The Canvasback Exorcism By Sean Carr

“Despite warnings of my demonic hex, he had to find out the hard way just how serious my condition was.”     By SEAN CARR

I have lived a blessed waterfowl life and have had the good fortune to shoot both a lot of ducks overall as well as many different species of waterfowl but as of January 20, 2015, I still had not taken a canvasback duck.

To give a little history, I started tagging along with my dad on duck hunts when I was 4 years old back in the 70’s. He had a blind that he regularly hunted on a public slough that is now part of Ted Shanks Wildlife Area in Ashland, MO. I started hunting with a gun for waterfowl when I was eight so it had been about 38 years prior to the hunt I will be writing about that I had gone without taking the King of ducks. 

Granted, I did not focus on getting one most of my early duck hunting years, but once I began to target a prime bull canvasback for a mount, some kind of demonic hex possessed me that would not allow it to happen.

 I can cite three different incidents that led me to believe I was cursed for an extended time and though it wasn’t necessarily saving canvasbacks from dying, it sure was preventing me from being the one to do it. I relocated from Missouri to Washington state during my college years and continued hunting waterfowl there to this day.

Incident #1 occurred in 2010 when I was hunting with three other hunting partners who could care less about shooting a canvasback for the wall. We were having a fantastic mallard shoot on public water in Washington state when Ben Lindholm began discussing the fact that he was looking for a used semi-auto shotgun. I just happened to be considering selling my Beretta at that time to move up to a newer Beretta so I asked Ben if he wanted to shoulder mine to see if he liked it. He accepted my offer and no sooner than I handed my gun over to him, Eric Jones said “duck” and I looked up as it made a beeline right over us about 30 yards up and I called the shot. I knew what it was as right as I was calling the shot, too.

Chris was able to knock the bird down and it ended up being a prime canvasback drake. They would have let me shoot it, without a doubt, if I had a gun in my hand because they knew I was after one. I was able to take a banded mallard drake on this hunt and that helped soothe the missed opportunity but I had some more frustrating scenarios ahead.

Incident #2 took place about two weeks later and on the same body of water. I was hunting with my youngest son, Kyle, and friend, Jerry Chytka when a couple canvasbacks, a hen and drake, buzzed our decoys on the outer edge. I opted to pass on the shot in hopes they would swing back around closer and my instincts were correct. They swung in closer this time but still presented a difficult shot when I pulled up and missed on the first shot and then Jerry connected and dumped the bull that we both chose to shoot. I was glad that he got that duck but that same scenario on the shooting does not typically play out between Jerry and me, which further cemented in my mind that the canvasback hex was in full force.

Incident #3 was the most alarming occurrence to date. It was almost 3 years later since Incident #2 and a good friend of mine, John Otto, felt confident that he could rid me of my canvasback hex when he invited me over for a hunt to the west side of Washington. He had hosted approximately 26 other people on canvasback hunts and all of them had been able to get drake canvasbacks. He was confident in my abilities to be successful for this particular hunt. Despite warning him of my demonic hex, he had to find out the hard way just how serious my condition was when I wasn’t able to harvest a can on this hunt.

There were plenty of canvasbacks around but the few times they came close enough they were balled up and with the limit being only one that particular season, we weren’t taking a chance on downing multiple birds or a hen. I did get one opportunity on a bull but it was a hard swinging left to right at a difficult distance and I was in a layout boat. It was a shot that I can typically make but I am convinced the hex prevented me from making it that day.

A couple months later after Incident #3, on January 21, 2015, I had an opportunity to hunt the same local public waters where Incident #1 and #2 occurred. The canvasback population at this place was solid so there was a chance to exercise my canvasback demons. I invited Eric Jones, Joel Strebin and Alan Redell to join me on this hunt. We had scouted the area we had planned to hunt the day before and the number of ducks seen was promising. We thought we should be in for a good hunt but you just never know what might happen especially on public water where other hunters can affect your success. We chose a blind location that would put us in a spot furthest away from other hunters and allowed us first options for ducks coming from the south, which was a common flight path back then. We were late getting set up due to putting out 6 -1/2 dozen decoys and trying to build a good hide. This late in the season, the shoreline vegetation ends up trampled by the continuous hunting that takes place on public ground and late season mallards check out the area around the decoys thoroughly before committing to the spread. An astonishing number of ducks came off an adjoining field at legal shooting time and other hunters took advantage but we were not able to capitalize since we were running late. Once we finally  settled into the blind, the first duck bombed in and I folded it up. It was a redhead drake and a great way to start a hunt. I had not shot one in about 20 years and I did not mount the last one at that time, opting to exchange it with my hunt partner who had shot an identical one on that same hunt but damaged it with the shot. He wanted to mount a redhead so he used mine instead of his and I was glad to be able to help him. The good deed took a long time to come back around but I was happy to have a mounter redhead to start the day. The redhead was a prelude of good things to come and we were stacking up mallards as quickly as Eric’s black Lab male, Jasper, could get them back to us. He literally was bringing back ducks and going right back out for the next one. Then the phrase I was waiting to hear, “CANS” came from my hunt partners and I watched as a four pack came buzzing by the decoys and then looped out and made a turn to come back. I picked out the best bull in the bunch as they came over the decoys and dropped him when he hit the sweet spot. A canvasback exorcism was occurring before my eyes as Jasper brought back a prime bull and delivered the long sought after bird to hand. I decided to take the bull back and get some pictures right away and while I was away from the blind, a single drake canvasback came into the

decoys and Joel dispatched him for his first canvasback ever as well. He sure didn’t have to put in nearly as much time as me to accomplish that but I was happy for him. It wasn’t long after that and another drake canvasback lit into our mix of dabbler and diver decoys and Eric added it to the quickly growing harvested duck mix. The mallard flight took prominence once again and we enjoyed some fast decoying action and made it rain green to the end. We shot 28 ducks in just over an hour and the number of ducks flying during that time was impressive and reminded me of the glory days of this place many years ago.

Exorcising the canvasback demons on this day was the highlight of the hunt for me and added to a truly epic day of gunning ducks on public water.