Wingshooting

Finally, I was old enough to shoot my break-open .410 shotgun without it knocking me to the ground, but my dad had recently gotten severely hurt in a horse riding accident and was unable to take me on my first dove hunt.

I was heartbroken; not only was my hero stuck in bed with his arm, leg, and ribs broken, but we also couldn’t do all the things we had planned to do, like going on my first dove hunt. 

Thankfully, my grandpa was willing to walk through his pasture with a five-year-old boy on a hot September afternoon.

With increasing pressure on waterfowl, waterfowlers need to dig deeper into their bag of tricks to bring more birds closer.

Across North America, most waterfowlers probably use mallard decoys. Mallards flying over a pond expect to see big orange feet glowing like beacons in the water. Most decoys don’t come with feet, so glue two strips of orange ribbon to the decoys to simulate legs in the water. Tip each ribbon with a small sinker to hold it down.

Sounding like squeaky wheels needing grease, about 50 squealing long-necked birds circled overhead before settling into the water just outside our decoys.

These birds looked like no other North American waterfowl. In flight, the gangly birds stretched out their elongated necks and dangled long legs behind them, looking more like an ibis than a duck. Their wings beat strong, but slow, more like geese than the frenzied flapping of other ducks. They also stand upright like geese and easily walk on land.