Don t Shoot the Decoys: Original Stories of Waterfowling Obsession

Waterfowlers may be passionateeven obsessiveabout their sport, but at least they don t take themselves too seriously. That s because duck and goose hunting is so often a humbling experience. In that respect, these 20 stories by Doug Larson are like the classic wildfowl tales of, say, Gordon MacQuarriethat is, they celebrate the sport of waterfowling while tickling the funny bone.But while Larson is in many ways a traditionalist when it comes to waterfowlingand storytellinghis voice is refreshingly new.Larson s subject, in fact, is the modern hunter s struggle to come to terms with the past while living fully in the present. For instance, while he expresses a love for the hardy duck chasers in canvas coats who humped dozens of cork decoys through mud and mire to secret blinds, he also admits adapting to the comforts and conveniences of fourwheel ATVs, portable blind heaters, hollowbody plastic decoys, and polyester fleece parkas. On the other hand, he takes pokes at the modern trend to overcomplicate the sport. Whatever happened to throwing rocks? he asks in a chapter onmotion decoys.Though the book finds humor in the small moments associated with duck and goose hunting, it occasionally delivers a real zinger that will bring tears to the reader s eyes, as in the hilarious chapter titled Concrete, in which Larsen discovers what can happen when a son takes his nonhunting dad waterfowling for the first time.