Outdoors Just for Kids

There’s weather in fall. And then, there’s duck-hunting weather in fall. There is a big difference.

Fall weather can mean many things. It ranges from warm and sunny to cool and cloudy and many points both in between and beyond.

Duck-hunting weather means low clouds, a stiff wind (hopefully from the north) and often some form of precipitation (drizzle, rain or spitting snow).

This is the type of weather that both puts ducks on their migration path toward places further south and seems to stir the internal juices of ducks and makes them want to fly. If this comes in the middle of, or on the heels of, cold fronts pushing south out of Canada, that makes it even better.

On beautiful bluebird days, ducks may fly only at sunrise and sunset, but on good-duck-hunting-weather days, you’ll find them in the air all day long, cruising over sets of decoys or dropping in for a visit to chat about the weather with the floating fakes you have on the water.

It’s on days like this that a duck hunter is often chilled to the bone and dogs shiver a bit between retrieves, but the weather conditions are perfect for a good day of waterfowl hunting.

Duck-hunting weather doesn’t come often during the course of a season, but it’s a blessed event for hunters who like to pursue waterfowl and promises a good workout for dogs bred and trained to be at their sides.

— Mark Henckel,

Gazette Outdoors editor