Texas Duck Hunt
Jerry Kaml and I found a large flock of ducks, sunning on the shore of a lake north of Monte Christo road. Using the cover of one small bush, I crawled on my belly, using all my hunting instincts, till I was in very close range. A single load of 7 ½ shot – usually used for dove hunting – was fired from my single shot, 12 gauge shotgun into the flock of sitting ducks. That old 12 gauge kicked like a mule, but I hardly felt it in the excitement of having a very successful hunt. Dead ducks littered the beach and maybe as many wounded ducks flew out onto the lake where many died and fed the vultures. We gathered the dead ducks and stuffed about a bushel basket full into the trunk of our car. Before we could leave, a car raced up and blocked our escape route. “You boys been hunting ducks?” the game warden asked.
“Oh, no sir” we lied.
“What you got in the trunk?” he asked.
“Nothing,” we replied.
“Mind if we open it and take a look?” he asked.
Visions of a long jail sentence passed briefly through my mind as the warden confiscated my hard-won ducks. The fact that it was not duck season and that we had far exceeded the limit had barely crossed our minds. “I’ll see you in my office next week,” he said. Since we were underage teenagers, he could not throw us in jail. But he did lecture us about the virtues of wildlife conservation and such. The lecture had the opposite consequence than was intended. After leaving, we tried to blame the warden for our misbehavior. “Who does he think he is; he doesn’t own all the ducks. There are so many ducks, why does he get so uptight about us killing a measly basket full?” The message we got was that if we were to engage in criminal behavior, we must improve our criminal skills or someday we might end up in jail.
Back only a generation or two, I would have been welcomed from the hunt like a conquering hero. All that duck meat in the family pot would have fed the family for days. Now I was being condemned for an activity for which my ancestors would have been rewarded. It was just not fair.
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