The Annual Mallard Inn "Shoot-Out"

I read an article written by Terry Epping titled "True Men Duck Hunt!". It got me to thinking and I will have to agree with Terry, There is no other group of outdoorsmen that have the passion, desire, drive, and love of the sport than a true duck hunter. For True Duck Hunters (not those that hunt ducks) the next duck season arrives the day after the end of the present season. For us, duck hunting is not a sport, hobby, or passion, it is a way of life. Our little group begins preparations for the next season just as soon as the present season closes. There is not a weekend (and very few week days) that go by that we are not at our duck camp performing some kind of task to be ready for the next opening day. Repairing old blinds, building new blinds, building a floating dock, working on the camp house, making decoy weights, repainting decoys, adding decoy strings, repairing walkways, repairing the boat house, working on outboard motors, repairing duck boats, working retrievers, all of these jobs are just a way of getting ready for the upcoming season. For us, duck hunting is a year round passion and a year long activity. There are no days off. Duck hunting is in our blood, it is our life, it is the very breath we breathe. It is a part of our soul, it is the very reason for our being. We do take a little time each year to come together as a group.  "The Mallard Inn Shoot Out" is an annual event that we hold each October. There are a lot of clay targets shot and a lot of clay targets missed, and a lot of Bar-B-Que consumed and a lot of waterfowl stories told. Our group plus guests spends the entire day sighting-in rifles, busting clay pigeons, and yes ..... eating that outdoor grilled bar-b-que. One could argue that this also is in preparation of the upcoming duck season. Last year there were over 2,200 rounds of shotgun shells fired off and probably twice as many lies told and I expect there will be that many or more this year. Why?, you may ask, do we do this? Because not one of us can throw a spear. Click Here to see a video of last years "shoot out" winners