Page 96 - South Mississippi Living - January, 2016

SPORTS & OUTDOORS no fly zone of a different
feather a Duck hunting experience will be remembered
story and photos by Kyle Johnson
s I sit on the roof of a Luke was born and raised in horsepower Pro-Drive motors, it will two-story house boat beautiful Gulfport. His father, “Big go through just about anything. As that’s only accessible by Mike” Matthews, turned Luke onto I opened the door of the truck, his water, “the Captain of the duck hunting at the tender age of five. dogs Wyatt and Jake jumped out and
Marsh” Luke Matthews explains to me While most of us were playing outside were ecstatic. It was hard for me to
why he loves duck hunting so much. The marsh holds a special place in his heart and always will. He tells me about the tranquillity he finds in the marsh. A feeling I know all too well while I’m out fishing.
I have known Luke for more than
15 years, and he has invited me to go duck hunting more times than I can count. Having heard all his stories about how much fun it is, duck hunting still never really appealed
to me. I have always been perfectly content with fishing and deer hunting, but sometimes it’s good to mix things up a bit.
in our yard at that age, Luke was playing in marsh mud and learning the land.
He is an excellent
duck hunter and it shows. Everything
we did that weekend was prepped, planned, and executed precisely.
Our trip started with
Luke picking me up around
noon on Friday. He pulled up to
my house with his twenty-foot, center- console aluminum mud boat in tow. This rig is no joke. Sporting twin 36
tell who was more excited, Luke or his dogs; either
way I knew right then this was going to be a
fascinating trip. As we headed
toward the duck camp, Luke explained
everything that was going to happen and
what I needed to do
to have a successful hunt.
There is more to duck hunting than just sitting in a blind and waiting for ducks to show up. From how to set
up the decoys, to where and why you
96 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • January 2016
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