[Big Friend Ten (BFT)]

My first pair of ducks were shot off a farmer's pond in the middle of a pasture which at the time was full of cows. That pond was a hundred yards from a patch on woods but on the other side and looking up the hill there was at perhaps 250 yards to the farmers's house and barn. I was about 16 and my buddies dropped me off to sneak those woods. Once through the woods I snuck over open pasture to the bank of the elevated pond. I crawled up the bank with a Savage Fox B in tow loaded with 12 gauge 3" lead #2's.

Once in position I popped up and so did the Woodies. Boom, boom and they were in the middle of the pond with me wondering how I'd retrieve them without getting wet. I also wondered if the farmer had heard the shots... That tense moment so long ago was in Potter County Pennsylvania and while not some dark holler in West Virginia, one could still get shot at by an irate farmer worried about his cows!

Luckily for me there was a breeze. Within 10 minutes of me hugging mother Earth to avoid detection by the farmer, the ducks has been blown to shore. I once again popped up, snatched my birds and very rapidly snuck into the woods.

The year was 1976. I joined the Marines in 1977 and always did very well in night maneuvers and other challenges of stealth. After all, I had a little practice in circumstances with potential live fire...

Mark