2025 DU Member Photo Contest

2025 Ducks Unlimited Member Photo Contest presented by Drake Waterfowl

Overall Category

Winner: Pit Blind Perspective

Clayton Walker - Wickliffe, Kentucky

Labrador retriever in pit blind during a hunt. Photo by Clayton Walker

The first year can be pivotal in a dog’s development, as Clayton Walker can attest; he says his yellow Lab, Stoney, gained a wealth of experience this past season. Walker’s winning submission to this year’s DU Member Photo Contest is a snapshot from that eventful season.

Walker was hunting near Henderson, Kentucky, when he captured this photo of Stoney poking his head from a dog box, which was mounted to a pit blind. “This was his first time hunting out of a dog box, so there was a learning curve,” Walker says. “As the morning started, he would only poke his nose out a little, but once he realized we were hunting ducks, he would pop his whole head out to mark birds.”

Since this was Stoney’s first season, Walker devoted some time to documenting his retriever’s many “firsts.” But of all the pictures he took during the season, this one was his favorite.

“This hunt was different in so many ways, including the fact that we were hunting over 26 dozen full-body decoys,” Walker says. “There was a little bit of snow, and with the decoys behind him and the good light, I just snapped this picture with my phone.”

While Walker has a digital camera and video equipment, he says this was just a perfect moment that his phone allowed him to capture quickly. The recognition that he has received for this image has him planning to get more involved with photography next year.

“People have always told me I was pretty good at shooting photos. Maybe this is the justification that I needed to do more,” Walker admits. “It’s a great honor, and it’s really cool to have Stoney in the magazine. It reminds me of how lucky I am to have him.”

Equipment: Apple iPhone 14 Pro

Runner-Up: King of the Bay

Rick Lewis - Alameda, California

As a wildlife photographer who focuses on ducks, Rick Lewis lives in what would be considered a target-rich environment. He captured this stunning image of a canvasback drake stretching its wings in an area known locally as “the lagoons.”

“I am enamored with waterfowl and spend many hours in the field looking at and taking photos of them,” Lewis says. “The lagoons, which aren’t too far from my house and right along San Francisco Bay, have a great walking path, which offers close-up views of wintering waterfowl. That’s where I got this canvasback shot.”

Lewis isn’t a duck hunter, but he is an avid DU supporter and has been for nearly 40 years. His photos have been published in several state, federal, and nongovernment organization magazines and websites over the years.

He doesn’t consider himself a professional photographer, but he takes pride in the quality of his photography.

“I enjoy getting each issue of Ducks Unlimited, and seeing this image in the magazine will be an honor,” Lewis says. “I think what really stands out about this image is that it exudes movement and energy. Photography is catching something in stillness, and yet this image captures the movement. And, of course, canvasbacks are one my favorite waterfowl species.”

Equipment: Canon 7D Mark II with a 150-600mm lens

Waterfowl Hunting Category

Winner: Floating the Fog

Nathan Howe - Natick, Massachusetts

Hunter and retriever in a boat. By Nathan Howe

Early October in the Northeast is well known for big swings in weather. The morning Nathan Howe shot this image was no different. As Howe and his hunting partner John Keating launched their boats into the Charles River and set up for the hunt, a thick fog blanketed the entire river.

“As legal shooting light came around, we could hear the ducks, their wings overhead and all around us, but we couldn’t see them at all,” Howe explains. “They had no idea we were there, but we couldn’t see them to shoot either. So, we just sat there and enjoyed the morning.”

As the pair picked up decoys and began to make their way back to the boat ramp, Howe, drifting behind Keating in his kayak, noticed that the fog was beginning to break.“I reached into the kayak and grabbed my phone and started snapping photos as he and his dog, Beau, floated in front of the sun,” he says. “I never even looked at the photos until I got back to the truck.”

This particular hunting spot has been pretty good to Howe, considering that he shot a banded mallard drake there nearly one year to the day before he captured this photo.“I thought it would be cool to share that memory with a broader community,” Howe says. “I assumed a lot of people would appreciate the photo if they hunt, or if they don’t, or if they fish. It’s just a good photo of what hunting represents. Even though we didn’t shoot any ducks, it was a great experience.”

Equipment: Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max

RUNNER-UP:
Jacob Brown - Vestavia Hills, Alabama

Flock of waterfowl in sunset. Photo by Jacob Brown

Waterfowl Category

Winner: Spring-Time Cinnamon

Dave Golding - Napa, California

Dave Golding gave up waterfowl hunting nearly 10 years ago, but his passion for being in the marshes and wetlands near his home in Napa, California, hasn’t diminished. While hiking with his wife on public property, Golding noticed several cinnamon teal using a small impoundment. He put a plan together to come back and photograph them on the next clear morning.

“I do a lot of hiking in that area, and when I saw those cinnamons, I knew I was going to come back with my camera,” Golding says. “It’s a pretty small pond, and I sat at one end with the sun at my back all camouflaged up. I got a series of shots of pairs and this single. That specific shot was taken very early in the morning, during the ‘golden hour,’ so the light was perfect.”

Golding explains that his passion for waterfowl has grown even more in recent years, thanks to digital photography. “Years ago, I tried to get into photography with a 35mm camera,” he says. “When I got the roll of 36 prints developed, I threw 34 of them away. Then I woke up the next day and threw the other two away. But, when digital cameras came out, I got interested in getting back into it. Now, I display my photos at a local gallery and post them on Instagram.”

Golding’s daughter is an active committee member with the Napa DU Chapter, and Golding’s original intention was to get a good shot to auction off at the banquet. Then he saw the announcement for the DU photo contest posted on social media and decided to submit the image. “I’m happy to hear the shot was chosen as the Waterfowl Winner,” he says. “I told my wife, ‘I get the same thrill shooting images of waterfowl as I did from hunting, but it’s even better because I don’t even have to wash my hands when I’m done.’”

Equipment: Canon 7D Mark II with a 100-400mm lens

RUNNER-UP:
Trey Knight - Charlotte, North Carolina

Retriever Category

Winner: Fetch Focus

Jack Rickabaugh - Spring Hill, Kansas

Labrador door retriever on a hunt. By Jack Rickabaugh

“Duck hunting has changed for me ever since I got my own dog,” explains Jack Rickabaugh, who has been waterfowl hunting for more than a decade. “Good dog work is the best, and this dog was super obedient, worked like a champ, and could flat-out hunt. But it wasn’t my dog.”

On this cloudy day in November, Rickabaugh was helping out a friend who is an outfitter in eastern Kansas. Rickabaugh spends a few days every season joining the guides and clients on hunts to take pictures and share them with the owner. The dog in the image is Milo, owned by Ross Bell of Wilson, Arkansas.

“It’s a great opportunity to shoot photos exclusively, and I just give them all to him for his Instagram account or whatever he might need,” Rickabaugh says.

He picked up photography in college as he and his hunting partner found that shooting images of ducks and geese in the spring was a fantastic opportunity to extend their season. Being chosen as the Retriever Winner is another step in his growth as a photographer.

Rickabaugh says he is a huge fan of the photographers in Ducks Unlimited and is honored to have one of his images published in the same magazine. “I see names like Doug Steinke, Lee Kjos, Ed Wall, and others, and it’s great to be included,” he says. “It’s definitely one of the better photos I’ve taken, with the water coming off the dog’s tail, and it will be great to see it in the magazine.”

Equipment: Canon 5D with a 70-200mm lens

RUNNER-UP:
Dustin LeNorman - Huntsville, Texas