The challenges of hunting waterfowl

Tim Payne, front, and Ronald Grice, back, search the skies for ducks to call into the hunting area during a day of duck hunting.

During my 2009-2010 duck hunting season, I have witnessed many of these old and new challenges. In order to explain the work that duck hunting requires from an individual, I have decided to list some of the trials.

One of the issues a duck hunter faces is staying dry. This can be difficult, but is very important during the cold temperatures. A hunter can become soaked through a list of different problems including falling over in the water while trying to walk to a hunting area, getting a hole in his waders, or being rained upon.

Even in the coldest circumstances, a hunter will almost always fight the cold and refuse to admit that he is too cold to hunt, even though he is soaked from head to toe.

Another challenge for the hunters is maintaining invisibility to the overhead waterfowl.

Invisibility can be acquired with numerous types of blinds and camouflage. If the ducks are flying over, but not coming into the hunting area, you can almost guarantee someone will recommend a change with the blind.

Once the ducks have entered the hunting area, the hunter has to be focused and prepared for a quick, steady, and accurate shot. The last thing a hunter wants is to work 20 ducks into the area and miss his shot.

Speaking of getting the ducks working, this is an art to the avid duck hunter. Being able to get the ducks to work is a combination of presentation of the hunting area and calling the ducks appropriately. The duck call has to be called at the appropriate time and used by someone who has mastered the art.

The presentation of the area usually includes duck decoys, along with mechanical decoy ducks or "robo ducks."

If a hunting crew is without a lab, or a lab trained well enough to retrieve the ducks, then gathering the wounded birds can also be a challenge.

In most cases the birds go down a distance from the hunting area. This leads to the hunter having to travel a distance to reach the duck. Once the duck has been reached, the hunter has to be prepared to shoot in case the duck is still able to fly and attempts to escape.

If the duck is unable to fly, there still could be a challenge. Depending on the depth of the water and surrounding features of the land, ducks on the ground can hide underneath mud, brush, and water to avoid capture from the oncoming hunter.

A more recent issue that hunters face is the competition between duck hunters and the large number of hunters active in the Missouri Bootheel. This can cause several issues including scaring ducks, working over a set of hunters. The ducks can become frightened by a shot fired in the distance by another group of hunters. This is one of the most frustrating challenges in duck hunting because there is nothing that the hunter can do to resolve the issue.

These are some of the many issues faced during a duck hunters regular day in the field. Hopefully this gives some more of an appreciation of the hard work involved in being active in the duck hunting world.