My bird of regret - a column for Shotgun Life

You never know what's going to capture your imagination the most when you hunt strange birds in a strange place. The bird that did that for me in New Zealand earlier this summer is the subject of my latest column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2015

Baiting, sluicing and other no-no's ... or are they? A column for Shotgun Life.

United States: Baiting ducks, illegal. Sluicing ducks, legal (but frowned upon). And on the other side of the Equator in New Zealand? The opposite.

Hunting in another country is a great opportunity not just to hunt new animals, but to think about laws and ethics and beliefs - why they exist, what benefit they have. That, my friends, is the subject of my latest column in Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2015

The measure of a season - a column for Shotgun Life

I am a little obsessed with measuring my duck hunting results - keeping a body count. After eight seasons, though, perhaps it's time to outgrow that habit. But what else is an OCD girl supposed to do? Find out in my latest column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2015

Holly and the Ninja - a column for Shotgun Life

No two ways about it: Staring down the wrong end of a shotgun barrel is creepy as hell. Find out why I was doing that in my latest column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2015

Vegetarians hunting: a column for Shotgun Life

So, these three vegetarians went hunting at a super-awesome duck club... Click here to read more in my latest column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2015

The coolest jump shooting ever - a column for Shotgun Life

Ever have one of those hunts where something so awesome happens that it leaves you dazed and grinning for days? I did, and here's what went down.

© Holly A. Heyser 2015

About women duck hunters - a column for Shotgun Life

Happy New Year, everyone!

I had a couple things happen last year during duck hunts that got me thinking about the state of women duck hunters. You can check out my Shotgun Life column about it here, and I'd be very interested to here your thoughts, either in comments on the column (it uses a Facebook interface) or back here.

I didn't address the causes of the issues I wrote about, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on that topic. Or if you think I'm completely full of B.S. on the topic, you're welcome to say that as well.

© Holly A. Heyser 2015

Expectations? My latest column for Shotgun Life.

I've spent the better part of nine duck seasons now trying to temper my expectations going into every hunt.

But this hunt may have ruined me forever.

Check it out - it's my latest column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

Hunting the Drought: a column for Shotgun Life

Just about every duck hunter in California went into this fall wondering what duck season would bring.

Our population of local ducks - especially mallards - is at record lows, but the migrants that just winter here are at record highs. And we're in a serious drought, meaning water for the wintering birds is seriously limited.

We had a general idea what to expect, but the way things started here didn't necessarily match those expectations. You can read about how my opener went in my latest column in Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

I want to believe (in my dove hunting spot) - a column for Shotgun Life.

Dove season in NorCal last month was, um, pretty lame. For the most part. A spot that performed pretty damned well last year was ... well, that's the subject of my latest column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

Why failure is good - a column for Shotgun Life

Whenever I work with new shooters or hunters who want to get into duck hunting, I always work really hard to lower their expectations. Shooting clays is hard enough; shooting ducks that move faster and can change course instantly can be almost impossible for the newbie.

It turns out that embracing failure is really good for your brain, and my latest column for Shotgun Life explains why.

And here's a fun postscript you won't see in the column: Minutes after I sent that tale of epic failure to my editor, I got an email from someone submitting a hunting photo for the magazine I edit, California Waterfowl. The caption - with names changed, of course - said this:

Bobby Jones, age 14 attended the 2014 Youth Hunt at the Quack Quack Duck Club and took
a full limit of seven ducks while only firing nine rounds.  This was Bobby's first duck hunt.

OMG.

Sigh.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

Making it work - a column for Shotgun Life

If you're a bird hunter, you know damn well what you have to do to stay sharp: When you're not hunting, you MUST shoot clays. A lot. Kinda like if you want to lose weight, you have to exercise. A lot.

Four years ago, I did just that over the summer (shoot, not exercise - that's another issue) and I had my best season yet. This year, I discovered how to get my groove back, and that, my friends, is the topic of my latest column in Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

A sense of foreboding about the coming duck season - a column for Shotgun Life

Here in California, we have an odd situation: Nationwide, duck numbers are really good - better than last year, and better than the long-term average.

But the drought in California is poised to put the kibosh on hunting opportunity for thousands of duck hunters who rely on public land or rice leases for hunting, and that worries me, for more reasons than just the question of "Where the hell am I going to hunt?"

Read more about my concerns in my July column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

The one true way to shoot a shotgun: a column for Shotgun Life

All I'm gonna say is the headline above is total B.S. To see why, check out my latest column in Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

Hunting zeppelins - a column for Shotgun Life

Photo by R.J. Waldron, Northwind Outfitters

I think it's safe to say that most geese I've killed in my eight seasons of hunting have been crips - birds injured by someone else that then either flew or swam near me in their debilitated state.

Mercy killings. I put them out of their misery, and the hunting gods showed mercy on my pathetic self by putting those birds in my path.

On the rare occasions I've paid for a goose hunt, it's usually been a spectacular failure.

Between that and the fact that I think duck hunting is just more exciting, I tend to run around saying things like "I hate goose hunting."

But I might not be saying that anymore, and you can find out why in my latest column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

Extreme bird hunting - a column for Shotgun Life

Photo by Ayla87 via stock.xchng

I've wanted to hunt sandhill cranes for years now, and this season, I finally got my chance.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the experience I'd hoped for, or even braced for, and that is the subject of my latest column in Shotgun Life.



© Holly A. Heyser 2014

Goddess for a day - a column for Shotgun Life

This is not my clothing and these aren't
all my ducks, but you're going to have
to read the column to find out why.

In a rare turn of events, I found myself last month at a rather exclusive duck club in the Butte Sink, where spectacular success and spectacular failure trumped my garden-variety insecurity to make me a goddess for a day.

You can check out the whole story in my latest column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2014

Hunting like a guerrilla in a ballroom - a column for Shotgun Life

I am in my eighth season of hunting, so you'd think by now I'd know how to calm the hell down when ducks take me by surprise.

Apparently not.

Read all about my latest adventure in spasticity in my latest column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2013

A post-meal grace for the first duck of the season: a column for Shotgun Life

I'm not a particularly prayerful person, but my first duck of the 2013-14 season tasted so damn good it was worth a special prayer.

Read all about it in my latest column for Shotgun Life.

© Holly A. Heyser 2013

What happens when you put hard work into a dove hunt - a column for Shotgun Life

As a writer, I'm generally bored by happy endings - failure is so much more interesting than great shooting and a fat limit of anything.

But in this case, the journey included enough failures to make that happy ending worth writing about, and thus I present to you my latest column for Shotgun Life.

One note worth adding: It was in writing this column that I finally pieced together something I've been feeling about hunting for seven years - the straight-line connection between my non-consumptive childhood wanderings out in nature and hiking with a gun. It's been hard to figure out precisely why I almost always flash back to childhood when I'm out in places like this, but a sentence spilled out of me for this column that made it pretty clear.

I'd be interested to know whether it's the same for everyone else, or just a case of me being my weird old self. Read it, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

© Holly A. Heyser 2013