An Outdoorsman’s Journal: Mississippi River duck hunt 2025 Venison Processing - recordgleaner_20251022_trg-2025-10-22-0-014_art_0.xml
An Outdoorsman’s Journal: Mississippi River duck hunt 2025 Hello friends, We call it “The Mississippi.” This trip is actually like a religion to the 15 to 23 of us that make it each year and it is all about camaraderie, adventure, and hopefully shooting ducks. My first time to the islands across from Ferryville was in 1971, 54 hunts ago. There is no way I can miss this trip unless there is flooding or maybe if I die. I brought my three stepsons, Kevin, Travis, and Joey, here, and other than Kevin who lives in Alaska, Joey and Travis make it happen year after year. One of Joey’s high school classmates, Grant Wandler, flies in from California. Like I said,“It’s a religion!” Mark Walters anyways — only get together one weekend a year, with a bonus that every one of us is an excellent camp cook. Saturday, Oct. 4 — High 87, low 59 Sometimes I make poor choices. Today’s poor choice was waiting until 9 to change my decision not to shoot hen wood ducks or teal. I was living out of my canoe and pretty proud of myself, as in the dark, I found the spot I had picked out yesterday. Last week I wrote that Red was not being very responsible on retrieving the ducks I dropped while hunting the northern Wisconsin opener. Between that hunt and this one, I worked with Red on my pond, and she was flawless. Today not only did Red retrieve the first duck I dropped, a hen wood duck, but she also swam to an island, found it in very dense willows, and brought it to my hand after a very lengthy retrieve. I’m not saying we are past the bump in the road, but we’re certainly on the right path. Each year on Saturday night at about 11-ish everyone comes to camp and laughs a lot and tells their stories. Other than Travis Dushek and his good buddy Andrew Krizan, there were not a whole lot of duck-whacking stories. These guys got here on Thursday, did some serious scouting, and it paid off. This afternoon Trav and Andrew invited my nephews Trent and Riley Schuster along with“Captain” Troy Ringelstetter and Trent’s golden, Ivy, to follow them to paradise. The boys had a great hunt with ducks and a goose, and it was very nice to see the “we did some whacking” look on their faces tonight. As has been the norm since my dad, the late Robert Walters, started this hunt, Saturday night was even more fun than Friday, and, I guarantee you this, if mankind still exists next October, this gang will be camping on the Mississippi, laughing, and hopefully shooting ducks! Live large while you can! Sunset Venison Processing Friday, Oct. 3 — High 89, low 63 The War Eagle and its occupants, myself and my trusty companion, Red, were off and running from Lansing, Iowa, to our island paradise and it was warm enough to wear shorts and sandals. As soon as I reached the island and was greeted by several of my comrades, I started unloading and ferrying gear from the boat through water and muck to the island. Both of my sandals fell apart during this procedure. There would be 15 of us this year: 13 duck hunters and my brother Mike and brother-inlaw Dick Schuster would be fishing. Long story short on the fishing—if they had to eat what they caught they would both be skinnier than me. We build camp and before we even go scouting for ducks, we all sit in a circle around our campfire or something like that and shoot the breeze. Shooting the breeze is something that this gang is very good at. Three hours before dark, I took theWar Eagle and my canoe and went exploring near the Wisconsin shoreline, which is a good 2.5 miles away. There was a lot of shallow water that enforced the decision that I would live out of my canoe this weekend. We camp after dark on the island. There’s never any negativity, just six dogs loving every minute of the island and socialization, and a bunch of guys that — for this exact group Catering • Weddings • Funerals Family Reunions • Company Meals Black River Country Insurance Group, LLC We are looking into the future to better serve your needs today. School Sports Calendar • Auto • Commercial • Farm • Home • Farm Bureau Life Annuities 93304 Tim Voigt, Career Agent 450 Hewett St., Neillsville 715-743-2800 Granton Greenwood Loyal spencer tvoigt@ruralins.com 84607 Ryan Dillenbeck, Career Agent 715-223-2777 102 E. Main St., Thorp www.smithbrosmeats.com Hwy. 13 South • Colby, WI 54421 715-669-5400 rdillenbeck@ruralins.com An Outdoorsman’s Journal: Mississippi River duck hunt 2025 Hello friends, We call it “The Mississippi.” This trip is actually like a religion to the 15 to 23 of us that make it each year and it is all about camaraderie, adventure, and hopefully shooting ducks. My first time to the islands across from Ferryville was in 1971, 54 hunts ago. There is no way I