Laying it on the Line

Diver hunting with the Mighty Layout Boys

The flock turned then, pivoting with heart-stopping abruptness, carving the wind. The sun caught them broadside as they wheeled, and as it did the bluebills' white speculums flashed like strobes. Twenty-five or 30 strong, the tight formation loosened coming out of the turn, as if the centrifugal force had become too great and the scaup, like skaters playing crack-the-whip, couldn't hold on. But they regrouped in an instant and now, directly in front of our decoy spread, they came on exactly the way bluebills are supposed to: low, fast and hard.

Do you like what you read? Subscribe to Shooting Sportsman»