Growing up hunting in the sisterhood

By Michael Pearce | The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.) • Published October 31, 2008

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WICHITA, Kan. — The Davis sisters alternated between giggling and bickering as they shared doughnuts and driving duties late Saturday morning.

Three hours earlier, Hailey, 14, and Holly, 12, shared a scene that’s very common for them.

As the sun rose on Saturday’s opening of late zone duck season, the girls were cradling shotguns, one on each side of their father, Jeff.

They’ve already sampled a wide range of hunts.

"I really like pheasant hunting the best," Hailey said as she waited for ducks. "I like moving from field to field and the walking... and when everybody yells when they see a bird."

Though she’s a big fan of spring turkey hunting, Holly said deer hunting’s her favorite.

"I like just sitting there," she said, "watching all of the other stuff, like turkeys, while you’re hunting."

Until the past few years the girls were mostly tag-along partners with their dad on hunts ranging from local doves to Rocky Mountain elk.

"For years they walked on pheasant hunts and in (2006) I let them carry empty shotguns," Jeff Davis said. "Last year they got to put one shell in their gun. They both got their first pheasants."

The sisters shoot twin 20 gauge semi-autos their dad purchased when they were about 4 years old. The guns were recently custom-fitted for the girls.

"We’d been just getting by with short-stocked guns," Jeff Davis said. "I figured they were big enough to get going right."

Saturday’s trip to a private wetland gave the guns plenty of use.

A half hour before legal shooting hours, the girls split the chores of helping their dad spread decoys and keeping a hand on Sage, their year-old black lab.

Wound tight on her first duck hunt, Sage never saw a tossed decoy she didn’t want to chase.

With the legal shooting time came the first flights of the day. Several early flights of blue- and green-winged teal were in and out of range before the girls could get a close shot.

A flight of ringbills gave a low pass and dad dropped a bird. Sage handled her first waterfowl fetch with more enthusiasm than the girls on Christmas morning.