By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News
Continuing its trend of hosting comprehensive and educational events, the Utah Division of Natural Resources is teaming up with the Desert Ducks, the Castle Country chapter of the Ducks United Organization, to host a Waterfowl Hunting Clinic on Saturday, Sept. 13.
Brandon Behling from the DNR joined the KOAL newsroom to preview the event and share what attendees can expect from the clinic.
“We want to invite people out that you know might not have the level of expertise that they want with waterfowl hunting or are new to it, or even some of the seasoned veterans that are just looking to sharpen their game a little bit,” said Behling of the event. “We’re just going to put on a clinic to kind of cover all the bases and dive into different aspects of identifying ducks, techniques used with equipment or calling in ducks, just everything about waterfowl.”
Being held at the Desert Lake Waterfowl Management area from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., the clinic aims to inform participants of the intricacies of waterfowl hunting. “Growing up here in Emery County, we would just jump shoot ducks. I started learning about decoys, and I thought you just take a decoy, throw it in the water, and you call it good. I’ve learned that there are actual patterns that you might want to set your ducks up into to make sure they’re coming into land in certain areas. So you can make it as simple as you know, like I said, jump shooting ducks, just you know, rush in a pond, or you know, a creek. But you can also set up, and you know, have blinds, decoys, the whole nine yards.”
Speaking on the collaboration with the Desert Ducks, Behling stated,” They’re gonna be out there with us and help put this on. They’ve got their experts coming. So yeah, it’ll be a good time.”
The DNR is encouraging those wanting to attend to register through Eventbrite. For those who do register through the service, prizes are available: “By registering on Eventbrite, we’re able to gauge how many attendees we’ll have for these events. We have some swag that will be given away. I’m not gonna say what it is, but those that do register will be happy.”
Closing our conversation, Behling stated,” Come out to Desert Lake, the Waterfowl Management Area just outside of Elmo. That’s where we’ll be, and come have a good time with us.”
The DNR’s Waterfowl Hunting Clinic takes place on Saturday, Sept. 13, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Desert Lake Waterfowl Management area. Registration is available online through Eventbrite.