Greetings from Capt. Dave & BAYMEN! Here is a duck hunt story like no other I have ever experienced over a lifetime of duck hunting the bays, marshes and rivers of New England.

I took a client out on his first-ever duck hunt to one of my blinds. We paddled out in the darkness long before sunrise and began to set out a nice spread of decoys. Very special birds that have been carved for me over the years by some very talented decoy carvers.

Once the spread was set, we got into the blind to wait for first light and legal opening hours. As the day began to dawn, lots and lots of black ducks and some mallards began working the marsh, moving from their resting areas to their feeding areas. Theses areas are often many miles apart and on different waters.

After opening hours had arrived, a big flock of black duck came over my spread of decoys. My hunter picked out the lead bird and fired and dropped it. He swung on a second black duck in the flock, fired and missed. FOUR MINUTES went by… “THWACK!!!” There was a very, very loud THUMP on the roof of the blind as something big hit it with extreme force, but did not break through the thick plywood roof. My hunter and I both looked at each other wide-eyed and  exclaimed, “WHAT WAS THAT???!!!!! We did not move and just sat and waited and listened…. Fifteen minutes passed, and I said let’s go pick up your duck – but first let’s inspect the roof of the blind to see what hit it. We walk around the back of the blind and there was a black duck stone dead!!!

Here is what we think happened. When my hunter dropped his first black duck out of the flock that came over the decoys, he swung and shot at a second duck in the flock – a clean miss – or so we thought. But we are guessing a single pellet hit that black duck and it flew on unscathed for four minutes, making wide circles for miles over the marsh. Then, it decided to come back over our spread of decoys and at the exact second it was over the roof of our blind, it expired, fell from the sky, and hit the roof of our blind dead center!!! That duck had to have been 150 yards or more up in the sky when it expired and fell! We never saw it circling and when it left with the big flock, they were all climbing high into the sky and disappeared over the horizon. My hunter and I both looked at each and said, “Hand of God!” There is no other possible way to explain what happened. 

And that is the story of the “miracle black duck” from the hand of God, at my duck blind!