Decoys

Decoys

I love duck hunting. Back in the day when it was legal to use lead shot in my twelve-gauge shot gun, many a feathered waterfowl gave it’s life during hunting season. Bluebills, teal, mallards, and canvasbacks to name a few were lured into shotgun range over my decoys.

It all started in northern Minnesota. A friend who lived in Ely invited me to join him duck hunting. Each morning we arrived at our secluded lake before sunrise, set out our decoys and hid in our blind made of tree branches and cattails. Just as the sun came over the horizon, we heard ducks quacking and wings flapping. That’s when the fun began.

I have hunted ducks in Minnesota and Montana. Getting up early, traveling to the lake, setting out decoys and waiting for dawn were all part of the excitement of the hunt. The smell of gun oil, burnt powder and cool autumn air were the primeval aroma for man on the hunt. Away from civilization and one with nature; it doesn’t get much better than that.

I don’t hunt ducks anymore, but I do collect decoys. They are life size wood carvings of a mallard, a loon, a canvasback and a bluebill. They sit in my office collecting dust and are a constant reminder of those days sitting in the cold, wet blind waiting for that first shot.

I leave you with a short story. I was hunting ducks with a friend on Lake Helena outside Helena, Montana. At first light, with the decoys set out, a flock of bluebills came in fast and were set to land. I spotted one duck and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened so I shot again. Nothing! One more shot that emptied the gun chamber. As the smoke and fog cleaned, I realized I shot one of my decoys: dead as a duck!

There’s no season like duck season.