nature
...es fix on the gray glowing lake. It is even colder out here at the lake and a harsh northwest wind bites my face as we take off in the boat. A storm approaches and that usually means good hunting. “The wind and rain helps to keep the ducks flying low”, says my father. Zooming across the lake to our wooded point a stinging rain strikes my wind burnt face, but I continue to look on wanting to see all that I can. After reaching our blind on the wooded point and I am cast ashore along with the guns and gear while my two hunting buddies set out the decoys or “blocks” as they called them. I often think about the duck hunters of decades ago that used these chunks of koster 2 painted wood to draw in the ten’s of thousands of ducks that once flourished in this area. The decoys are set and the lakes true calmness comes back. An orange lit background crepes through the east shorelines naked trees. A Great Blue Heron standing in the shallows watches and also sees the same picturesque scene before us. The wing beats of ducks overhead startle me for a moment, but are gone as quickly as they came. I continue to pay close attention to the lakes happenings. I hear a pheasant cackling to alert the others that it is dawn. Crunch, crunch, “ What was that?” I ask my father. He just points at the two deer drinking from the lake across the way. So many of God’s creatures just going about their usual business seems unreal to me as a young boy. I look down at my twenty gauge to make sure my safety is on and in that instant of daydream the most amazing thing happens. I look up and a group of fifty or more mallards are barreling in at us. They were dropp...