A Fowl Hunt

If you were to ask a waterfowl hunter what he thinks is the most popular duck species to hunt in the Southeast, most hunters would say a mallard. Coming in close second would be the wood duck. The wood duck is a medium size duck that is very popular because of the plumage of the males during breeding season. Wood duck numbers severely declined in the late 19^th century due mainly to market hunters, but have made a huge comeback due to conservation efforts across the country.  Tennessee has a short early wood duck season in September with a daily bag limit of 2 ducks.

The excitement level of a game warden is immeasurable during the days leading up to opening day of any hunting season. The 2009 early wood duck season was no exception for me as I made preparations for a morning full of catching poachers. Humphreys County Wildlife Officer Ken Smith had done his homework in the days prior and had found a slough baited with crack corn on the Duck River. We decided the time and place to meet. Ken’s partner would drop us and our jon boat off in his personal vehicle at a boat ramp only one river mile from the baited site. I packed my field bag with my usual essentials including binoculars, a note pad to keep up with the number of ducks killed, citation book, and evidence tags for any weapons we might confiscate. Lying down in bed my mind played out the next day’s events keeping me awake all night which was normal for the night before opening day.

That morning we were running late and in a hurry to get to the boat ramp. We knew most of the hunters would come by four-wheeler but wanted to leave the ramp before any hunters who might come by boat would launch. Arriving at the ramp we launched our boat just as headlights from the hunters came across the bridge heading our direction. We fired up the engine and sped into the dark of night just in time before they spotted us. Ken and I tied our boat up several sloughs down and walked towards the one baited. Settling in to a spot near the four-wheeler road we could see several ATVs headed in our direction. They passed by us a mere 10 yards away and could hear them talking about the morning massacre about to happen. The hunters made several trips back to get decoys and gear. We could hear a boat coming up the Duck as well and slow down at the entrance to the slough. After all the decoys were set up and the hunters stepped into their make shift blind we had counted eight hunters giving them a total bag limit of 16 ducks. Ken and I moved closer to the edge of the water so we could have a better view of the hunters once it broke light. As it approached shooting light we hear a wad of wood ducks fly into the slough and land in the water between us and the hunters. Several more flew in as well and we could make out several dozen wood ducks swimming around starting to feed on the crack corn. I looked at Ken and whispered that we were about to be in the line of fire! I heard one of the hunters count down from 3 to 1 and the quiet morning turned into the sound of a war zone as eight individual shotguns unloaded its shells. Ken and I were taking pellets as well and shielded ourselves. Wads of wood ducks continued to pile into the slough as the hunters couldn’t reload fast enough. We couldn’t tell how many ducks had been killed since it was still somewhat dark and we didn’t want to get an eye put out by some stray shot. The shooting continued for twenty minutes before one of the hunters yelled out, “Stop shooting! Stop shooting! We need to count our ducks!” Not heeding the advice, the hunters continued to shoot more wood ducks. Again we heard the same voice tell them to quit shooting and count ducks. Several more volleys rang out before the same hunter yelled out, “We are already way over the limit stop shooting!” At this point Ken and I decided enough was enough and ran out of the brush pile towards the duck blind. “State Game Wardens! Put down your guns!” All at once the hunters set their guns down and hung their heads. They knew their hunt was over and they had been caught. We helped them locate all the ducks they had killed or crippled and when all was said and done they had killed 27 wood ducks. We explained what the bag limit was and that they were 11 over the limit. We checked their hunting licenses as well as plugs for the shotguns which are required while hunting waterfowl. Several hunters did not have the proper licenses or plugs in their guns. To add insult to injury we told them we were also aware of the bait that had been placed in the slough. All the hunters admitted they knew it was there. We wrote all the hunters for Hunting Waterfowl over a Baited Area as well as for the plugs or licenses they were missing. Seven of the hunters received citations for Violation of the Daily Bag Limit. Identifying the one hunter who tried to get the rest to stop shooting we gave a break on that charge. We seized the guns and the illegal wood ducks and headed back to our boat. Ken brought the boat up on plane as the cool morning air blew in my face. I felt a sense of accomplishment having stopped the illegal hunters from killing a gross amount of wood ducks and getting away with it. Game Wardens are the front line of defense for wildlife. We are their voice. Without us, there would not be any wildlife for future generations to hunt.