HISTORIC DUCK HUNTING STORIES THE GOLDEN AGE OF DUCK HUNTING

HISTORIC DUCK HUNTING STORIES
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Most duck hunters want to know what happened in the olden and golden days when the old timers pursued their love of duck hunting, but not everyone has the time nor patience to read through a bunch of books and outdoor journals. So, sit back and relax as a passionate duck hunter of 60 years, Wayne Capooth, author of eleven historical waterfowling books and outdoor writer, recaps from his 40 years of research the hidden riches and treasures of duck hunting by the old timers, who sadly have all passed away! The podcast will cover all facets of duck hunting.

  1. JAN 29

    E68 REELFOOT LAKE THE PARADISE OF SPORTSMEN

    To some, Reelfoot Lake,nestled in the far northwestern corner of Tennessee, was known as the “Paradiseof Sportsmen.” Others referred to it as the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” whileWalt Disney called it “Mystery Lake.” But most referred to it as the“Chesapeake Bay of the South.” With wintery winds sweeping from the north overthe broad breast of the Mississippi River, it looked, at times, like all theducks of North America had gathered to feast along its shallowbanks. After having beenthe home to mankind for more than 12,000 years, Reelfoot became the most-usedaerial highway of migratory waterfowl during the spring and autumn—ducks,geese, swans, sandhill cranes, and shorebirds. Historically, in its early years, the lake wasmost famous for the canvasback which was often referred to as the "King ofDucks,” as their flight through the lower-middle Mississippi Valley saw themain body stop at Reelfoot where wild celery grew.

    1h 37m

  2. 12/10/2025

    E66 THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD--A TRIBUTE TO THE WILD PASSENGER PIGEON

    To many, it would become the eighth wonder of the world. It is not an official designation but a reflection on the awe inspiring, spectacular natural phenomenon and wonder that covered the sky with billions of pigeons, but it wouldn’t last, as billions dwindled to millions, to thousands, to one, then to extinction. Sadly, this spectacle was lost forever, driven to extinction in a matter of a few decades, going from billions to zero in a span of less than 50 years. For 50,000 years or more, wild passenger pigeons traveled the skyways inincredible numbers that seem unimaginable to us today. When the Old-World people began arriving, millions of pigeons saturated the skies. Over the interveningyears, European and settler invaders were immensely ecstatic and teeming withextraordinary admiration as they witnessed this unique innate beauty of the grandest and most unique natural phenomenon in the history of the world.

    1h 21m

  3. 09/09/2025

    E 65 CANVASBACK, WAPATO, WILD CELERY, AND CARP

    The question must be asked, “Will the canvasback or can the canvasback ever recover and occurin numbers that would allow no closed seasons?” It is doubtful, and if it does it will be through dedicated restoration efforts by transplanting and sowingthe seeds of wild celery, wapato, and a plant I haven’t mentioned for canvasbacks, the pondweed. In doing so, many depleted ducking wetlands can be restored and thus new ducking grounds can be created.

    1h 11m

  4. 08/06/2025

    E64 HISTORIC DUCK HUNTING CLUBS PRE CIVIL WAR

    E64 LISTS 17 OF THE EARLIEST DUCK CLUBS IN AMERICA, ALL ORGANIZED BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR, SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS DUCK CLUBS SUCH AS WINOUS POINT, CURRITUCK SHOOTING CLUB AND MORE.

    36 min

  5. 07/07/2025

    E63 PRELUDE TO E 16 THE EVOLUTION OF DUCK CALLS

    The evolution of the duck call began some 45,000 to 50,000 years ago or earlier and this episode takes you from that time frame up until E16 which was starts in 1854.

