Final Serenade - 1/27/06 Waterfowl Hunt

It's usually a bittersweet day. As much as I love to hunt, there's always a little bit of joy in the ending of the season. It started back in September with doves, then geese and bow hunting whitetails. Now that I think about it, it started much earlier if you count preparing stand locations, working on food plots, turkey hunting back in April---good grief, this hunting business is hard work! And don't get me started on fishing...
We decided to finish up at one of Mark W.'s favorite lakes. Keith W. was on board and my youngest boy, Zane, was gonna make his inaugural waterfowl trip. After gathering all our accouterments (and a ton of snacks) Zane and I picked up Keith and headed to meet Mark at the lake. Mark had already launched his skiff, procured a location, set out his decoys and was returning to pick us up when we arrived. Don't you love hunting with guys like that?

It was a windy afternoon so when we got to our spot several decoys needed to be relocated. Zane got a real kick out of seeing the fake ducks being thrown into the water and was ecstatic to get to throw one himself. Set modifications complete, we headed to the blind.
We'd only been sitting down a minute or so when Zane remembered the brown sack in my blind bag carrying all the goodies. "Daddy, I'm hungry," he said staring in the direction of my bag. Out came the oatmeal cookies, goldfish (not your run of the mill hunting snack), pretzels and peanut butter crackers. Bottled water and apple juice were next, followed by some Christmas candy that had somehow survived the holidays. I was stumped as to where in the world Zane was putting it all but he had substantial reinforcements in the three grown men hunting with him and soon all our groceries (other than the pretzels he'd spilled on the ground) were gone.

Bellies full, or at least temporarily sated, it was time to hunt. Low lying clouds drifted east covering the setting sun and transforming our setting to ideal conditions. Several groups of mallards worked off to the south, circling and landing in an adjacent swamp, heading for shelter from the impending front. One flock of four birds headed toward us, but turned away at the last minute. It was sizing up as a good afternoon, then the action died.

Me and my little buddy decided to take a little walk. Actually this was a defensive tactic to keep him from driving both Keith and Mark crazy. Zane wanted to go sit in the skiff but we "explored" the woods a bit, checking things out but primarily stretching four-year-old legs. The minute we returned to the blind I noticed Mark standing at attention and Keith peering through the branches of a pine tree he was hiding behind. As if on cue they both shouldered their shotguns and fired simultaneously. When the smoke cleared we looked across lake and there were two ducks floating in the current. Actually, one was swimming in haphazard spirals just beneath the current, another shot of number 2's finished him off. Mark headed toward the skiff, with Zane in tow to retrieve their bounty.

They made quick work of it and were back in a snap, two ruddy ducks in hand, both "boys" grinning from ear to ear. These turned out to be the only ducks within range, the season ending very much like it had started. We packed it up, jumped into the boat and rode back to our trucks in the semi-darkness.

Although we didn't connect with many ducks it was a wonderful hunting adventure. My little boy had a blast, I got to spend time with good friends and we were blessed with another safe hunt. We left the lake, grateful for the afternoon, each other and the opportunity to enjoy a bit of the Creator's handiwork. Until next time....

Notes:
You want to know what kind of friends you have? Take your children hunting with them and see how they respond. Mark and Keith were very patient and kind to Zane, treating him like one of their own.