Finally, a Few Ducks

Not many hunts for me this year . . . but you've got be pretty darn thankful for the ones you get.

There were a few woodies from what I call the "wood duck season," the short five day season in October. A hunt with some family friends near the Cape Fear wound up bird-less . . . and the same result for several other hunts.

Towards the end of the season, though, my buddy Cas Prewitt had a spot in the blind up in Tyrell County. Up I went, from Wilmington. Too, it was great to see Clyde Firman and Andy Clements, two men who made hunting possible up at boarding school at Woodberry Forest---one of the few schools I know of where you can bring a shotgun to school and hunt on campus.

And, finally, that weekend in Tyrell County, there were a few ducks.

It's always a good sign when you sneak into the pond in the morning dark, amidst the quacking of mallards, the peeping of teal, and all the other cacophony of calls of other puddle and diving ducks.

It's quite a thing, after barely shooting any ducks all season, to pass up what could've been a limit of ringnecks within the first few minutes . . . but just watching in pure wonder at all the ducks flying over and around the pit blind . . . awestruck by the sound of jet-like wings. We could've been happy not picking up the guns, just simply watching the birds do their thing.

But, of course, we did come here to shoot a few birds. And that we did.

It's always nice when one of the guys at the duck camp is a real chef.

As always, it was a weekend of good eating and good times with good guys.

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