Unforgettable Duck Hunt

My best friend passed away last December. We shared many an adventure hunting and shared past hunting adventures before we met. An adventure he shared with me still vividly remains that I want to share with you.

My buddy, his brother and another hunter had found a good ambush spot for ducks. It involved seating in a hedgerow beside a field of harvested corn. From their scouting they noticed the ducks had a particular approach crossing over this hedgerow going into the harvested field. So three hunters and 1-black lab prepared for an evening hunt.

The weather that day went from a threatening windy day to a calm evening with the sun shining brightly. Very few migrating duck flights were seen and only 1-lone mallard flew over at about 60yds. My buddy decided to take a whack at the mallard with lead #4’s (back then legal) and tagged him. It wasn’t a solid hit and the duck glided a fair distance across the open field before it expired and hit the ground. At this point the lab was sent out to retrieve it and things got strange.

When the lab arrived to where the duck was it just stood there and observed the downed bird. After a few minutes the lab just sat down. My buddy took out his binoculars to try and see what was happening out there. For some reason the dog just stared at the duck and periodically glanced back to where the hunters were as if he was confused. After about 5-minutes the owner of the dog became irate and began shouting commands of fetch. The dog did not alter his response of just sitting there.

Finally when the owner of the dog became very angry he got up to go to the dog. When the dog saw this he gingerly bent down and carefully picked up the bird. As the dog got closer it was observed he was not carrying the duck as he normally would. Again as he got closer it was seen the dog was holding onto a wing tip with his teeth and lips curled back. The dog completed his retrieve and when he presented it to his owner he did not sit down as if trying to avoid contact with the bird. When his owner who was still somewhat irritated by the dogs behavior reached down to grab the bird he was greeted with a very strong odor called Pig $hit. It seems that the farmer had recently deposited pig waste in the field unbeknownst to the boys. When that duck crash landed it seemed to find a large chunk of it and was almost completely smeared with it except of course a wing tip.

When I heard the ending I just cracked up with laughter that brought tears to my eyes. Afterwards I also had to admit that was one smart lab who reasoned a way to carry that bird back to avoid a totally angry master. To this day I still chuckle over the incident that occurred on a duck hunting adventure that my now deceased best friend had shared with me.



Ed