    18 min

  6. 06/17/2025

    E 62 DUCKS CAME FOR RICE, HUNTERS CAME FOR DUCKS AND THEY BOTH MET IN THE GRAND PRAIRIE

    Year after year, waterfowl have followed the ancestral Mississippi Flywayand made their usual stops, where along the way they feasted abundantly in theforested White River bottomlands on acres of high-energy pinoak acorns andaquatic plants, like wild millet, Chufa, and smartweed. Before rice production came to the Grand Prairie,ducks were found foraging in the small prairie wetlands, seasonal herbaceouswetlands, the vast flooded bottomland, hardwood forests of the White andArkansas Rivers, and other smaller meandering rivers and bayous. Once rice had been plantedfor the first time in the first decade of the twentieth century in theeast-central part of the state, it spread rapidly throughout the Grand Prairie,mainly in the counties of Arkansas and Prairie and small sections in westernMonroe and eastern Lonoke during that decade and especially during the 1920sand the 1930s. Doing so, prairie lands, bounded by the bottomlands of four streams, the White andArkansas Rivers, Bayou Meto, and Wattensaw Bayou, could not exist and was converted tofarmland, so the prairies essentially vanished after 40 years. Rice changed the flyway intwo ways. For one, it moved a lot of the waterfowl migration from theMississippi River westward to the rice-growing regions of Arkansas. Second, italso shifted lots of waterfowl from overflying Arkansas and going to the ricefields of Louisiana. No place in the Grand Prairie of eastern Arkansas prior tothe construction of reservoirs reaped rice’s benefit more so than the twinlakes of Jacob’s Lake and Pecan Lake in Arkansas County.

    1h 16m

  7. 05/31/2025

    E61 REFLECTION

    The day after Memorial Day, I reflected back to Vietnam and the loss of my best friend when out on night patrol. He had just been in Vietnam after going through basic training for seven days. On the seventh night, he was shot in the neck by a sniper and died. I miss him dearly and Memorial Day made me reflect back on life and what is important.

    15 min

  8. 04/19/2025

    E60 THE CHESAPEAKE OF THE WEST

    With their primary breeding grounds inprairie Manitoba, the eastern continental population of canvasbacks stagedduring the fall in the olden days on Lake Cristina and Heron Lake in Minnesota;the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair and Saginaw Bay in Michigan; the IllinoisRiver in Illinois, in Iowa along the Upper Mississippi, and Lakes Poygan, Puckaway, Butte des Morts, Winnebago, Winneconne, and Koshkonong in Wisconsin. Lake Koshkonong was the countless hosts of migratory waterfowl which knew it from a time before a white man ever gazed upon its waters. From its beginning, the Koshkonong marsh wascovered with from one to two feet of water and filled entirely with wild riceand in a few deep-water places wild celery grew. During the fall and springmigration, the marsh was literally alive with mallards, teal, and otherdabbling ducks with a few canvasbacks and redheads in a few deeper areas. Thenthe dam in 1851 was built which raised the water level enticing more wildcelery to grow and year after year it grew more and the canvasbacks came ingreat numbers. Then the dam was made higher in 1874, which raised the level ofwater even higher and once again more wild celery grew while the wild ricereceded closer to the shore. Then the canvasbacks came in greater number whichwas beyond computation and the mallards departed for the most part to thesurrounding marshes boarding on the sides of the lake. Furthermore, during summer,thousands of young canvasbacks could be seen as the result of the breedingseason unconscious of the fate that awaited them within a few months from thehands of sportsmen and market hunters. But all of this changed with theoverharvesting of canvasbacks, the introduction of carp, the extended raisingof the dam, the onset of WWI, the Dust Bowl Years, pollution, the drainage ofthe numerous marshes which existed outside of the boundary of the lake and thedrainage of other small wetlands near the lake along with their ancient hangoutson the lake being covered with the dwellings of the white man which added extrahunting pressure on waterfowl using the lake and increased use of the lake forleisure motorboating which ran many waterfowl off the lake.

    1h 13m
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Most duck hunters want to know what happened in the olden and golden days when the old timers pursued their love of duck hunting, but not everyone has the time nor patience to read through a bunch of books and outdoor journals. So, sit back and relax as a passionate duck hunter of 60 years, Wayne Capooth, author of eleven historical waterfowling books and outdoor writer, recaps from his 40 years of research the hidden riches and treasures of duck hunting by the old timers, who sadly have all passed away! The podcast will cover all facets of duck hunting.

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