Matt's First Post (Bend, OR)

Have you ever wanted to earn what you eat? Well, that’s precisely what I set out to do with my brothers Andy and Greg in Bend, OR. Andy and I left for Bend (where my brother Greg lives) the Friday prior to Thanksgiving to try our luck at duck hunting. We made it to Bend after about 8 hours of driving and the next morning headed out to a reservoir to the north of Smith Rock with Greg’s boat and his lab Tug.

First, before I continue, you must understand the background of our hunting trip. That being, I went duck hunting with my brothers a year ago in the Corvallis area and we left empty handed after two days of hunting. So this year we were quite determined to not have a repeat strike-out.

We had great weather the first day with sunny skies (albeit very cold) and Andy got a duck within the first hour. After a total of about 4 hours on the reservoir we decided to head back to Greg’s house to warm up.

The next day, we woke up to a light dusting of snow outside of Greg’s house and headed back to the lake where we had gone the previous day. This second morning the ducks were much more active and I ended up walking away with a duck, a drake widgeon. Of course Greg shot a total of 3 ducks being the expert hunter he is. We walked away happy that we had not been thwarted this year. However, it did manage to snow about 3 inches while we were on the boat the second day.

The trip to Bend was successful and perhaps it may become a new tradition in years ahead.