When the ducks have ceased to fly for the day the serene duck hunter
returns to camp in a tranquil, satisfied frame of mind befitting his
fraternity membership. He has several ducks actually in hand, and he
has fully enjoyed the self-deception and pretense which have led him
to the belief that he has shot well. His few confessed misses are
all satisfactorily accounted for; and he is too well broken to the
vicissitudes of duck shooting, and too old a hunter, to be cast down
by the bad fortune which has thickly scattered, over distant waters
and marshes, his unrecovered dead.
When at the close of such a day a party of serene duck hunters are
gathered together, a common fund of adventure is made up. Each as he
contributes his share is entitled to add such embellishments of the
imagination as will make his recital most interesting to his associates
and gratifying to himself; and a law tacitly adopted but universally
recognized by the company binds them all to an unquestioning acceptance
of the truth of every narration. The successes of the day as well as its
incidents of hard luck, and every excuse and explanation in mitigation
of small returns of game, as they are rehearsed, create lively interest
and quiet enjoyment. The one thing that might be a discordant note would
be a hint or confession of downright and inexcusably bad shooting.
In this delightful assemblage of serene duck hunters there is no place
for envious feeling toward either the slaughtering market shooter or the
insatiable dead shot. They only seek, in their own mild and gentle way,
the indulgence of the pleasures which the less bloody phases of duck
hunting afford; and no censorious critic has the right to demand that
their enjoyment should be marred or diminished by the exactions of
veracity or self-abasement.
Reference has already been made to the scrupulous care of this
fraternity for the promotion and preservation, at all hazards, of the
shooting reputation of all the associates. This is a most important
duty. Indeed, it may be reasonably feared that any neglect or faltering
in its discharge would undermine the entire fabric of the serene
brotherhood's renown. The outside world should never gain from any of
its members the least hint that a weak spot has been developed in the
shooting ability of any of their number; and in giving an account of
hunting results it is quite within bounds for them to include in the
aggregate, not only the ducks actually killed and those reported killed,
but those probably killed and neither recovered nor reported. The fact
that such an aggregate has been reported by an associate should impart
to every member absolute verity, and each should make the statement his
own, to the displacement of all other knowledge. Such ready support of
each other's allegations and such entire self-abnegation are absolutely
necessary if the safety of the organization is to be insured, and if its
success and usefulness are to endure.
Thus the great body of serene duck hunters, who have associated together
for the promotion of high aims and purposes, pursue the even tenor of
their way. They do not clamor for noisy recognition or make cheap
exhibition of their virtues. They will, however, steadily and
unostentatiously persevere, both by precept and practice, in their
mission to make all duck hunters better and happier, and to mitigate the
harsh and bloody features of duck hunting.