By Dawn's Early Light: Waterfowl Hunting, Retrievers, and Other Aspects of Morning Madness

摘要

I’ll never forget the first time I sneaked up on a potholenfull of mallards. I was hunting on a small refuge (emotional,nmostly) called ‘‘Chip’s Island,’’ an isolated piecenof industrially useless weeds and cattails left as an afterthoughtnin the delta where the San Joaquin River beginsnto empty into San Francisco Bay. I was a novicenduck hunter, introduced to the sport by my future fatherin-nlaw, Stan, an avid outdoorsman who now spends mostnof his time pursuing the passions that kept him sane asnhe toiled in the savings and loan business. I was gratefulnfor his tutelage, since I had only recently coiled a flynline around his head and cigar during a fly-fishing lesson.