Chương 81: 80: Duck Hunting & Decisions

Dydd Lau Ionwr 11th The next morning, I got up and stopped in at the barn before I grabbed potatoes for breakfast. Sean was already there checking up on the goats. Lilly was indeed up and doing just fine. She had accepted both of her kids, and they were happily sucking away as she ate hay and grain. Tilly's kids were doing the same just a few feet away. Baby goats were some of the most adorable farm animals, and I had always loved watching them run and play.

Back on Earth we had some neighbors who raised pygmy goats. The tiny baby pygmy goats were just about the most adorable thing ever. I didn't care how unmanly that thought was; I stood by it. Probably not a big market for pygmy goats in the Territories though, I thought. After some small talk, Sean said he thought the other two goats were looking like they were close to giving birth since neither was eating, and they were both pacing a lot.

I thanked him for watching out for them, then I went back in to get the potatoes ready for frying. I told Emily about the goats, and she said she'd take some breakfast to Sean since he'd be staying in the barn for the day. When Colin made his way into the dining area, I hailed him over to me at the ovens.

"You talk to Woolsy? Is he going to let you go hunting with me today?"

"Yeah, he said I'm off duty until next week. Hari and Glenn are going back to Weston to report in. I'm not technically full time until I get to go to training outside Riverton. I won't be able to do that until after this fight is done. But I should get a real Scout class for sure." He got quiet then whispered, "Apparently it'll be guaranteed." I nodded.

"Let's wait to talk about any of this until later, eh?" His cheeks flushed red, and he looked embarrassed. I got it. I wasn't always the most discreet either. I finished helping the ladies with breakfast; sausage, eggs, and hashbrowns today, then sat down with my usual group to eat with. Woolsy was convinced that it would only be a matter of time before the entire goblin army was making their way to the passes to escape. He thought we needed to put a large force in position to stop them at all the passes.

Hari and Glenn thought that was a good way to get people killed. They thought we should let the goblins go back home and tell the orcs, not to come here and mess with us. I didn't particularly care what choice was made. I just wanted things to calm down and go back to normal. I hoped that as many homesteaders as possible could rebuild and start moving forward with their lives.

The empire would provide sixty percent of the gold needed to replace lost materials on a farm, and I was preparing to donate up to 5, 000 gold for a relief effort that Priest Lewys was organizing. Hopefully, most homesteaders around Weston would be okay. Once breakfast was over, Colin and I went upstairs and grabbed our guns and hunting gear. I was able to wear my Carhartt jacket out here, and I was glad for it. It was so warm and cozy.

The weather wasn't quite as cold now, it had climbed up to the mid 20s over the last week, but that was still well below freezing. I also rocked some long underwear, they were off white, not red like I remembered from my childhood, but they were warm. They fit under my heavy wool pants, which were much warmer than my pair of jeans. Wool socks, gloves, a beanie, and finally, my original pair of work boots, finished off my hunting ensemble.

Colin's gear included a bullet vest, but my jacket had two large pockets that buttoned from the top on the front, and I put my meagre allotment of bullets in there. I had to admit, it was making me feel a little homesick and nostalgic hearing the brass rustling noises I was so used to from my hunting days on Earth. I usually just used this jacket, or a previous version of it, when I went hunting there too, so the shells often rattled together as I walked around.

These shells were greased paper, with a smaller brass top than I was used to at home, but they still sounded the same. We made our way downstairs, then out the front doors of the farm manor. I looked at Colin and said, "Well, you're the expert scout now. Which way? And what do you want to shoot?" He shook his head and said, "No Scout class yet, like I said, they'll give that to me when I actually join the Territorial Army. But let's head north. I saw some turkeys that way.

There's plenty of spots for ducks along the river too." I nodded.

"Lets save the turkeys for the end. They're too big to lug around." He agreed, so we walked past the farm manor, then veered closer to the river between the manor and the pens that came out the sides of the animal barn. Things weren't so wide open anymore with all the new buildings we'd put in. The new L-shaped pasture, which came off of the barn and went up close to the edge of the river, really blocked things off on this side.

