As he often does, 15-year-old Jacob Uphoff of Lincoln used a day off from school last fall to go hunting with his dad. That October day, he completed the Nebraska Duck Slam, making him the first youth to do so this season.
Jacob was excited and surprised to hear the news, his father, Blane, said. His accomplishment comes after years of waterfowl hunting.
“He’s been going to duck blinds with us since he was 2,” Blane Uphoff said. “We’re always planning for the next hunt.”
The Nebraska Duck Slam challenges hunters to harvest a teal of either sex, as well as drakes of three other species: an American wigeon, a mallard and a northern pintail. All ducks must be harvested in Nebraska, and hunters must upload a photo of each harvest at OutdoorNebraska.org/DuckSlam.
To date, 314 hunters — including nine youth — have participated in the challenge. So far, 127 hunters have completed the Duck Slam — 117 Nebraskans and 10 nonresidents.
Jacob persevered despite an “extremely difficult” year for waterfowl hunting, his father said, one in which conditions were often very dry. “One morning he carried our gear in about three-quarters of a mile to the marsh, only to find that the marsh was completely dry,” he said. “But we hunted it.”
Jacob harvested all his birds using a 20-gauge shotgun.