Jeff - I appreciate you keeping the history of waterfowling alive. The memories made in this sport are both amazing and entertaining and, deserve to be preserved. For, there is something more to this sport than simply an addiction. Putting it in the realm of an addiction or, an obsession reduces it to merely a habit, good or bad and, as you well know, this sport is much more than a habit.
In my readings of the Delta Marsh, James Ford Bell and Al Hochbaum consistently referred to waterfowling as a "privilege". I am agree with that perspective whole heartedly. And, there are so many quality experiences within our sport to make it as such. The people element, the fellowship, the wingshooting experience and, the birds themselves are at the top of the heap that make our sport a quality experience. Then there is hunting with family, retrievers, carving decoys, making calls and, shooting quality firearms, not to leave out writing or artwork. Then there are the challenges to include gadgets, hunting conditions, outwitting the birds and, the thrill of the hunt itself. There are many more that I know I've forgotten...
There is a reason that our sport is a multi-million dollar industry. But, as great American Poet Ogden Nash put it...
The hunter crouches in his blind
'Neath camouflage of every kind
And conjures up a quacking noise
To lend allure to his decoys
This grown-up man, with pluck and luck
is hoping to outwit a duck
After 40 years of hunting, I still can't explain it but, who cares...
Be well my friend... Pat
