There aren’t a hell of a lot of hunting themed songs out there. Even in the catalogs of the less-than-famous troubadours of rural America that I prefer, hunting is a topic not often broached.
One of my favorite fall disks is Adam Carroll’s Lookin Out the Screen Door.
There’s a tune on that disk that might just be the best bird-hunting song I’ve ever heard. Of course, it’s not really about bird hunting at all. But I like it anyway.
It’s called Errol’s Song and it’s one of my favorite pieces of musical poetry.
Selected lyrics from Errol’s Song, by Adam Carroll
There’s coffee and biscuits on the stove in the kitchen
There’s a crack in the ceiling and a screened in front door
And as the fog starts to settle on the banks of Lake Arthur
I can still taste the whiskey from the night just before
It’s the Crown Royal whiskey from the night just before
And it’s hard to get up at five in the morning
Put your guns, put your shells, put your wine in a sack
We look like some militia in our boots and our camo
With a bird dog named Milo, he’s asleep in the back
He held my hand when my boots got too heavy
With the mud from the rice fields coming to my behind
We set out the decoys in the dark on the levy
And we walked through the graveyard of the rusted combines
Of course, there are other hunting songs. Ted Nugent has written more than a few, but personally I think Ted Nugent is a douchebag and a poser who’s bad for hunting. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to Damn Yankees (it was the 80’s after all.) But the fact remains, Nugent hunts over bait and inside high fences.
As far as I’m concerned that makes him an asshole of the highest order, not fit to talk about hunting much less sing about it.
We could use a musical ambassador for hunting, I nominate Adam Carroll solely on the basis of Errol’s Song, but I’m willing to consider others if you got ’em.
Mouthful of Feathers 
I agree about Ted “Dickwad” Nugent. What a tool. Here’s a couple good hunting songs I like:
Brenn Hill, Meet Me in McCall
James McMurtry, Lights of Cheyenne
Dude, I can’t believe you’re baggin’ on the ‘Nuge. Guys like Uncle Ted, that Brock Lesnar ultimate macho-rage fighter guy and the Boner Collector fella are the wave of hunting’s future, man. So just pump yer fist, go triple the limit on ducks or vaporize the closest high-fenced photogenic livestock and accept it, bro…
+1 the Nugent sentiment, and +1 as well to Adam Carroll’s song.
While not as bucolic, Pat Green (who kind of mutated into a tool, by the way) has one called “West Texas Holiday.”
And for pure humor, you can’t beat Chris Wall’s “Something to Shoot:”
I was born and raised way out west
But the thing I like ’bout livin’ here best
It ain’t the mountains, the valleys, the hats or the boots
It’s havin’ plenty of guns and something to shoot
Chad, I actually spent the weekend perfecting my fist pump in anticipation of the coming season.
Scamp, too true about Pat Green. I used to pay a pittance to see him play in College Station back when he was a no name and always enjoyed the show. He got a little famous and turned into kind of a dick, though not as much as Uncle Ted.
Love the nominations, a couple of which you can check out here,
Something to shoot by Chris Wall, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNYvPO70KAE
Meet me in McCall by Brenn Hill, http://www.myspace.com/brennhill/music/songs/meet-me-in-mccall-13273618
Damn, and all this time I thought Cat Scratch Fever was about cougar hunting…
I found this site a little late, but I can verify the great duck hunting around Lake Arthur and Gueydan, LA. My Aunt and Uncle lived on the banks of Lake Arthur and my father was born and raised and is buried at Gueydan.
The best duck huntin in the U.S.