In my youth my father would take me duck hunting. We had a blind setup on
private land and it was productive for us. I grew up eating duck and geese
and other wild game. Early one morning we had setup the decoys and several
ducks had landed just out of good shot range. The typical plan was just to
wait until some flew in closer. That was the on edge exciting moment for a
young hunter, eagerly watching the sky and waiting, waiting, waiting.
Suddenly all the ducks flushed and I was too well trained to shoot at ducks
that far away. This had happened before when a neighbors dog had come to
investigate. I stood up out of the blind and there was this older lady with
binoculars! I was so surprised I was speechless. My father however, was
not so impaired and he told the lady off. I haven't hunted in 40 years but
I still avoid any hunting area during hunting season. For one, its
dangerous, and it also has potential to ruin a whole days hunt effort. Duck
hunting is about hiding and waiting. Even if you are anti-hunting, you might
want to look up how much habitat has been set aside by hunting money. Its
substantial. Give the hunters their space, they will gone in the end of
January and there are lots of good places to watch ducks where there is no
hunting.



Rob Sandelin

Naturalist, Writer, Teacher

Snohomish Co