priority when home.  It’s always duck season somewhere. 

The Best Was Last

Mallards and pintail galore.  Within days of Mississippi duck season’s closure  there were lots of ducks at Willow Break.  Mississippi’s post-season Youth Day provided a solid crack at them.

Not that duck season was uneventful.  It was a great season – a record-setter for Willow Break – but weird.  In the year they started naming winter’s cold fronts, repeated clippers brought ducks but not the massive waves of ducks expected; not mallards and pintails.  Not this far south. It was the day after Christmas that I saw my first flock of shovelers, colloquially referred to as “Ramzillas” for good reason, or even the first sizeable flock of green-wings.   But where there's duck hunting, there's always hope.

"Only a Mallard"

I get it: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  But having grown up hunting in the Deep South and despite an exotic waterfowl species totaling about 100 huntable species world-wide, the splendor of decoying greenheads remains one of the most fundamental beauties in waterfowling - a heart-thumper every time. 

A couple of guests from the island-nation of Malta brought fresh perspective to things we might otherwise take for granted.  Malta, for those like me that can't place it on a map without googling, is a small island-nation situated in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.  Twenty-one by 14 miles in size, its population is nearly a half-million.  Some of the oldest remains of human civilization, pre-dating Stone Henge, are there.  Through time it’s been occupied by nearly everyone in that part of the world.  Land, let alone hunting property, is scarce.  Barbeque ribs, southern baked beans, fried chicken and corn on the cob, I learned, are completely non-existent.  But I’ve never met more zealous wildfowlers, more competent hunters or better shots.

Hunters and bird collectors, GetDucks.com arranged their trip from the middle of the Mediterranean Sea to the middle of the Bering Sea to hunt King Eiders.  They’re the first from their country to have hunted them.  An invitation to join us in Mississippi was quickly accepted because it’s right here in Mississippi that their most-prized species would be hunted.

Uruguay Duck Hunt at New Tacuarí Lodge

It's not as easy as it sounds.  Finding and delivering duck hunting trips around the world entails long hours, arduous travel away from home and the hassle and inconveniences that come with it.

I know, I know, but someone has to do it (and just wait, I've got a whole series of stories about things that happen along the way you'll never, ever read about in slick travel brochures).  I like traveling to new places and pulling the trigger, but new and different experiences, preferably way off the beaten path, are most compelling.

Most GetDucks.com wingshooting destinations offered in South America are as convenient to an airport as Disney World to Orlando.  The duck hunting is incredible; total-package experiences relative to duck hunting locally are unbelievable. Sometimes we get real lucky and find something harder to get to, but worth it.  Our new Tacuarí Lodge Uruguay duck hunting program is the perfect example.

The best duck hunting in Uruguay is located to the east.  Many duck species common to Uruguay are rare or not available throughout much of Argentina.  Uruguay duck hunts are usually operated from hotels and let's face it, who wants to travel that far to stay in a hotel?

Tacuarí Lodge is located 5.5 hours from Montevideo, in remote northeastern Uruguay, right across the river from Brazil.  We drove past other duck hunting operations getting there.  It was worth it.  What awaited surprised us.