SUAMICO, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Hunting season is still months away, but the 16th annual Youth Waterfowl Day is just a few weeks off.
With duck calls blaring, these future hunters are getting ready to experience what it might be like during an actual outing. A yellow Labrador retriever named Truck has little trouble grabbing the dead fowl training dummy, and bringing it back to dry land.
“It’s great to teach the young kids. We want them to follow in our footsteps through the years. We want them to learn how to do it the right way,” said Joe Loehlein, Howard.
Loehlein brought two of his grandsons for a duck hunting demonstration on Friday. The Youth Waterfowl Day will be held on August 3rd at the Barkhausen Waterfowl Preserve in Suamico. The Green Bay Duck Hunters Association is organizing the event.
“The primary age group that we’re looking for is probably the 10-16, but we don’t turn anyone away. So if somebody has a 10-year old, a six-year-old, and a four-year-old, they can come out. Roger Hanson, Green Bay Duck Hunters Association President.
Hanson says from decoy handling to boat rides through the nearby wetlands, there will be five different stations in all.
Young hunters say the like the event.
“Yes, because you get to train dogs,” said Ashton Biskner, Howard.
“Yes, I like hunting ducks,” said Marley Fontaine, De Pere.
“It’s fun setting the dogs. And they get you all wet when they come back, because they shake themselves off,” said Ayden Biskner, Howard.
Loehlein says these hunters have a future.
“He wants to go, and I want him to want to go. That is the most important part. I think of duck hunting is the urge and wanting to go. Once you get it in your heart, you’ve got it, and you want to go from then on,” he said.
Youth Waterfowl Day is free and open to the public.
People are asked to register ahead of time through the Brown County Parks Department.
