2026 Duck Hunt

January 3, 2026

Davis, North Carolina

This weekend started with Drew and marine veteran Daniel Smith enjoying some private duck hunting on Thursday (1/1) and Friday (1/2).  Great laughs were had but the birds just didn’t cooperate.  The rest of the group, four (4) veterans and one (1) youth, showed up Friday night for a one day guided duck hunt with Jeff Salter of Hunting Quarters Guide Service in Davis, North Carolina.  The weekend centered around  started out with a shrimp boil where the group met and enjoyed good laughs with each other.  The next day everyone woke up to meet Jeff at the Jim Dandy gas station in Davis, NC.  From there the group drove a short distance to load up on Jeff’s skiff for the short ride across the Core Sound.

Core Sound in North Carolina is North Carolina’s premier destination of waterfowl, specifically, and is particularly renowned for massive flocks of redheads in the Pamlico Sound area. Hunters utilize marsh and stake blinds from Cedar Island to Ocracoke to target redheads, often alongside bluebills, bufflehead, and pintails, numerous guides call this water home; however, all the water is for public use.  Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge and the area surrounding it offer a unique waterfowl hunting opportunity.  The area is know as “Down East” and has its own style of life.

Down East refers to the rural waterfront towns east of Beaufort, beginning at the North River Bridge. These towns include Bettie, Otway, Straits, Harkers Island, Gloucester, Marshallberg, Smyrna, Williston, Davis, Stacy, Masontown, Sea Level, Atlantic, and Cedar Island. The name, Down East, originates from a nautical term, referring to sailing downwind and east from Beaufort to navigate around Cape Lookout. The area is famous for its unique “Hoi Toider” (High Tider) accent, a remnant of Elizabethan English.  Known for its rich maritime heritage, including boat building and decoy carving, the area offers a slow-paced lifestyle, expansive salt marshes, and access to Cape Lookout National Seashore. The area offers many activities and attractions from historic towns and fishing villages to wooden ship building and the modern yacht and offshore sport fishing boat companies.

The Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center and the Cape Lookout National Seashore Headquarters both call Down East home, along with the Cedar Island Ferry terminal, which is known as the gateway to Ocracoke Island.