The Duck
I was on patrol in northern North Dakota checking waterfowl hunters enjoying the hunting opportunities we have to offer. I just finished checking a group of hunters when I heard a couple shots to the south. I located the individuals hunting ducks and got in a location downwind knowing their blinds were not facing my location, which was just around three-quarters of a mile away from their decoys. There were not many birds flying in the area that day because a big group had landed off in a different field. I set up my spotting scope and attached my phone to take some photos and video to observe the action.
I could see there were multiple people, but could only see their heads and shotguns when they raised them, usually only a couple at a time. No one had exited their blinds and I was unable to tell how many hunters there were. I knew there were at least eight hunters that were all sitting by this rock pile on top of the hill. I observed them for quite a while and by the way they were shooting and the few birds that were coming into their decoys I didn’t think they had many ducks. Finally, I got a good count on the number of people when “The Duck” came across their decoys. I just happened to be taking photos and video when the hen mallard made the sacrifice. I counted eight barrels come up and numerous shots went off. “The Duck” didn’t have a chance. I obviously couldn’t tell who had shot “The Duck” but it finally dropped and I had to laugh to myself and shook my head.
I had been watching them for about an hour and only observed about five different ducks that hit the ground. Finally, they decided to pick up their decoys and I knew they were not going to be anywhere near their limit of birds. While they were picking up decoys, I counted 11 total people. When I drove to the edge of their decoys, one of their ringleaders came over to my truck. It was a hunting guide. The first thing he said to me was we don’t normally put this many people together, but the eight hunters that were from Texas had been affected by a hurricane and they wanted to hunt together at least one time. There were actually two guides and eight hunters.
Within a short period of time, I had gathered all the hunters by my truck. They had only killed about 15 ducks and a couple of geese. I told them that I needed three things from them:
- I needed to see their hunting licenses to make sure they were current.
- I needed to see their shotguns to check and make sure they all had their plugs in.
- And I needed to know who shot which ducks and to separate them, knowing there was no way they could complete the task.
They all looked back and forth at each other looking puzzled when one of them said, "umm we all shot." I said I was just messing with them, I had already known what the situation was, but in the future to make sure and keep their ducks separated from each person.
Everything had checked out and there were no violations.
- District Game Warden Alan Howard