Posted by Mike Sharp on August 05, 2000 at 2:51:56 p.m.:
Greetings, my name is Mike Sharp and I have been addicted to duck hunting since 1969. I have a wonderful wife of 20 years that is understanding of my addiction and allow me to indulge because it keeps me out of trouble elsewhere. I started out hunting with a school friend with basically nothing but a shotgun and young enthusiasm. We did not kill many ducks in those days but with improved finances from an after school job I decided to get serious. In 1972 we built our first permanent blind which was placed in Swan Creek management area across the river from Decatur. With all our resources used up in building the blind, purchasing a new shotgun and decoys we approached our first season as "real duck hunters" without a boat. One of the old timers at Swan Creek heard about our problem and gave us an old 10' wood flatbottom that he had retired from service. That old timer was Buford Harraway who today has an area at Swan Creek named after him. That first year as "real duck hunters" was tough in that we had to paddle the flatbottom about 1/2 mile to and from the blind but we did kill a lot of ducks. For the next 10 years we hunted out of that and another blind. In the early 80's I took time out from duck hunting due to low duck numbers, time restraints from work and to chase deer. I am happy to say that I matured and came back about 9 years ago and the addiction has gotten worse since. In the last 2 years I have managed to get my nephew addicted ( first time out) and he in turn has gotten a school friend started. Most of my hunting today is done on private land in Lawrence Co. not far from the river. We hunt beaver swamps, flooded timber and wet weather potholes. This year I have added a 10' Aquapod to the arsenal to give me more options on areas and ways to hunt. I have met some good friends here on the forum from the north Alabama area who I look forward to spending some time afield with. Feel free to e-mail me anytime. Mike