Hello all. I am Eric Wolf of Waconia, Minnesota.  I am a part of the Avery Youth Field Staff, which is how this whole story came to be. It all starts off with my dad passing away this March. It was a very unexpected death that took his life and changed my family’s life forever. There isn’t a minute that goes by without me missing him and thinking of the memories we had shared for a short 16 years.

About a month after my dads passing, I received an email from Derek Rambo, the Avery Youth Field Staff Chairman, explaining an amazing offer from Fred Slyfield of Ellensburg, Washington. His son Spencer, also on the AYFS, told his dad about what happened and Fred started planning something out. He got in touch with Derek, and they got the ball rolling on the whole deal. Fred was giving me a 3 day duck hunt out in Washington State, all expenses paid. He said he would cover everything but the airfare. Derek along with Mark Brendemuehl, another Avery and Zink calls Pro-Staffer contacted many other Avery and Zink Calls Pro-Staffers and started asking for donations. The Pro-Staffers came through and donated enough to cover my plane ticket, along with a little extra spending money for me to bring along.

After months of planning, we got everything sorted out and decided on dates of which Derek and I would be making the big trip out to Washington. We chose December 17^th through the 21^st. The plan was to fly into the Seattle airport and drive up to the Puget Sound, about 2 miles from Canada to hunt Sea Ducks on the ocean, and then head down to where Fred guides and hunt divers for the last day. That was the plan until 5 days prior to the trip. Fred called informing me that they were receiving the storm of the decade and we wouldn’t be able to make it on the sea. That was a bummer to hear, as I have never hunted sea ducks before and this was a chance of a lifetime. He ensured us that we were looking good for shooting a decent amount of ducks on the river, so that was a little pick me up. We knew that it would be a great time regardless if we shot a bird or not.

My plane arrived at SEATAC Airport at about 4:00 P.M. on Wednesday where Fred and Derek picked me up to make the 3 hour drive to Ellensburg. It was a hairy drive going over the mountain pass, as they were receiving a significant amount of snowfall and the roads were very slick. With the anticipation building, Fred threw a video into the VCR. It was from 2 years ago where he guided the guys from Ducks Unlimited TV. Little did we know that we would be sitting in the exact same spot as the DU guys did for 2 days in a row to put the hammer down on some ducks!

Day one started with an hour drive to the boat landing plus a 2 mile boat ride on the Columbia River. Derek and I couldn’t believe what we saw as the sun was starting to show itself as we were running down the river. The scenery was breathtaking. Then we noticed all of the birds we flushed of the river. That got our hearts racing knowing that it was going to be an awesome first day on the river. We got setup and the birds started appearing. Our decoy spread consisted of 2 Gang Rig strings of Redheads, Canvasbacks, and a few Bluebills, along with single rigged Wigeon to break up the lines and set on the outsides of the divers. Wigeon started appearing in singles, pairs, and small flocks. It was a great Gentlemen’s hunt where we all took turns killing the drakes. We had hen Wigeon all over the decoys while we were waiting for the drakes to appear. We were shooting mainly Wigeon along with a few gorgeous Redheads and a nice greenhead. We ended day one with 19 ducks, 2 shy of our 3 man limit. The limit could have easily been reached if we shot hens or stuck it out for a few more minutes. What a great way to start of the trip!

Day two started out the same as day one. It was a couple mile boat ride to the “Special Spot”, where Fred was telling us about past hunts in this spot where they had phenomenal hunting. As we arrived in the little cove in the river Fred told us that we wouldn’t be able to hunt there for very long. Not sure why, Derek and I asked what the reason was. Answer: The Columbia River has many locks and dams which make the water levels vary. Fred guessed that we would have a good half hour of hunting before the water got too shallow for the boat and we would have to move. Well, the half hour turned into about ten minutes and the boat was now stuck on shore! The water kept getting lower and we were now over ten yards onto shore with the heavy boat. We knew that it was not a good problem to have because there was a chance that the river wouldn’t come back up until after sundown. Luckily the other half of our group was just down the river in their big 20’ boat and they came to the rescue. When they pulled up they were telling us about the unreal amount of birds they had in the decoys when we called for some help. We arrived to the spot where the other guys were hunting to hopefully shoot a few birds. Well, we weren’t disappointed. We were literally covered in ducks! Wigeon, mallards, redheads, and bluebills kept dive bombing the spread. We took turns again shooting drakes and we finished our 5 man limit of 35 birds in short order. Our limit consisted of mainly greenheads with wigeon, redheads and bills finishing it up. The best part of the deal was that the water had come up enough to get the boat unstuck of the mud! In no time we were on our way back to the trucks to load up and grab a well earned meal. That night we got all of our birds cleaned, went out to eat, and relaxed a little bit for once. As we sat on the couch we reminisced about the days hunt and talked about what an awesome trip we were having.

Day three started a little bit earlier than the prior days, and also quite a bit colder. We arrived at the boat ramp well before sunrise and the thermometer said -2! Not only was the air cold, but the wind was also blowing strong. We setup in the same spot as the day before, knowing that killing birds wouldn’t be a problem with the amount we saw the past few days. Well, the wind and cold moved birds out of the area and we were only seeing about 1/5 of the birds that were around previously. We stuck it out until about 10:00 A.M. and then called it a day with 20 birds in the bag. Everything was freezing up and the birds weren’t around, so we decided to go back and warm up.

The plan was to relax Saturday night and head to the airport on Sunday morning, but with the 10” of snow and 65 MPH winds forecasted, we decided that it would be a good idea to get back across the mountains and find a hotel in Seattle. Well, turns out that was a good plan. About a half hour after we got into Seattle the State D.O.T. closed the mountain pass, so if we waited a little bit yet, I would have been spending Christmas in Washington! The airport was very crazy as people were heading home for the holidays. The weather was bad, and the airport was not ready for this amount of snowfall. Flight after flight after flight was being cancelled, and I was starting to get worried. Derek’s flight back to his home of Dallas was cancelled, but mine was still going to make it out. After many long hours of waiting around at the airport, my flight finally took off for MSP airport. I arrived 6 hours late, but safe and sound at about 3:00 in morning.

It was a bittersweet deal for me to go on this trip, as the real reason I was there was getting to me. It was the best trip of my life, but I will never forget how the whole trip came about. If anyone ever gets a wild hair and wants to hunt a big river with a spectacular backdrop, give Fred Slyfield of Caribou Creek Outfitters a shout. He will take you on a hunt you will never forget! www.cariboucreekoutfitters.com

I would like to send a big thank you out to Fred Slyfield for doing everything he did to get me out to Ellensburg to hunt, and also Derek Rambo for getting me hooked up with Fred and getting the donations for the hunt. Thanks guys and keep on Livin’ The Dream!