CHAPTER 1 INTO THE MARSH You put on your waders and step into the marsh to set out your decoys You get out your shotgun shells and duck calls Then you sit in the blind and wait for ducks to fly overhead You start making quacking sounds to attract ducks Soon a flock of ducks flies past They twist out of the sky toward your decoys A hunting blind helps hunters hide from ducks 5
In Europe hunting for ducks and other birds is often called shooting You stand up and pick out a drake mallard You swing your shotgun and squeeze the trigger People have hunted ducks for thousands of years For example early American Indians created decoys out of reeds and twigs When ducks came to the decoys hunters shot the ducks with bows 6
and arrows They also caught ducks with nets or snares When European settlers began moving west across North America they used guns to hunt ducks At first they shot ducks only for their families to eat But hunters started shooting millions of ducks to sell in cities Duck populations became dangerously low By the early s conservation efforts had started Laws set up specific hunting seasons People could hunt ducks at only certain times of year As a result duck populations began to grow Today people enjoy duck hunting in many places around the world 7
