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OUTDOORS WITH BABE WINKELMAN

Ode to the baldpate

By Babe Winkelman

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[August 03, 2013]  Of all ducks, my most favorite species might be the American wigeon, otherwise known as the baldpate or robber. Baldpate derives from the drake's distinctive white crown atop his head (pate). He gets the robber name from his propensity to hang with coots and other divers, and when they surface with weeds in their bills, old Mr. Wigeon is there to snatch the morsels away. Hey, it's a duck-eat-duck world out there.

Reflecting upon the beautiful, aero-agile baldpate, my mind casts back to a cold November morning from my youth. A friend and I hit the slough in the pre-dawn darkness to find the trusty Alumacraft frozen quite solidly in. Some heavy kicks broke it free, and more ice-breaking was required through the shallows just to get to skim ice out in the middle of the wetland.

We paddled around in that just to break it up, and I'll never forget the sound of all those clinking ice shards against the aluminum hull -- painted dead-grass and in dire need of a fresh coat. After liquefying about 40 square yards of water, we threw out a dozen or so mallard decoys -- some old handmade cork dekes that had duped their fair share of greenheads over the years.

The decoys wouldn't be doing much swimming that morning, as there wasn't a stitch of wind to move them. Oh well, that's duck hunting. Satisfied with our meager spread, we push-poled the boat into the cattails and poured some hot coffee from a battered thermos.

Dawn dawned.

And the sky filled with -- nothing. Neither a duck in sight, nor a whistling wing to be heard. Dejectedly we sat with our coffee, gradually accepting what we had feared -- that every feathery fowl had taken the southbound express to beat the freeze.

Then, suddenly, it began to snow. Light, small flakes at first, gradually building to giant flakes by the billions -- all falling straight down. It was lovely. And in such heavy volume that we could scarcely see our closest decoy just 15 yards away.

Beaten, we made ready to collect our corks and head home for bacon and dry clothes. That's when we heard it. The wheep-wheep-wheep whistle of drake baldpates. Like 30 phantoms they materialized from the flakes in a low pass over the decoys and disappeared just as quickly and magically, restoring the air to silence. We were dumbfounded and frozen in befuddlement, until ... the whistles returned just before the phantoms did -- and we were ready for them this time.

Pow! Pow!

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One round each is all we could manage in the eye-blink of clarity through the heavy snowfall. Within the ringing echo of the shots, two plump baldpates floated belly-up amid the blocks.

My pal and I traded smiles for the unexpected and sudden gift of ducks, and then we heard the whistles again. Who knows if it was the same flock coming back undeterred. Or maybe they were fresh birds. It didn't matter, because they came back -- rocketing through the calm blizzard like kamikaze Zeros on a mission.

Pow! Pow! Two more snap shots and another wigeon joined his brothers in the great beyond.

And so the morning went. Every few minutes the squadron would return, hell-bent on getting into that water before a two-shot volley sent them rising, save for the fallen. It was the most thrilling and challenging wingshooting either of us had ever had. And when the barrels cooled, 10 drake baldpates lay lined up across the center bench of the old Alumacraft. We were convinced that the entire flock was drakes, sent to us as a gift from some kind angel in duck hunting heaven.

Boy, if there was a day I would love to relive, that November baldpate bonanza would rank right up there. But I can replay it in my mind whenever I choose, as I have done today. I hope you liked hearing the tale as much as I enjoyed telling it.

Good hunting.

[By BABE WINKELMAN]

Babe Winkelman hosts "Good Fishing" and "Outdoor Secrets," the most-watched fishing and hunting programs on television. Tune in on NBC Sports Network, Destination America, Velocity, Time Warner Sports Texas & New York, and many local broadcast channels. Visit Winkelman.com for air times and more information. 
 

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