| | | Duck Hunting | Waterfowl have been hunted for their meat and feathers
since prehistoric times. Pictures of waterfowl grace
the wall drawings of ancient peoples in Europe and
Egypt, as well as South America. Modern hunting of
waterfowl really only began with the inception of the
shotgun. Most times, a modern duck hunter will use a
twelve gauge shotgun, loaded with number four shot.
Until recently, lead shot was used, but today
guidelines have been set up requiring duck hunting to
be done with steel shot, as it is probably that a duck
might eat the loose lead shot by accident, and be
poisoned.
Duck hunters cannot go and find ducks, they must lure
the ducks to them. While they are waiting, the hunters
will wear a ghillie suit and wait inside a camouflage area, called a duck
blind, so that the quarry does not see them when it
comes in for a landing. Successful duck hunting is
often accomplished by waiting all morning in a the
duck blind for ducks to land in the body of water near
the blind. When they come in for a landing, the hunter
stands up and takes a shot at the ducks before they
have a chance to be startled and fly away.
Decoys are also used to lure the ducks into the lake
or pond. When ducks flying overhead see that there are
other ducks on the body of water, they assume it is
safe, and often times will come in for a landing. Duck
calls are also used to imitate the sound of the
waterfowl. Sometimes other bird calls are used to fool
the ducks into thinking the lake is safe.
Oftentimes, a duck hunter will have a specially
trained dog with him. These "retrievers" will be
released after a successful kill to bring the bodies
of any ducks killed back to the blind. Labradors
Retrievers are often the dog of choice for this
purpose.
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