We were coming back to our room after having dinner at Mama Della's on Thursday night and had a family of four behind us (mom, dad and two teen daughters) that had just checked in and were walking to their room. One of the daughter turns to the other after seeing the bay and the ducks and said "momma, if I would've known this -I would have brought my hunting rifle." No one laughed so I am assumihng she was serious.
While I myself have never hunted ducks, I have had relatives on both my mother's side and my father's side of the family, who did go out and hunt ducks every duck season. And, as far as I can remember, they never used a hunting rifle, so the girl's remark piqued my curiousity, and I did a little research on the subject of duck hunting, and this is what I found.
The most common weapon used in duck hunting is the 12 guage shotgun, but 10, 16, and 20 guage shotguns are also used. Some people also use a bow and arrow or crossbow to hunt ducks, but--of course--it is easier to hit a flying duck using a shotgun than a bow and arrow or crossbow.
But what is most interesting is this sentence that I found at a Wikipedia article on duck hunting. "Taking migatory birds with a rifle is illegal." Not onlly using a rifle is illegal, if not in all cases, in most cases, there are two other reasons not to use a rifle while hunting ducks. Since a bullet fired from a rifle--for the most part--travels farther than a load of buckshot fired from a shotgun, if you miss your target, you'd put the hunters around you at greater risk. Also the hunter who uses a rifle would have an unfair advantage over a hunter who uses a shotgun.
Thus, the girl's remark makes me think she has never hunted ducks in her life.
