About two years ago, I broke my ankle (severly) while working my dogs out on my deer lease. In typical fashion, I refused to let that interfere with my hunting season, and rigged up a special boot that I could wear out to the duck blind. The only thing I could not do was wade out into the water and retrieve decoys. No worries though, as that is why I had children! My son Bobby became my decoy boy!

On one particular duck hunt, Bobby was out in waist deep water picking up decoys when a group of teal came screaming into the spread. As teal will do, they made their first pass and banked to come in for the landing, and were showing no regard for a 12 year old boy standing in the middle of the spread. Right when the teal were about to land on top of my son, out of nowhere a hawk swooped down and took a teal in his talons - then flew right back up into the tree he had been perched.

All of this took place less than a foot over Bobby's head! We still talk about that to this day, and what a picture that would have been had there been a camera at the ready!