Duck hunting action, bonding keeps outdoorswomen warm

Published 2:00 pm Monday, January 29, 2024

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a series of stories on women in the Teche Area who hunt and love being in the great outdoors, a series featuring Anna Baquet, then Lauren Gonsoulin, followed today by Katy Templeton and Kate Ditch, and then Ondina Louviere.

There’s nothing like a duck for a family get-together.

The proof was in the frosty air the morning of Jan. 15 in the marsh near Pecan Island, where teenage duck hunters Kathryn Templeton, 16, and Kate Ditch, 17, both of New Iberia, enjoyed a daddy daughter day with Parker Templeton and David Ditch. That 15 ducks were shot down (11 were recovered) was lagniappe as far as the high school students are concerned.

“I think it’s a good bonding experience for me and my dad. It was just bonding for us and our dads,” Templeton said a few days later. “Yeah. It was our idea. We actually asked them. We were prepared and (for the most part) we were warm.”

Ditch agreed and said about being in the duck blind that Monday morning, “It’s a place I’ve always grown up in. It’s comfortable, to me, something me and my dad can do together. It’s so peaceful and beautiful to be out there with people you love.”

Templeton’s dad, Ditch said, was eager to spend a daddy daughter day with Katy. Her dad was just as enthusiastic about getting outdoors with his daughter, she said.

Kathryn and Kate have been friends since, well, since a very young age, Ditch said.

“Basically, since we were born. Our parents are, like, best friends,” she said about Parker and Carrie Templeton and David and Jessica Ditch.

Ditch is a senior doubles tennis player at Catholic High School who plans to major in biology at LSU. She has hunted ducks and deer with her father since she was young.

Templeton, a CHS junior who plays soccer with the Lady Panthers, said she has hunted with her dad since she was little. They mostly hunt deer in Texas.

“I started shooting ducks last year. I would say duck hunting is more entertaining and, like, more exciting,” she said, noting she does fish “a little bit” around Grand Isle.

They are both on the Cheer Team at Catholic High School.

The Templetons traveled to the duck hunting site that Monday morning with the Ditches, who have a family camp at Pecan Island.

“We woke up about 3:30 and went to pick up the Templetons. We got to the landing about 5:45,” Ditch said.

The foursome of duck hunters rode across the marsh in the predawn darkness to the duck blind in a Gator-Tail, then set up inside the duck blind and waited darkness. The decoys already were positioned on the water.

“It was just above freezing but it felt freezing,” Templeton said, noting it was 38 degrees about the time the sun rose over the horizon.

They were a little warmer than usual thanks to Dr. Eric Elias, a New Iberia native and all-around outdoorsman, who loaned them a heater for the special trip, Ditch said.

“We needed that. That kept us warm. Our hands were freezing,” she said.

Both high school student/athletes, wearing camo outerwear, had their 20-gauge shotguns at the ready. There was enough action to keep them on full alert for approximately three hours.

“It was great. We saw every kind of duck there was flying over. My dad was calling them,” Templeton said. “Some would see the boat and fly the opposite direction. The ones who didn’t see it, we got ’em! Any time my dad would call, they’d come in.”

“I said, ‘Mr. Parker, keep calling!’ Some were flying high and he said those were too far but the ones that flew down, we were ready here,” Templeton’s lifelong friend said.

Did they outshoot the dads?

“Definitely not. We just have to get better at it … More practice,” Templeton said, noting her shotgun accounted for two ducks.

They stood shoulder to shoulder with the men during passes by the ducks and got their share, according to Ditch, who gunned down four of the 15 ducks.

“We kept them (dads) on their toes, though. They were getting nervous we were catching up,” the CHS tennis player said with a chuckle.

It was more than fun, both young women said. And a budding rivalry may have been born.

“I think we’re challenging our boyfriends. Show them we hunt too. Show them who’s better,” Ditch said with a chuckle.

They came away from the duck hunt with photos to cherish but more importantly memories made along the way.

And both were hopeful to get in another trip before the 2023-24 season wrapped up in the West Zone.