Three things to do

Three months before the hunt: Buy a shotgun (optional).

We will have loaner guns available, and it’s better to use one of them than to rush to buy whatever gun you can get, just for the sake of having it.

If you want to buy a gun - especially if you live in California - you need to start looking now. You may not be able to buy the perfect gun at the first store you visit, and there is a 10-day waiting period while the state completes your background check. You also need time to familiarize yourself with the gun before the hunt.

You have a lot of choices in shotguns, and not all of them are suited to duck hunting. Shotguns also work best when they fit your body size - they are about as one-size-fits-all as shoes.

If you’re unfamiliar with shotguns, this one-hour webinar about choosing the right shotgun is a good place to start learning what you need to know.

Two months before the hunt: Practice shooting.

• If you have no experience shooting a shotgun, we recommend taking a shooting lesson from a certified instructor. Instructors can be found at many shooting ranges, and many have shotguns you can use if you don’t have your own. Search on the internet for “skeet near me.”

  We will have shooting instruction the Friday before our hunts, but taking a lesson and practicing ahead of time will increase your chances of success.

• If you have some shotgun experience, shooting skeet will prepare you best for duck hunting because it simulates the many paths that ducks might take flying to, or past, your blind. The flight path determines how much you “lead” the target. Learn more by watching this video.

  Trap is helpful for basic shotgun skills, but not as helpful for learning to lead the target because all the targets head straight, or nearly straight, away - little lead is required. Sporting clays is great, but can be too tricky for beginners, because it’s designed more to be challenging than to prepare you to hunt. But both are better than nothing!

  The more you shoot, the better you’ll do on the hunt, so go as often as you can.

One month before the hunt: Get your license.

If you have never held a hunting license before, you must first take a 10-hour hunter education course, which you can do online. Do not wait until last minute to do this - if this isn’t complete prior to the hunt, you can’t get a license and you can’t hunt - no exceptions.

Required license items for California residents:

• Hunting license ($59)

• Federal Duck Stamp ($25)

• CA Duck Validation ($38)

• HIP Validation (free)

Required license items for non-residents:

• Two-day non-resident hunting license ($59)

• HIP Validation (free)

• Federal Duck Stamp ($25)

• CA Duck Validation ($38)

(Note: If you already have a Federal Duck Stamp you use for hunting in your home state, you can use the same stamp here - you do not need to buy another.)

Federal Duck Stamps can be purchased at many “hook & bullet” stores, some U.S. Post Offices, and starting in mid-July, online from Black Heritage Hunt partner California Waterfowl.

Want to do a little hunting on your own ahead of time?

We urge you to find a mentor because there’s so much to learn! If you don’t know anyone, you might meet up with someone through our private Facebook group.

But if you’re intrepid enough to go it alone, we recommend this resource for new hunters.