How Duck Camp
Helps People Get
to the Wildest Places

At Duck Camp, the pursuit starts well before landing a fish or pulling the trigger, and sometimes you may not get to do either. Here, we believe you can’t just sit around and wait for adventure to come to you. The world is wide and full of adventure. You have to get out there, stay out there and make the most of every second. 

It's sitting in a duck blind before shooting light, observing the environment wake up around you, the salty air ripping through your hair as the sun peeks up over the horizon. Letting your bird dog out of its kennel and seeing its  pure excitement; pulling out just the right amount of line and hearing the drag on your reel. 

For us, a day spent on the water or in the field—whatever camp you’re in—is a day well spent. Anything else is just a bonus.

Duck Camp gear has been tested from the mangroves of the Florida Keys to the marshes of south Louisiana. Our wool layers breathe, and will hold up day after day and through the elements. Performance drirelease is moisture-wicking and dries four times faster than cotton. Softshell bibs are built for stealth, warmth, and protection in even the wettest climes. Everything we make is expertly designed, made to last and tested by some of the best in the world. It will stand up to the toughest conditions, but also happily sit down beside a fire and drink a few cold ones if that’s more your speed. Because we know that the best part of hunting isn't necessarily the pull of the trigger: it's the gathering—it’s the base camp. 

LACEY KELLY
FISHING GUIDE AND DUCK CAMP AMBASSADOR
Yankeetown, Florida

“It's like fishing in Jurassic Park. You go from marsh, to beaches, to palm trees and cabbage palms. There are hardly any homes out on the coastline; you can drive for miles in your boat and not see a house on the water. I love Homosassa because you have some of the best site fishing—it has a ton of natural springs that flow into the bay there, so it's crystal clear. But it is a scary place to run your boat. Really rugged limestone, table rocks—everything wants to hurt your boat when you're driving out there. You have to be pretty brave to guide there. Florida is definitely the outback of America: everything wants to eat you, kill you, sting you, bite you, chew you back you up and spit you back out. Tarpon are gigantic and migratory. You only have a short window from April to the middle of July really to fish for them. An average fish I’m fighting is 120, 130 pounds. You're seeing these eyeballs. You're seeing the inside of his bucket mouth. And then all of a sudden he inhales the fly and it's complete chaos and pandemonium.”

Lacey’s recommendations:

Tarpon Lodge
Bokeelia, FL

For a lot of us that live out here on Pine Island, it's the watering hole where everybody ends up. I might not have seen a guide friend in 10 years, but all of a sudden we're rafted up at the bar just catching up and trading stories. The bartenders know what I want. They can tell if I'm hung over or not. They know me that well. And I always get a cheeseburger.

Cabbage Key
Pineland, FL

Another special watering hole. You have to bump over there by boat. It's actually known as the place where Jimmy Buffett wrote “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” I've been going there my entire life, starting with fishing tournaments since I was a young captain. 

Florida Cracker Monkey Bar
Homosassa, FL

This is where I pick up all my clients—it’s a great place to grab a pizza and drinks after we get off the water and celebrate landing a tarpon on the boat that day. I bring my dog there all the time—Billy is a well-known staple there. The bartenders feed her snacks. 

There's a common misconception that hunters and anglers deplete rather than enrich environments. In reality, we are a group of people championing conservation and deepening our connection to the landscapes and wildlife we pursue.

We take pride in leaving the land and waterways better than we found them and ensuring that these species are healthy and thriving for many seasons to come. We are advocates for local and national conservation efforts and are committed to sharing these values with the outdoors men and women who will utilize the same lands and waterways that we have.

"To conserve is to preserve the land with the future in mind. As a guide, my passion is found beneath the water, and all that flourishes around it. My time on the water is as intimate as a prayer with God. At heart, I relate back to my cowboying days. I've never seen cattle grow on dirt, and l've never seen fish thrive in mud. It's up to the "cowboys" to manage our "ranch" and preserve the grasses and fight all things that get in the way of its growth. I intentionally practice catch and release with my clients, not because I have to, but because l've never seen a business stay open by killing its own employees." — Owen Gayler, Duck Camp Ambassador

ORGANIZATIONS OF NOTE 

Atchafalaya Basinkeeper

A commercial fisherman for 16 years, Dean Wilson was a first-hand witness to the destruction of the Basin by regulators and private interests. He founded Atachfalaya Basinkeeper as a way to protect, restore, and advocate for Louisiana’s swamps, lakes, rivers, streams and bayous for future generations. 

Captains for Clean Water 

In 2016, a few Florida fishing guides set out to increase public awareness after witnessing the consequences of the state’s water mismanagement. Now, they work to advance science-based solutions, empowering people to hold elected officials accountable and speak up for water quality.

Sim Whatley’s grandfather was an outdoorsman and they went on adventures together. “As a kid we’d go crabbing in the summer and duck hunting in the winter, kneeboard in places like the Tickfaw River,” he says. To this day, Whatley has tools and different pieces of wisdom passed down to him that, at the time, were hand-me-downs too. “These are things that are meant to last not just your lifetime, but are hopefully handed down to last someone else's,” Whatley says. 

When Whatley began building Duck Camp, there weren't many brands focusing on the environment innate to his own experiences. The Gulf Coast’s can be pretty harsh and treacherous. “The summer is really hot and humid. The marshes are tough to navigate, and can be scary because of the mud and alligators,” he says. There’s also the hurricanes. That doesn’t matter. The people in the Gulf Coast are resilient. “It just keeps rebuilding.”  

Despite how tough it can be out there, the Gulf Coast is called the Sportsman's Paradise for a reason. “That is representative of all the opportunities for hunters and anglers and general outdoors people,” Whatley says. “If you look at the history of duck hunting in Louisiana, some of the oldest clubs—where it's done in a way that I don't think it’s done anywhere else—are in Southwest Louisiana. It can be waiters in tuxedos serving you breakfast before a duck hunt. Or, a single-wide trailer without electricity that you can only get to by boat.” 

Duck Camp’s philosophy is about building products with climate and pursuit at the top of the mind. “What we make honors the idea of turning off the paved road onto the dirt road, or getting out of your car and into a boat,” he says. “The spirit of the people [in the Gulf Coast] compels them to explore it, to think of creative ways to get into and out of it.”

Duck Camp is all about getting to the wild places.

Shop Duck Camp gear at Duckcamp.com.