Instructions for identifying 40 species of ducks, geese and swans.

The days are gone when seemingly limitless numbers of canvasbacks, mallards, and Canada geese filled the skies above the Texas coast. Gone too are the days when, in a single morning, hunters often harvested ducks, shorebirds, and other waterfowl by the hundreds. The hundred-year period from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries brought momentous changes in attitudes and game laws: changes initially prompted by sportsmen who witnessed the disappearance of both the birds and their spectacular habitat. These changes forever affected the state’s storied hunting culture. Yet, as R. K. Sawyer discovered, the rich lore and reminiscences of the era’s hunters and guides who plied the marshy haunts from Beaumont to Brownsville, though fading, remain a colorful and essential part of the Texas outdoor heritage. Gleaned from interviews with sportsmen and guides of decades past as well as meticulous research in news archives, Sawyer’s vivid documentation of Texas’ deep-rooted waterfowl hunting tradition is accompanied by a superb collection of historical and modern photographs. He showcases the hunting clubs, the decoys, the duck and goose calls, the equipment, and the unique hunting practices of the period. By preserving this account of a way of life and a coastal environment that have both mostly vanished, A Hundred Years of Texas Waterfowl Hunting also pays tribute to the efforts of all those who fought to ensure that Texas’ waterfowl legacy would endure. This book will aid their efforts, along with those of coastal residents, birders, wildlife biologists, conservationists, and all who are interested in the state’s natural history and in championing the preservation of waterfowl and wetland resources for the benefit of future generations.

No waterfowl hunter can afford to be without this complete, up-to-date guidebook.

Explains the equipment, skills, and techniques needed for duck hunting. Vibrant photographs and clear text help readers understand and imagine this fascinating way to explore the outdoors.

Duck hunting has changed greatly since the days of unlimited duck kills, as the limit of fifty ducks a day established in 1902 has fallen to the present three. A legitimate hunter now, Dale Hamm learned the art of market hunting—taking waterfowl out of season and selling them to restaurants—from his father during the l920s. During the l930s and l940s, he kept his family alive by market hunting. At the peak of his career, Hamm poached every private hunting club along the Illinois River from Havana to Beardstown. After market hunting died out, Hamm became a legendary and almost respected—albeit controversial—character on the Illinois backwaters. He was eventually invited to hunt on the same clubs from which he had once been chased at the point of a shotgun. He hunted with judges, sheriffs, and the head of undercover operations for the Illinois Department of Conservation, all of whom knew of his reputation. He passed on to these hunting partners a lifetime of outdoor knowledge gained from slogging through mud, falling through ice, hunting ducks at three o’clock in the morning, dodging game wardens, and running the world’s only floating tavern. "I always said if anyone ever cut open one of us Hamms, all they’d find was duck or fish," Hamm once said of his family. Now in his eighties, Hamm still carries a pellet from a shotgun in his chin to remind him of a shotgun blast that ricocheted off the water and into his face. Bakke notes that it is appropriate that a man who spent his life with a shotgun in his hands should carry a bit of buckshot wherever he goes. Everyone who ever met Dale Hamm has a story about him. His own story is that of a one-of-a-kind character who, in his later years, used his considerable outdoor savvy to conserve the natural resources he once savaged. "His time and kind are gone," Bakke notes, "and there will never be another like him." This book will be of interest to anyone who has ever been hunting—or who enjoys reading about colorful people and times that exist no more.

Although his typewriter has been silent for nearly fifty years, Gordon MacQuarrie’s words continue to inspire generations of hunting and fishing enthusiasts. Through his “Stories of the Old Duck Hunters,” most of which are still in print, MacQuarrie captured the intangible, emotional qualities of the outdoor life in a way that made him unique among his peers. As a result, his audience and his legend continue to grow. Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter is the first full-length biography of this literary legend. It explores the relationships he nurtured and treasured; records his coming of age during Theodore Roosevelt’s Conservation Movement; documents his rise to national prominence as the first full-time, professional outdoor writer in America; and follows his life as journalist, storyteller, husband, father, outdoorsman, and conservationist. Complete with rarely seen photographs and a comprehensive timeline of his writings, this book is a fitting companion to MacQuarrie’s own Stories of the Old Duck Hunters anthologies.

Designed by Duck Hunters, For Duck Hunters! Most duck hunting journals on the market are produced by publishers who rarely spend a day in the wetlands or quality time on serious waterfowl hunting adventures. Wild Revelation Outdoors Journals are created by those who live the hunting lifestyle, who know exactly what kind of data is important to record while out in the field, and what's not. Our eye-catching, no-nonsense journals are intended to be used as an essential piece of duck hunting gear which serves as a log book and documentation tool to help hunters in the following ways: Keep a detailed duck hunting log about a specific hunt, or an entire season, in order to help sharpen skills, focus more intensely on primary hunt objectives, and learn from past mistakes. Objective data logged in a duck hunting journal serves as both a valuable scouting tool and resource for planning future hunts. Serves as a duck hunting diary for collecting and storing cherished memories, which can be passed on to future generations. Easy to fill in format with prompts for essential hunt information and plenty of space for customized, personal notes and details. Makes a great keepsake or duck hunting gift! Get your copy today, or order several to start building your duck hunting journal library for years to come!

This book takes a fun-filled look at the foibles, follies, pratfalls, and unpredictable world of the duck hunter, from the time his alarm rings at 3:00 a.m. until he stumbles into freezing marsh water two hours later, swamping his waders but not dampening his enthusiasm for the sport. Why do duck hunters do it? Sit in driving rain for hours awaiting ducks that may never come? Shiver in freezing boats and blinds in the most inaccessible, not to mention inhospitable, environs imaginable? Author-photographer Bill Buckley writes about these magic moments with humor and verve, but it is his brilliant color photographs that steal the show. The hapless hunter who watches helplessly as his partner's Suburban backs out of the driveway-and over the gun case that holds his favorite shotgun. Click! The faithful retriever that elegantly lifts its leg and makes a sop of the hunter's blind bag. Click! And the pained expressions on the faces of duck hunters caught in the act of enjoying their favorite sport. Click. Waterfowlers who sometimes question their own sanity can now take heart. It's all right, Buckley writes, if you like standing in swamp muck for hours on end. It's okay if your family thinks you're weird. Who cares if your girlfriend diagnoses you as obsessive-compulsive or sadomasochistic? The important thing is, you're not alone.

Guide to hunting birds and waterfowl in Montana