It's a feat on par with a ballplayer homering in his first big league at bat. Mike Stephenson, who recently wrapped up his collegiate baseball career at Buena Vista (Iowa) University, must have pocketed some lucky diamond dust with him for his first duck hunt.
The 22-year-old joined Pheasants Forever at its national White Bear Lake office earlier this summer as an intern before landing a full-time gig in the merchandise department. A native Nebraskan, he's hunted pheasants and turkeys, but never ducks.
Many who work at the "PF" office share a passion for waterfowl that's equal to that of pheasants, including Brad Heidel, Pheasants Forever's Director of Special Event Sales. Brad, who resides on Forest Lake, took Mike out for his first duck hunt on said lake last weekend.
It's not supposed to be this easy. This is the "King of the Ducks," the canvasback. "Cans" as they are best known, are renowned for their size (the largest of diving ducks), their speed (70-plus mph at full bore), their table quality (heavily market hunted more than 100 years ago, canvasback was gourmet, sometimes going for more than $100 a plate in today's dollars), and their rarity (the current breeding population in North America is at approximately 660,000; a typical Minnesota harvest is just 3,000 cans). Some veteran waterfowlers spend a lifetime in search of a trophy "bull can" that comes up short.
Mike and Brad had one bird readily decoy during the morning, Mike, his hand-eye coordination still sharp from his years as a second baseman and line drive hitter, took one shot from Brad's boat and dropped it.
"It was awesome," Mike told me, "But it's not good."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because it's going to be an addiction. Now I need to go out and buy some waders."
