Happy, Happy, Happy: My Life and Legacy as the Duck Commander

want a fish fry,” I said. “We’re going to have us a fish fry. How many people you got coming?”
    I reached over and grabbed the rope on the net and told them to keep their boat right there. “Let’s see what y’all were fixing to catch,” I said.
    I raised my net up and looked in it.
    “Whoo! Y’all would have done pretty good,” I said.
    By then I’m sure they figured I was certifiably nuts.
    “I’ve got a lot of fish in here,” I said. “Get your boat over here.”
    They started paddling and were watching me, probably to make sure I wasn’t going to shoot them. I dumped the fish from my net into my boat and told them to bring their boat closer. I began throwing even more fish into their boat.
    “What about this big white perch here?” I asked them. “I’m probably supposed to throw him back. What do y’all think?”
    “Nah, we’ll keep ’im,” one of them said.
    The fish kept hitting the bottom of the men’s boat, and they kept watching me throw them over. Finally one of them protested mildly, saying, “I think that’s probably enough.”
    “Look, you start frying fish, and kinfolk will start showing up who haven’t been around in months,” I told them. “Let’s make sure you have enough.”
    So I threw all of my fish into their boat.
    “Now! Y’all got plenty,” I said.
    “Yes, sir, that’s plenty,” one of them replied.
    “Now, here’s the deal,” I told them. “Why steal something if you can get it for free?”
    “Man, look, we’re sorry,” one of them said.
    “I understand,” I said. “Look, I live right over there. From now on, just come up there if you aren’t catching anything. I’llgive y’all the fish. That way, you won’t have to steal. You’ll get your fish. You’re happy. Everybody’s happy, happy, happy.”
    I let the net back down into the river and said, “Good to see y’all.”
    The men pulled away in their boat and started motoring down the river. They had plenty of fish. They were looking back at me, probably thinking, Is this guy for real? Maybe they remembered I had a shotgun and were about half-scared, but I never saw them again.
    After that episode, everyone quit stealing from me. Every time I saw someone eyeing my nets, I’d offer ’em free fish. I was giving away less fish than what was previously being stolen from me.
    I reread the texts from Romans 12 and thought, You know what? I get it . What the Almighty is saying is that no matter how sorry and low-down somebody might be, everybody’s worth something. But you’re never going to turn them if you’re as evil as they are. If you’re good to them, you might appeal to their conscience—if they have any conscience. Now, there are some people who might be so mean you probably can’t be good to them. But most people are perplexed after someone is good to them when he should have been mean. Most of the time, they end up giving up their evil ways.
    The Almighty was right—as He always is. The incident onthe river had a profound impact on me. From that point forward, I wanted to help others, whether it was by sharing the gospel and baptizing them, giving them fish, or assisting them in any way possible. Over the past twenty years, my sons and I have literally led thousands of people to Jesus Christ. Alan, Jase, and Willie are ordained ministers and attended seminary at White’s Ferry Road Church. Often, after one of us speaks at a church or somewhere else, as many as one hundred people will come forward, expressing their desires to become Christians. Many visitors to my house walk down the hill with us to be baptized at the boat launch—sometimes even at night, with car headlights illuminating the scene.

    What the Almighty is saying is that no matter how sorry and low-down somebody might be, everybody’s worth something.

    One of the first opportunities I had to speak to a large crowd was at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans in the early 1990s. I was invited to speak and demonstrate duck calls during a hunting and fishing show. I had a crowd of about one thousand people listening to me, and I blew my calls and gave them some hunting tips. Then I reached into my bag and pulled out a Bible. I told them, “Folks, while I’m here, I think I’m gonna preach you a little sermon.” I thought I owed it to them to share the gospel.
    “I’m standing under a sign that says, ‘Budweiser is the kingof beers,’ and everybody’s got their beers here today,” I told them.