The Canvasback duck has long been revered as great table fare. From the bygone days of market hunting the Chesapeake Bay, to modern hunting targeting these diving ducks, hunters from coast to coast agree on the deliciousness of this species.
The challenge for the month of December is The Wild. Show us photos of the wild animals, the wild conditions and the wild places hunting takes you and you’ll be eligible to win.
Ambassador Alex Brittingham currently resides in Athens, Texas. Hunting has been a part of her life since the age of four, the tradition passed down from her father. Around ten years ago she started training her personal dogs for hunt tests and hunting. Now both her passion and profession lie in training dogs full time and she is quickly becoming recognized for turning her Jack Russell Terrier “Gator,” into an exceptional bird dog.
The following is a collection of stories from our Ambassadors recalling the coldest hunts they’ve ever been on.
Ramsey Russell spent his 16th birthday unconscious at an ICU in Jackson, Mississippi. His dog—he loved that dog—had scratched up the inside of his parent’s garage. He touched it up with some oil-based paint, then cleaned the brushes with gasoline. The water heater kicked on. Spark ignited fumes. The explosion brought in fire departments from across the county.
Comfort can play a vital role in the hunt. Not in the sense that being comfortable makes the hunt easy, more that it allows us to shift focus from the challenges of the hunt to the task at hand. When we bring our bodies and minds to a state of comfort, we become more effective, more efficient, and more durable to the conditions. Comfort becomes a tool.
As humans, we are at a genetic and physiological disadvantage to survive in wild places. Yet we’re instinctively drawn to test our mettle against species who have adapted for millennia to thrive in these challenging environments. At SITKA, we build systems to level the playing field with wild animals in their domain; giving hunters the ability to adapt to the rapidly-changing conditions encountered in the wild.
Seven years ago, we set out to change the way hunting was portrayed. At that time, nearly all images from a hunt were trophy photos. To us, this did the hunt, animal, and hunter a disservice. We wanted to highlight the depth of the experience, not just the kill. To spur this shift, we started working with a group of talented photographers. People whose passion for visual storytelling matched their passion for the hunt itself. This small rebellion snowballed into a widespread movement called DIVERGE.
Barton Ramsey breeds, trains and hunts gun dogs nearly 365 days a year, but he’ll be the first to tell you, “The dogs enhance my life more often than I do anything for them.”
The history of waterfowl waders can be found in the landfill.
While better known for big game hunting, New Zealand offers some great waterfowl opportunities, including some indigenous species sure to intrigue avid bird collectors looking for a new adventure.
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