Ducky day for veterans
FRANKLIN TWP — The mile-long hike was unexpected. The weather was bitterly cold.
The day was well worth it.
Franklin Township resident Russ Cawthorne, 75, a U.S. Navy veteran, was one of eight veterans to embark upon a duck hunt Jan. 15 — the last day available for vets to hunt waterfowl heading south along the Atlantic flyway. Lake Erie is considered one of the bigger stopping points migrating birds use to rest and feed.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission sets aside six additional days for military veterans to hunt.
“I never knew the Game Commission did this,” Cawthorne said. “My son (Victor) was up in Erie on a hunt and heard about it. He told me about it and that’s how this whole thing happened.”
Ducks, mergansers, Canada geese, coots and gallinules were legal hunting game on this day. But getting to them wasn’t easy.
Cawthorne and fellow veteran hunters Matt Killian and Garret Ulan (Army), David Snyder (Army National Guard), Don Malone (Marine Corps and Army Reserve), Josh Fiscus (Marines), Avery Lintz (Air Force) and Donnie Holder (Navy) ranged in age from 19 to 75.
Non-hunting volunteers Dave Stablein, Shane Wallace, Nate Maciak, Garret Long, Tony Bardo, Chase and Austin Barricklow accompanied the veterans along Presque Isle Bay. They helped transport equipment and help with the set-up priocess.
“This wouldn’t have been possible without those guys,” Cawthorne said,.
Despite extremely cold weather locking up many of the blinds with ice, some blinds remained accessible and usable. This hunting group planned on using four blinds accessible by foot.
After doing that pre-hunt scouting, the group arrived at the bay that Saturday morning, only to discover that chilling temperatures overnight had caused those walk-in blinds to be blocked in with ice.
Using binoculars, they noticed one blind that still had some open water in front of it — about a mile and a half away. Too much ice was built up to safely launch a boat to get there.
Thus, an impromptu hike along the shore was underway, the temperature at 9 degrees with wind and snow flurries.
“We were determined,” Cawthorne said. “We made the trek, equipment and all.”
That equipment included a small canoe, kayak, portable blind, three dozen decoys with anchors, backpacks, guns and ammunition. When the hike was completed and the portable blind was erected, the group was ready to fire at thousands of birds as the legal hunting time of 7:15 a.m. approached.
“That hike was well worth it,” Cawthorne said. “We shot 40 ducks in about three hours. It was phenomenal. We fired off 200 rounds during that time.”
Each hunter is allowed six ducks per day. The volunteers stayed busy, one serenading the waterfowl with duck calls, others retrieving ducks from the water, others donning binoculars to identify incoming birds. Volunteers also made sure no one exceeded his limit for the day.
Another veterans hunt, called “Host the Heroes,” is planned for late fall at Presque Isle State Park. The Northwest Duck Hunters Association, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pymatuning Chapter of Delta Waterfowl and The Sportsman’s Warehouse are combining to host this event. Multiple blinds will be used and tender boats will be provided by local hunters.
And Cawthorne insists this year’s veterans hunt will return again next year.
“We will definitely be back,” he said.
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