06/05/2026
Well said…..
“There is a great deceit in duck hunting by which men count their sport in terms of “limit bags” and “good shooting.” Be not fooled. These same men would greet the rising sun in season though they knew their chances of killing even a single duck were very, very poor indeed.” - Gordon MacQuarrie, “Last Stories of the Old Duck Hunters”
There’s been more than a few mornings where Dad and I went out knowing full well the odds weren’t in our favor, actually it’s probably the majority. Birds hadn’t migrated down yet, forecast not right, no good spots to go. But we went anyway.
It was never just about what we might bring home. It was about the going itself: listening to AM radio on the drive, the first light on the water, and the comfort of sharing a blind.
Truth is, if someone had told us ahead of time we wouldn’t fire a shot, it wouldn’t have changed a thing.
