How duck hunting creates quite a bond among fellow hunters

If you are looking for hunting opportunities that allow you to bond with fellow hunters, consider waterfowl hunting.

Migratory bird hunting across Pennsylvania allows hunters to spend time in the outdoors while not feeling the pressure to sit quietly and unmoving. You can hold a conversation while waiting for flocks of birds to pass over.

Because of the bonding that can happen in a duck blind, events like Host a Hero Duck Hunt in Erie have been created.

“Duck hunting is something that not a lot of people think about getting into," Matt Killian, 40, of Girard, an Army veteran and cofounder of Host a Hero Duck Hunt, said in a telephone interview. "If you hunt, there’s a good chance you go after deer, and probably turkey because you don’t have to buy a whole bunch of decoys to do it. Whereas duck hunting, I wanted to afford these veterans that we host the opportunity to see what duck hunting is like, if they’ve never done it before, to see if it’s something they are interested in.”

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Some past participants have become avid duck hunters with their own boats, layout boxes and bevy of decoys.

Other previous participants continue to be involved in the hunt, volunteering time and supplies. “It’s a family away from their family. It’s the camaraderie. Guys like coming back just for the camaraderie; not everybody has that when they leave the service," Killian said.

He’s been hosting the event since 2017 at Presque Isle State Park. The event was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic.

The hunt will take place Nov. 12 and is at capacity with 21 veterans traveling from as far away as Louisiana. The Northwest Pennsylvania Duck Hunters Association helps organize the day and run the duck blind draw.

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“This event is 100% about giving back to those who served, my brothers and sisters who raised their right hands, just the same as I did, so it’s something little I can do to give back,” he said.

There’s a banquet the night before to get acquainted with everyone. The next morning, the hunters will be sitting in blinds or layout boats with guides. Some will have dogs to retrieve the birds or people will use kayaks to pick up birds where it’s too deep for hunters to wade.

The participants need to have their Pennsylvania hunting licenses, migratory bird stamps and federal waterfowl stamps. They also should plan to have shotguns that handle 3-inch shells.

“We have been very blessed with donors,” he said about people supplying everything from the ammunition to hotel rooms for out-of-the-area veterans.

The time spent in a duck blind with others is a valuable reprieve for outdoorspeople to get a break from their everyday routine. “Those conversations ebb and flow,” Killian said about the veterans talking about a wide range of things while waiting for birds to fly over. “Sometimes they are joyful and lighthearted,” he said about joking and laughing with each other. “That’s one of the joys of duck hunting, in the essence of you don’t have to sit there and be quiet. You don’t necessarily have to sit still." People are making food on grills and talking with others in between flights of birds. People are celebrating the good shots and laughing when the birds escape a hunter’s aim.

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"When the birds come in to the blind at last light and you drop them on the water, as a sportsman, as a hunter, that’s the stuff that we dream about," Killian said. "We pick up everything and you go home and feel recharged and get back to your life, thinking, 'Today was a good day. No matter what happened at work, no matter what’s going on in life, today was a good day.'”

Nick Sebasovich, 28, of Plum, in Allegheny County, enjoys waterfowl hunting with his chocolate Labrador retriever Stella and yellow Labrador retriever Sophie. He has served six years in the Army National Guard and he’s looking forward to volunteering his expertise on the annual hunt.

“It’s a really cool cause and it’s something that I enjoy doing,” he said. “It’s a cool opportunity to give back and do something for the veteran community.”

Sebasovich has been duck hunting for more than a dozen years. “I grew up in central Pennsylvania on the Susquehanna River. That was a big area for us. We did a lot of river hunting, some swamps, small farm ponds, creeks. The river was the main body of water we had access to.”

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Now he hunts near the three rivers in Pittsburgh and travels to places like Erie and the Finger Lakes in New York. “We kind of ventured all over the place. We’ve targeted different species.”

He looks forward to duck season each fall. “For me, I grew I up hunting whitetails and hunting turkeys. The thing about them is that you get one buck tag and one spring turkey tag. When you get your one, you’re done. With ducks and geese and pheasants and all the game birds, you have a daily limit.” A great day isn't the end of the season.

He also likes that duck hunting doesn’t require the shooter to sit still and remain quiet like when hunting deer or turkey. “Waterfowl, you can get with your buddies and loosely be semi-conscious of your movements, but for the most part you can talk, you don’t have to be quiet, you can joke around, laugh at your buddies, make breakfast in your duck blind or whatever you want to do.”

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Getting started

Duck hunting is not an inexpensive sport. “The biggest thing is you want to be warm and dry,” Sebasovich said about the importance of investing in high quality clothing.

You also need decoys for each type of bird you are targeting. “Waterfowl hunting is very hard on gear,” he said about being on the water and having the equipment like decoys banging together. "Everything gets wet, gets frozen. You don’t want to go cheap on your gear, you don’t want to go cheap on your clothing, your ammunition, your gun, any of it.”

For shotgun shells, he prefers 3-inch steel 2 shot for ducks and larger BB steel shot shells for late season geese that are in full plumage.

Calling ducks

“There’s definitely a science to it, like turkey hunting. It’s an acquired skill," Sebasovich said. "Goose calling is more of an acquired skill than duck calling. It’s a little bit easier to pick up a duck call and sound like a duck. It takes a little more practice and a little bit more skill to pick up a goose call and make it sound like a goose.”

Once the hunter learns how to make the sounds, he said you then have to learn when to call and the types of calls to be doing to sound realistic to a group of birds flying over your waterway.

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The seasons for migratory birds vary for species across the state. Visit the Game Commission seasons and bag limits page online or consult your hunting digest to see the times that best fit your schedule.

Sebasovich said the time and money is well spent for those who enjoy the outdoors. “The camaraderie thing that comes along with it, you can kind of joke and laugh with your buddies, but still shoot some ducks when they come in.”

Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on your website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on social media @whipkeyoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Duck hunting in Pennsylvania creates unique bond among hunters