Duck-Hunting Guides Tell All
 Shane
Upchurch
Editor’s Note: Twenty-seven-year-old Shane Upchurch
has guided hunters to ducks on Reelfoot Lake near Tiptonville,
Tennessee, in Tennessee’s northwestern corner
since only 14- years
old. He’s seen some the mistakes duck hunters
make and know how to solve duck-hunting problems. Let’s
listen to the confessions of this duck-hunting guide,
and learn how to solve some of our own duck-hunting
difficulties.
"One of our hunters brought a Chesapeake Bay retriever
to the blind one morning,” Upchurch recalls. “I
told the man before we got in the boat that morning
that I’d heard those dogs were pretty aggressive.
But the man looked at me and said, ‘Oh, no. This
dog has never bit or harmed anybody. He’s a good
dog and will retrieve anything you send him after.’
We were getting in the boat to leave the blind when
for no reason at all this dog bit Billy Blakely on the
arm and then turned around and bit me on the arm. He
started shaking his head back and forth while trying
to drag me out of the boat. Billy jumped up, doubled-up
his fist and hit the
dog right between the eyes to get the dog to turn me
loose. After all four of the dog's legs went out, he
fell flat on his stomach and finally lost his grip.
The man looked around and said, ‘I can't believe
that. That dog has never bit anybody.’ The dog
recovered quickly and sat in the front end of the boat
and didn’t come around us anymore.
“I was hunting with Billy Blakely, another guide
on Reelfoot, one morning, and the weather was cold.
As soon as we got to the blind Billy said, ‘Light
the heater. It’s cold.’ When I lit the heater,
I discovered that a coon or something had been in our
blind and bit a  hole
in the gas line. When I turned the gas on and lit the
stove, the gas shot out of the hole and up Billy Blakely's
leg. Billy ran down to the end of the blind screaming,
‘Push the boat out away from the blind! I’m
jumping in.’ That was the fastest I’d ever
seen that fat boy move. I finally got Billy’s
fire put out before he jumped from the boat.”
To learn more about duck hunting at Bluebank Resort,
call (731) 253-8976 or check out www.bluebankresort.com.
Tomorrow: Jason Craig
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