A quick definition for those not familiar with the duck blind drawing process:

When you attend the duck blind drawing, you put your name in a barrel.  Then, the names are drawn out of the barrel, and you come up to claim your choice of blind sites.  You are allowed to bring your buddies with you, and all of you can “sign on” for the blind.  This gives you a card from the wildlife officers, stating you are the rightful owner of the blind for that particular waterfowl season.  So, to “sign on” to a blind means someone else’s name was drawn, and you joined in with them as part of their group.

Now, when you attend the blind drawing, you’re bound to meet a serial “sign on-er”.  This guy is the ultimate socialite: he knows tons of people and tends to float from group to group before the drawing begins.  Then, when a group he’s socialized with has someone drawn, he magically appears and asks to sign-on as well.  Heck, I’ve even seen people approach groups they don’t know as the group is walking to the table to select their blind!

Disclaimer: There is a big difference between a serial sign on-er and someone with pre-arranged setups.  Legitimate deals between groups, buddies, etc. are not the serial sign on-er.  You’ll know one when you see one.

These are the folks who show up to the duck blind drawing absolutely convinced they’ll get drawn for a good blind.  They probably bought their sure-fire mega-millions ticket, along with a couple of scratch-offs, on the way to the drawing!  How do you identify the super optimist?  They’ll show up to the drawing dressed in their best brush-busting outfit.  Their truck will be packed with bug spray, several forms of brush-cutting utensils, and normally they’ll bring their boat to the drawing.  I mean, they’ve got to be prepared to go straight to the blind after the drawing, right?

You’ve got to love the super-prepared guy at the duck blind drawing.  He’s got it all:

• At least the last 20 years worth of blind draw order, along with estimates of ducks killed in each blind each year
• Several Google Maps photos of each blind from different years with different food and water situations
• Map of the lake with blind locations, names of farmers with adjacent property, and the crops planted on the nearby refuge and farm fields
• Laptop with Wifi hotspot for quick searches needed during the drawing
• A list of cell phone numbers for other groups at the drawing, so everyone can coordinate as the drawing goes along, and share info during the season to add to the stockpile of data

Basically, this guy has it down to a science, and you want him on your side!

Over the past decade or so, the dog trainer has emerged as a more common personality attending the duck blind drawing.  These guys always bring their main dog to the drawing for more socialization training.  Often, they’ll have a litter of pups up for sale, and will bring them to the drawing for socialization and marketing!  These are not your grocery-store parking lot pups either.  No sir, these pups are highly bred, specially designed hunting machines with an amazing pedigree.  The dog trainer will throw around terms like HRCH, MH, FC AFC, and SRS when describing his dog and pups.

Once again, this is a guy you want on your team.  You’re attending the blind drawing in hopes of getting a spot to hunt and kill waterfowl.  Therefore, you hope to need to pick up the downed game.  If this guy knows his stuff, and his dog is trained right in obedience and hunting, then you’ll lose a lot less birds with him in your blind.