by Rick Bennett
Have you ever been paddle boarding or fishing in what you thought was a remote corner of the Manatee County, back country and suddenly been startled by the sound of several gunshots, then wondered what was going on?  If so, that may have been duck hunters taking advantage of the annual arrival of ducks to our local bays, lakes, and rivers. Long before retirees started visiting Florida in the winter months, waterfowl have made the trip south when the weather turns cold up north.  This event is a great opportunity for some serious fun that can be a nice change of pace from fishing.
If you ask me and my kids what we like to do, we say âhuntingandfishingâ like it is one thing. For us hunting and fishing go together, they are both the pursuit of game for the challenge and the meat. Since the same areas that we fish are also populated with ducks during the winter months, it seems only natural that we would bring out our shotguns and try to ambush some of our northern visitors (the waterfowl).
Everyone that I know who hunts also, fishes, but many people who are avid fishermen, do not hunt. I have often wondered why. Most everywhere that we fish could also be a potentially good spot to duck hunt. We have seen good quantities of ducks in Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, Palma Sola, Perico, Bishopâs Harbor, and in the Manatee River, not to mention many of our freshwater haunts out East. Our season usually begins when we are fishing and we notice that there are getting to be a pretty reliable number of ducks in the area. The next trip out, we bring the guns.  During warm years it doesnât start to happen until late January, but cold winters such as this year, can produce good numbers of birds by mid- November.
Sometimes, we like to get up way before sun up and get in a concealed position with decoys spread out in the water in front of us, but sometimes we go out at whatever time suits us and poke around the back county looking for a shot. No matter which strategy we choose, it is nice to know that if the birds are not flying that day, we can always fish.
Another advantage of this sport is that bad weather for fishing is good weather for duck hunting. If it is a still, clear, warm day, great! I will take my family fishing. If it is a cold, windy, rainy day, even better! I will take my family duck hunting. Either way no one is spending hours watching TV, and there is a high probability of fresh game for dinner!