Dux-R-Us
Fear the Duck
We are all too well aware of road rage. It can be infuriating and sometimes downright scary. A friend of mine once went crazy behind the wheel at the sight of a coyote. It was probably the most afraid I had been in a long time. This person ceased to be my friend and hunting associate afterwards.
My friend Dave and I had been hunting for about 4 years together. I was in graduate school at the time and Dave worked for an ag-chemical company so he had lots of farmer contacts and places to hunt. For four years we hunted quail, pheasant, and ducks. We became good friends and I thought I knew him. He always demonstrated safety while we were hunting. I knew that he didn’t like coyotes and really enjoyed hunting them. But I never would have guessed he would have ever gone nuts like he did one morning.
Dave, me and a third guy were all in the front of Dave’s truck one cold Januray morning on our way to shoot mallards on the Kansas River. I didn’t know the other guy, an associate of Dave’s. We were so bundled up wearing bulking coveralls I could barely move between these two guys. I was in the middle.
As Dave was driving down a county road, a coyote suddenly flashed in front of the trucks in the headlights. Before I knew what was happening, Dave begins chasing the coyote across a frozen wheat field . “Get my rifle,†he says. The other guy reaches behind the seat and gets the rifle and lays in across all of our laps. “Load it!†Dave crams a round in the magazine and chambers it, still driving madly chasing the coyote. The terrified animal was zig-zagging all over the place. The truck followed.
I was taken by such surprise and scared I could not speak or shout out something like “STOP!!â€. Dave had one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on the rifle, ready to pull it up and shoot if the animal ever stopped. I remember thinking one of us definitely was going to be shot. I had both of my hands on the barrel of the gun shoving it down so that if it went off it would go through the floor of the truck. Meanwhile Dave keeps trying to pull it away from me.
The coyote soon ran off to a place where Dave could not follow in the truck. He stopped and said, “Better unload that gun.â€
A few minutes later we were at the farm and Dave parked the truck. The two guys got out to get ready for the hunt. I stayed inside. I literally was frozen with fear. After a few minutes Dave asks if I am okay or something like “let’s go.†That’s when my trance broke and I screamed in his face with many obscenities.
So am I very careful of who I hunt with today? You bet my life on it. That incident is one reason why I now prefer to hunt by myself most of the time.
What’s the morale of this story? I don’t know. I guess no matter how much you think you know somebody, you never really do.
My friend Dave and I had been hunting for about 4 years together. I was in graduate school at the time and Dave worked for an ag-chemical company so he had lots of farmer contacts and places to hunt. For four years we hunted quail, pheasant, and ducks. We became good friends and I thought I knew him. He always demonstrated safety while we were hunting. I knew that he didn’t like coyotes and really enjoyed hunting them. But I never would have guessed he would have ever gone nuts like he did one morning.
Dave, me and a third guy were all in the front of Dave’s truck one cold Januray morning on our way to shoot mallards on the Kansas River. I didn’t know the other guy, an associate of Dave’s. We were so bundled up wearing bulking coveralls I could barely move between these two guys. I was in the middle.
As Dave was driving down a county road, a coyote suddenly flashed in front of the trucks in the headlights. Before I knew what was happening, Dave begins chasing the coyote across a frozen wheat field . “Get my rifle,†he says. The other guy reaches behind the seat and gets the rifle and lays in across all of our laps. “Load it!†Dave crams a round in the magazine and chambers it, still driving madly chasing the coyote. The terrified animal was zig-zagging all over the place. The truck followed.
I was taken by such surprise and scared I could not speak or shout out something like “STOP!!â€. Dave had one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on the rifle, ready to pull it up and shoot if the animal ever stopped. I remember thinking one of us definitely was going to be shot. I had both of my hands on the barrel of the gun shoving it down so that if it went off it would go through the floor of the truck. Meanwhile Dave keeps trying to pull it away from me.
The coyote soon ran off to a place where Dave could not follow in the truck. He stopped and said, “Better unload that gun.â€
A few minutes later we were at the farm and Dave parked the truck. The two guys got out to get ready for the hunt. I stayed inside. I literally was frozen with fear. After a few minutes Dave asks if I am okay or something like “let’s go.†That’s when my trance broke and I screamed in his face with many obscenities.
So am I very careful of who I hunt with today? You bet my life on it. That incident is one reason why I now prefer to hunt by myself most of the time.
What’s the morale of this story? I don’t know. I guess no matter how much you think you know somebody, you never really do.
