It’s a bit of a long roadtrip to northwestern Oklahoma, but with a few days in Tulsa beforehand for family Christmas and the annual Duck Camp trip just after Christmas, it is one of my favorite times of the year.  The roadtrip to Tulsa (with three boys 1, 3, and 5) is always memorable.  It takes about eight hours (+/- a few), depending on when we leave Austin.  The best trips are those which start around 2am and we’re north of Dallas before everyone starts waking up.  Jill and I chuckle as we point out different places where we’ve made “emergency potty stops” along I-35, SH 75, and SH 69.  We have a moment of silence as we pass the G&H Decoy factory in Henrietta, OK – or we get out and play with the goose decoys bobbing in the front yard if we need to burn off some energy.

My brother-in-law, Steve, and his buddy John have been coaching high school sports together for a number of years.  When I married Jill eight years ago, they introduced me to duck hunting.  I have become increasingly addicted since.

This Christmas, Duck Camp was slated for the 26^th to 28^th. We hunted a farm pond near the Salt Plains wildlife refuge on the 27^th and 28^th and hunted pheasant both afternoons.  As always, it was a super trip.  The duck hunting was great, and the camaraderie was even better. 

Tuesday night we drove up from the fourth and final Christmas celebration (at Great-Grandma’s) and cooked up some venison chili and Duck Camp drinks.  Unfortunately, Kelly, the annual entertainment factor, couldn’t make it – we missed Kelly, but not his Boone’s Farm delivery. 

After a good sleep, we set up on the pond around 6am Wednesday morning.  It was an amazing sunrise and some good action from the start.  We shot mallards, teal, gadwall, and one Canada goose.  A cold front Wednesday night brought some new ducks in Thursday morning and we shot mostly widgeon all morning – with a few greenwing teal mixed in.  Lucy (the sweetest yellow lab I've ever met) was a star both days. 

We passed on several widgeon that were flying with Pintails – Oklahoma still has a season-within-a-season rather than the Hunter’s Choice bag limit.  As always, we saw some really great Pintails – but they aren’t in season any longer.  One lone Canvasback also flew through the spread, probably fully aware he was safe, too.  That was fun and will be a lasting memory. 

The pheasant evaded us all week.  We flushed four hens and saw one rooster on property we didn’t have permission to hunt.  We typically see pheasant in abundant numbers – especially in the evenings.  Not sure exactly why the roosters seemed scarce – we heard several reasons, but I guess it doesn’t really matter.  It was a super couple days anyhow.

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