Post-Duck Season Blues: Here and Canada, Too
by Mike Faulk

Duck hunting is the type hunting I like best. There are few humans. The ones I do encounter are the ones whose company I really want. It's usually done on the water. It's cold and I feel most a live when my lungs fill with cold, crisp air. The sound of wingbeats makes my heart race. The smell of burned powder, nearly as good as that smell from using a muzzleloader, invigorates me. In calling ducks, one must establish a true connection with the quarry. Morning fogs are magical. Sunrises and sunsets are spiritual.

I'm always melancholy after the close of duck season. As I've entered my 50's, I wonder how many more duck seasons the Good Lord will let me enjoy. My health is terrific. But now, I can't help thinking of my own passing with the passing of each duck season. Annually at this time, I resolve to hunt more and work less the next season.

While my main duck gun is an over-and-under [I was accused many years ago of wasting the first shot of the three shots held in my semi-automatic shotgun], I still use my Model 1100 Remington with the full choke and thirty inch barrel for goose hunting. It's a special gun because it was a Christmas gift from my wife given at a time in our lives [law school] when we really couldn't afford such things.

I read today that Delta Waterfowl has successfully persuaded the Canadian Legislature to disregard attempts by the left-wing lugnuts of the Canada Liberal Party to ban the personal use of semi-automatic firearms. "This is great news for Canadians as well as sportsmen from the United States who hunt in this country," said Delta's Vice President of Policy for Canada Dr. Robert Bailey, who played a key role in organizing opposition to the resolution, in a February 6, 2007 press release.

To the unaware, the banning of a "semi-automatic firearm" may not seem like such a radical step toward controlling violence. The casual reader hears the expression "semi-automatic assault rifle" in anti-gun literature; and, from the use of the words "semi-automatic", some make the illogical leap to all "semi-automatic" weapons. Marketers sometimes call it "bait and switch".

Surely those in positions to make decisions regarding firearms will be educated consumers and make informed choices on gun legislation rather than falling, as the Canucks nearly did, for such bait-and-switch tactics. Surely the season will never come to an end on the Bill of Rights and particularly the Second Amendment to our Constitution.