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Please welcome California Rat Collin Brown and his dog Ammo.

Collin grew up in northern California and for the past nine years has hunted public lands and rice fields passionately.

The first duck he shot at a refuge was a green-winged teal, and his first goose was a speck. He got both at Yolo.

Collin is definatety a dedicated Rat as you will discover below.

Give Collin a big welcome.

Strategies, Tips, Experience 

Living only 10 minutes from a refuge, I hunt every free second of the day. On Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, I stay close to home; on non-shoot days, I hit other public land.

If I don't fill my limit in the morning, I go back out in the evening.

I take hunting seriously, and think it’s worth the extra money to buy quality gear. Often, my buddies don’t really like to hunt with me because I enjoy scouting and finding spots no one else will walk to. To me, that’s half the experience. If you take the easy road trying to kill ducks, you won’t always walk away with limits, but if you put your time and effort in, you’ll get results.

I joined duck clubs on two occasions but never really enjoyed just walking out to your check and hoping they would come, or wishing your spread looked as good as the next guy’s. There is no strategy in that. I like going out to the refuge in the afternoon and scouting to see where the birds are landing and how they’re moving throughout the day; sometimes you can have your best hunts in the afternoon. Hunting public refuges can be a challenge. Do you have a reservation? Does the guy in front of you in line like to hunt the same honey hole? Is someone planning to set up right next to you? But if hunting weren’t a challenge, everyone would do it.

I especially like to hunt in the marsh. We all have tule seats and get right in there and squat, especially when we hunt the Delta. Many times, the more open the water, the safer the birds feel. They become smart as the year goes on, so you really have to put time and energy into it, seeing where they are landing and how they are sitting on the water, and then try to replicate what they are doing. If you just walk out to a spot and throw some decoys out, you may get a couple, but if you really work and try to locate birds before you hunt, you have a better chance of limiting out.

We hunted Mendota refuge last year twice a week. You can’t beat camping out, barbecuing and hanging out with friends the night before a hunt. You simply can’t find camaraderie like that anywhere else.

For the past three years I’ve been going back to Minnesota to hunt mallards and honkers. Last year, I visited Kruger Farms to help guide, and every night we would drive around trying to find where they where feeding. Once we found them, we’d know where to set up the next morning, and many times limit out.

Sometimes you have to be patient. One morning, we could hear the birds flying everywhere in the morning fog, but we couldn’t see a thing. We waited and waited; one hour became two. A number of hunters gave up and left. Finally, the fog lifted and the ducks came pouring in group after group after group. We were so excited because we knew everyone had given up and gone home, but we toughed it out. As a reward for our patience, we limited out.

Ammo's First Duck

Sometimes a hunting story is one you’ll never forget because of something that happened to you. Sometimes, you witness a memorable moment that happened to a hunting buddy. And sometimes, it’s neither.

The Sunday after the season opened, I took my dog Ammo out for his first hunt. We walked out through the sun to the blind and it was obvious Ammo didn’t understand much about what we were doing. I wasn’t expecting to see much; I just wanted to get Ammo his first experience out in the field.

While Ammo splashed in the water, sure enough, I saw a bird coming into our pond. I started calling, and Ammo looked at me with a puzzled expression. I shot and killed the bird, and again, Ammo stared back at me with a confused look. I got up and pointed to the bird, and soon enough, Ammo jumped in, swam out and returned minutes later carrying it in his mouth. That was Ammo’s first bird, and I remember it as well as I remember my own.

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