8/07/2008

Down River Remembered

Editor's note: In light of the USFWS's controversial closure of canvasback hunting the upcoming 2008 waterfowl season, a great weekend of hunting canvasbacks in the South Louisiana marsh is remembered fondly.

The predicted precipitation had arrived.  I awakened to the faint sound of lightly falling rain on the roof.  I'd felt it coming the night before when exiting Salvo's Restaurant, a customary stop for stuffing myself on fresh, local oysters, blue crabs and shrimp while en-route to Camp Jeff, near Buras, Lousiana.

Weather forecast be damned, I remember thinking;  the marsh was more beautiful than it had been since Katrina, when salty storm surge decimated an abundance of aquatic duck groceries.  Canvasback hunting had been nothing short of phenomenal.  The daily limit was 2 cans for the first time that anyone could remember.