What’s your story? Every hunter has one; some may be more outlandish than others, but all hunters have a story about how their first hunt. About that moment when an internal light clicked on and they felt connected to the land.

One man’s story began with his grandfather in the Russian far east:

Civil war is not something that most people think about, and even fewer have experienced it first hand. It's often a time of significant change, of upheaval. These wars can bring about times when basic human rights are removed overnight, when lands are seized, and when firearms ordered to be given up under the threat of imprisonment… My grandfather was a man who wanted nothing more than to experience something that was ingrained in his DNA, that hunting heritage he inherited in his youth. War couldn't steal that from him…

Robert Kroger’s grandfather helped ignite a passion for hunting within him, and he’s proud of his hunting heritage.

… What's your story? Think back to the person who took you for your first hunt or to the reason why you picked up a pair of waders. Who was the influencer that got you out of that warm bed and into the numbing cold water? What was the reason you went that dark morning to go sit on the side of a pond, river, or frozen puddle to experience your first flight? Do you remember the indescribable sense that first time you watched a duck lock down and slowly, gracefully, almost swiveling multiple degrees at a time, come down towards you? Those experiences are what ignited something within you. That's what my grandfather desired most: to experience one more time that experience that drives all of us to those early morning stand sits. I can imagine him waiting for the approaching sunrise, his anticipation for that first pass of ducks on the wind, as their wings whistled through the air. What I would have given to be with him in that moment. Those moments are what continues our heritage. Those moments are what continues our waterfowling traditions.

We may be knee deep in spring, but soon enough we’ll be knee deep in green timber, waiting on the sunrise and that first pass of ducks on the wind. 

May 23, 2018 -

Read Robert’s full story at Greenhead.