can miss this trip unless there is flooding or maybe if I die. I brought my three stepsons, Kevin, Travis, and Joey, here, and other than Kevin who lives in Alaska, Joey and Travis make it happen year after year. One of Joey’s high school classmates, Grant Wandler, flies in from California. Like I said,“It’s a religion!” Mark Walters anyways — only get together one weekend a year, with a bonus that every one of us is an excellent camp cook. Saturday, Oct. 4 — High 87, low 59 Sometimes I make poor choices. Today’s poor choice was waiting until 9 to change my decision not to shoot hen wood ducks or teal. I was living out of my canoe and pretty proud of myself, as in the dark, I found the spot I had picked out yesterday. Last week I wrote that Red was not being very responsible on retrieving the ducks I dropped while hunting the northern Wisconsin opener. Between that hunt and this one, I worked with Red on my pond, and she was flawless. Today not only did Red retrieve the first duck I dropped, a hen wood duck, but she also swam to an island, found it in very dense willows, and brought it to my hand after a very lengthy retrieve. I’m not saying we are past the bump in the road, but we’re certainly on the right path. Each year on Saturday night at about 11-ish everyone comes to camp and laughs a lot and tells their stories. Other than Travis Dushek and his good buddy Andrew Krizan, there were not a whole lot of duck-whacking stories. These guys got here on Thursday, did some serious scouting, and it paid off. This afternoon Trav and Andrew invited my nephews Trent and Riley Schuster along with“Captain” Troy Ringelstetter and Trent’s golden, Ivy, to follow them to paradise. The boys had a great hunt with ducks and a goose, and it was very nice to see the “we did some whacking” look on their faces tonight. As has been the norm since my dad, the late Robert Walters, started this hunt, Saturday night was even more fun than Friday, and, I guarantee you this, if mankind still exists next October, this gang will be camping on the Mississippi, laughing, and hopefully shooting ducks! Live large while you can! Sunset Venison Processing Friday, Oct. 3 — High 89, low 63 The War Eagle and its occupants, myself and my trusty companion, Red, were off and running from Lansing, Iowa, to our island paradise and it was warm enough to wear shorts and sandals. As soon as I reached the island and was greeted by several of my comrades, I started unloading and ferrying gear from the boat through water and muck to the island. Both of my sandals fell apart during this procedure. There would be 15 of us this year: 13 duck hunters and my brother Mike and brother-inlaw Dick Schuster would be fishing. Long story short on the fishing—if they had to eat what they caught they would both be skinnier than me. We build camp and before we even go scouting for ducks, we all sit in a circle around our campfire or something like that and shoot the breeze. Shooting the breeze is something that this gang is very good at. Three hours before dark, I took theWar Eagle and my canoe and went exploring near the Wisconsin shoreline, which is a good 2.5 miles away. There was a lot of shallow water that enforced the decision that I would live out of my canoe this weekend. We camp after dark on the island. There’s never any negativity, just six dogs loving every minute of the island and socialization, and a bunch of guys that — for this exact group Catering • Weddings • Funerals Family Reunions • Company Meals Black River Country Insurance Group, LLC We are looking into the future to better serve your needs today. School Sports Calendar • Auto • Commercial • Farm • Home • Farm Bureau Life Annuities 93304 Tim Voigt, Career Agent 450 Hewett St., Neillsville 715-743-2800 Granton Greenwood Loyal spencer tvoigt@ruralins.com 84607 Ryan Dillenbeck, Career Agent 715-223-2777 102 E. Main St., Thorp www.smithbrosmeats.com Hwy. 13 South • Colby, WI 54421 715-669-5400 rdillenbeck@ruralins.com
Ethan Cook takes his turn cutting down a piece of the net after Rib Lake’s 55-45 win over Owen-Withee in Saturday’s WIAA Division 5 regional championship game. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
Medford’sWill Daniels, playing for the first time in seven weeks, attacks the middle of New Richmond’s defense early in the first half of Friday’s WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal. The 2025-26 season ended for Daniels and the Raiders with an 86-61 loss. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
Not much thrills Bob Lee of Medford more than operating a sled pulled by his teams of six dogs during the winter racing season. Lee ended his season on Feb. 28 with a second place finish in the nearly 16-mile race at the CopperDog 150. SUBMITTED PHOTO
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok
