As 4 a.m. rolls around, you gingerly creak out of your cozy bed. The temperature is in the 40s this morning, so waking up is as simple as taking one step outside.
The ride to the duck blind is quiet with anticipation about the day’s possibilities. And the question on everyone’s mind is, “Will they be here?”
Your waders crack the frozen tundra as you make your way to the flooded timber. You grab a few decoys from the bag and begin to place them in the open timber.
Once the decoys are all in place, you take your place near a tall red oak and watch the day come to life. The sun awakens in the horizon and ‘that feeling’ is coming back.
Duck season is here. But will the ducks be?
You begin blowing your Flextone call and look around to see if the invitation has been accepted.
No ducks.
After a few hours in the timber, you and your buddies decide to call it a day.
Disappointed and fearing that this season will be much like the last, you leave with your head down because there is nothing that you can do to bring the ducks south.
Duck hunting is a sport that you have absolutely no control over. The northern pothole region reported a great hatch this summer and everyone is expecting great things for this year. That was the positive side of the off-season news.
The disturbing news was the notification that the Clear Water Act no longer protected those small tracts of water where a majority of ducks go to lay their eggs.
Now the future of duck hunting lies in the hands of those farmers who own the land.
In a recent article in Field and Stream, Bob Marshall addresses some major problems that ducks and duck hunters face these days. He said that if Congress doesn’t do something to protect duck habitat, then the future of duck hunting isn’t going to be what we want.
“We ran an analysis of what the impact would be on the potholes if Congress doesn’t do anything to bring back protection under the Clean Water Act, and if Swampbuster ends,” says Ron Reynolds, waterfowl habitat specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “We would be looking at a 50 percent loss of production.”
That means closed duck seasons across the country.
And even more important than closing duck seasons across the nation, the ducks would eventually be gone. They would either have to find other places to nest or, more than likely, be on the verge of extinction.
Now that’s hard to swallow.
So whether the ducks come in by the hundreds this year, or you just get a few greenheads this season, be thankful for the time that you have left to watch these majestic birds.
Hopefully, Congress will begin to realize the importance of duck habitat and will pass laws that will protect hunting for future generations.
Jake Fagan is a senior communication major. He can be reached at [email protected].