Introducing Texan, Shannon "Earl" Smith.
He started waterfowling with his dad and grandfather when he was nine years old, but got really serious about it around age 16, 20 years or so ago.
Shannon has been a guide for about 15 years, and is co-owner of Flying Aces Guide Service & Duck Calls.
The first duck he ever killed was a wood duck drake, but for the most part he chases greenheads now. Mallards are where most of his time, effort, and money is spent.
A big IronBands welcome to Shannon.
Banded Speck
The first banded bird I killed was on the Texas coast near Beaumont, TX around 1993. It was a neck collared and leg banded speckle bellied goose that came in with a big mix of snow and blue geese.
The red neck collar stuck out like a neon sign. It was the first bird I shot that morning, and I have been looking for bands ever since. A jewelry hunter, if you will, infatuated by those wild little trinkets.
Hunting Preferences and Tricks
I think the main reason I hunt is the thrill of whistling wings, and the beauty of a fall sunrise, shared by your nearest and dearest friends. In East Texas, we typically hunt flooded timber out of large permanent structured duck blinds. In Oklahoma, we usually hunt agricultural fields out of lay down blinds. I enjoy both, but my heart is in the timber.
One trick we've learned with geese in the field, is to stack as many full bodied motion decoys around our lay down blinds as possible. I mean four rows deep, almost touching each other, even in between the layout blinds. The rest of the goose decoys go outward from our shooting position to form an "X" pattern. Our success rate has improved dramatically since we employed this style of decoy placement.
Planets Line Up
One of my favorite recent hunting stories took place in Oklahoma last season. When one of my best friends and his father, who practically raised me, and is a waterfowl father-figure to me, timed everything just right. I mean the stars were in line! A ten mile an hour north wind with two days of freezing temperatures in the teens had locked up a lot of the water, and our corn and pea fields were absolutely full of mallards and Canadian geese. We pounded on 'em for three days. At the end of the last morning, my friends father, Chuck, looked at me and said, "Shannon, you boys just put me on the best duck hunt I've been on in 20 years. Looks like I raised you little turds right!" That was a proud moment for me.
Chuck unexpectedly died of a massive heart attack two months later. With that, every minute of our hunt stays fresh on my mind like it was yesterday. I have attached a few pictures from that magical morning.
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