As six wood ducks banked and dropped low over the head of Lukas Allen this morning, I could sense the impatience with his watch. Only a few more minutes listening to that whiny whistling and the rapid but somehow synchronized beating of wings before things would be legal.
Both of us were fully aware of that narrow buffer of grace most game wardens allow at sunrise and sunset but there was no room for error for the two of us. As former game wardens ourselves even a written warning would make us the laughing stock of our former comrades.
Ten minutes later and well on our way to a few limits, Matt Allen, Luke’s brother, brought down a high-flying and well-fed drake with a single but very vertical shot. He was within earshot and hollered “Thanks!” after hearing my voice bounce off the water when I gave that verbal confirmation hunters give their buddies to let them know their prowess, or luck, was witnessed by another future embellisher. Corroboration is important.
Will Warnock, a twenty-year-old rookie to hunting was bright eyed and searching for his birds as Matt and I made our way through the hardwoods to where he and Luke had held their ground. For two years I’d been telling Will the real art of duck hunting in South Carolina is knowing when to sleep in. Young men are slow learners and he’s hunted a poor migration and public water all season only to bring home one hen. He’s in love with the magic of the early mornings on the water so he’ll work even harder for the rest of the season for any possibility of another single.
Half an hour later I walked into the office of Sporting Classics and dropped three drakes on the conference table alongside the Beretta 486 side-by-side twenty they sent me for evaluation. It wasn’t long before the first fella came down the hall and performed an about-face after catching my camouflage attire in his peripheral vision. Several friendly storytellings later and Matt’s vertical duck was now brought down from the stratosphere.
Not one hunter in the office turned up his nose at the thought of a quick morning hunt before work in a tiny wood duck hole. Each of them understands a shoot over flooded acorns is world-class when it’s shared with world-class friends.