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Like a lot of people, I keep an eye on the want-ads in the local newspapers and shoppers. You can never tell when some item of hunting or fishing gear will be found there, some "must have" item that can be acquired for - if not "a song" - then perhaps reasonable enough that you can hardly refuse. I also "brake for garage sales" from time to time. I've acquired a few desirable, if not necessary, things that way over the years.

I recently saw just such an opportunity while returning home along a back road that I sometimes take to a fishing destination. There, parked by the side of the road, was a nicely painted boat in duck hunting camouflage, perched on a trailer, with an outboard of vintage lines screwed to the boat's transom. A large home-made sign read: For Sale, Reasonable.

I am always looking for a hunting or fishing bargain, but I have a pretty good boat, and both my available space and my wife tell me I'm not in the market for another. My sentiment, to be honest, was disappointment. I hated to see someone abandoning a pursuit I have found rewarding for such a long time. Of course, I don't know the circumstances, and could be jumping to conclusions when I assume that its owner is just giving up.

The odds, however, favor that explanation. It would fit with the downward trend in Minnesota duck hunters over the last decade, and - as is now known - even over the past year. Certainly, some hunters are reaching a stage in life when age and infirmity make this physically demanding sport just too much. But too many are leaving Minnesota duck hunting for that to be the primary reason.[[In-content Ad]]

The Minnesota DNR has released 2011 waterfowl stamp sales to-date, and those figures - as of opening weekend - show a drop of some 3,000 from last year, or about four percent. More duck stamps will probably be sold before the season ends, but the opening day apples-to-apples comparison will still show this degree of decline.

Even with liberalized rules designed to make duck harvest easier, and rosy predictions of high local duck numbers, there were significantly fewer licensed duck hunters on opening day this year. Perhaps even more alarming, Minnesota has lost about one-third of its duck hunters over the last 10 years. Long-term, there are roughly half the number of Minnesota duck hunters there were in the 1970's, and - as we all know - our general population is not declining.

I encountered more evidence of duck hunter retirement just a few days earlier, as I sat in my dentist's chair getting a belated semi-annual check-up. "Dr. Bob," as he has been known to my children since the arrival of their baby teeth, was a pretty serious waterfowler in our younger days, involved in Ducks Unlimited banquets, as I recall, and definitely gung-ho about the sport.

But when my small-talk led to asking about his hunting season, he revealed that he has stowed his decoys for the last time, and now most of his fall recreation is fishing or golf. I didn't press him for reasons, but I'm sure that Minnesota's extended run of mediocre seasons played a part. Still, I couldn't help feeling disappointment.

Perhaps this year's further drop in duck hunter numbers should have been expected, despite those predictions of abundant birds and more liberal rules. Minnesota duck hunters have heard optimistic predictions before, have been repeatedly disappointed, and by now probably concluded that they were public relations mumbo jumbo. Perhaps a generally good statewide harvest on this opening weekend will have its effect next year, and will speak louder than those optimistic pre-season predictions that hunters have become numb to.

It will take decent duck hunter success over an extended number of seasons to reverse the trend of hunters leaving Minnesota's waterfowling ranks, and the poor recruitment of new hunters. Maybe then, we'll see fewer roadside bargains in duck boats bearing signs reading: "For Sale, Reasonable."

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