I received another "fan" letter yesterday. Terry Gregg of Joplin, MO writes: "Fuckface, do you eat all of those beautiful ducks you murder? You and your dog make me sick. I hate the way you too (sic) hide in the brushes(sic) and murder God's beautiful creatures."

While I don't feel compelled to write directly to Terry, I would like to point out that I am often sickened when shooting wild ducks. They're so wonderful and mysterious (and also, it seems, gullible) that it's a shame to kill them. I can shoot pheasants all day. I can whack halibut and salmon on the head with no thought whatsoever. But ducks are different. They almost lend themselves to art. 

But anyway. I shot a drake teal this year and, after a prolonged internal debate, I decided not to mount it. Instead I fried it lightly in bread crumbs. I put it atop a salad of cilantro, green onions, and what-have-you.Here are the results. So Terry from Joplin, as you eat you industrial steak--tossing the obvious fat to your aged, and indifferent tabby--think about what you're missing. 

Rocket and I are officially done for the year. We began hunting blue grouse on September 1, and ended Saturday with the last day of duck season. There were lots and lots of mallards around. I'm going to hunker down and get some reading and writing done over the next few months. One thing that many of you might find interesting is that Jason Veggieburger, a frequent subject of these pages, shot what appears to be a "brewers duck."  John Audubon mistakenly described this duck as its own species in the 1820s. But he was wrong. The Brewers duck is a mallard hybrid. This one looks like it a X between a mallard and a black duck. I didn't know what it was at first. Rocket brought it to me and I thought, a black duck all the way out here in Wyoming? Jason, still suffering financially from a trip to Disney Land, or Disney World (I wasn't really listening) doesn't have the money for the taxidermist. So I took the duck and I am having it mounted. I'll probably donate it to the local museum or the Game and Fish, depending on how I'm feeling next year when I get it back. Here's a photo of the Brewers Duck beside a drake teal.