There was only a small strip from the edge of the fence to the beach area for this stretch of our land. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. As we walked, I noted that the area certainly smelled different now than it had this summer. It was cold enough that the animal smells were pretty muted, but instead of flowers and dust, there was more of a wet bark smell from the leafless trees. There was a lot less green right now, that was for sure.

The huge blackberry bramble across the river was brown and thorny-looking without its leaves or blooms. The willow trees still looked cool, even a little majestic. Their numerous small branches were covered in frost that really shined in the weak winter sunlight. It made them look like they were made of crystal. Once we cleared the pasture, I pushed the lever on top of my gun that let the double barrels flip open. I pulled out two shells and stuffed one in each barrel.

Then, in a practiced move, I gave the gun a hard forward flicking motion, and the barrels clicked shut. I preferred my Mossberg, but I also had an over and under Baretta 20-gauge shotgun that I used for shooting sporting clays. The 20-gauge was easier on your shoulder if you were shooting a bunch of shells, which you usually were when shooting sporting clays. Of course, these shells were black powder, so I doubted they'd be kicking very much. These barrels were much easier to clean than the rifles, at least.

I'd shot black powder rifles on Earth, but I swear we still must've had cleaner black powder than this stuff. It was seriously dirty. I had to clean my rifle barrel all the time. Once we made it past the boundaries of our property, I threw on my safety glasses, which were actually shooting glasses. Even if everyone out here was in the know, I still didn't like to flaunt things that were obviously out of place if someone new came along unexpectedly. I'd learned my lesson from Roberts.

That thought gave me an unexpected pang of guilt. The guy had been a jerk. And he'd tried to turn me in, but I still didn't wish for him to be buried in a grave somewhere. Actually, I didn't know for 100% sure that's what happened to him, but I was pretty certain he wasn't out living his best life somewhere if he wasn't dead. Colin and I made it almost a mile upriver when we heard our first turkey calls. The distinctive "gobble gobble" of the toms echoed out through the meadow to the north of the river.

I couldn't see them this far away; we were still on the south side of the river and the trees were a good distance away from the river after all. We continued on until we saw a small group of about five ducks doing their distinct, wing-out glide as they came in to land on the river. Two of the ducks had the distinctive blue-green iridescent heads of a male mallard. The other three were the brownish color with blue wingtips of the females of their species.

Most of the birds in this world were very similar to the ones on Earth. No one had been able to explain to me why there was so little variation between worlds. Aside from the occasional magical touch, like the spark elk, of course. In addition to the mallards, there was an almost pure black duck species out here that I didn't recognize, as well as a white duck with a rust-red head. But that didn't mean they didn't also exist on Earth, just that we didn't see them in Idaho.

Colin and I slowed down and approached at a crouch as we got closer to them. If they were in the middle of the river, we wouldn't shoot since it would be so hard to retrieve them before they washed away, but if they flew off towards the east, we'd fire. Colin whispered to me, "If they fly southeast it's my shot, northeast, yours." I whispered back my affirmation, then we crept forward as quietly as we could.

As we neared them, hiding behind some trees, we could see they'd joined a larger group of maybe twenty ducks, all mallards. Colin bent down and picked up a rock, then tossed it into the river on the far side of them. That caused a ruckus, and the entire group immediately began quacking and took to the air, flying east to avoid whatever had splashed into the water to their west. I immediately whirled to the northeast, avoiding pointing my gun in Colin's direction.

These shells should be far safer than the rifles, but I was still going to practice proper gun discipline. I pulled up and aimed at the leading duck in the group flying over my head. I pulled the front trigger, and was rewarded with a boom and a cloud of smoke, but very little kick. For some reason, maybe muscle memory, I wasn't prepared for that cloud of smoke at all. I'd expected it with the rifles, but aside from my AR15, I hadn't shot a modern rifle all that often on Earth.

I usually only went out shooting four or five times during the spring and summer. I had literally shot thousands of shotgun shells in my life. When that cloud of smoke erupted around me, I hesitated, and that hesitation was enough to let the ducks get out of range. Beside me, I registered that Colin had shot twice. I lowered my gun and looked his way.

"Get two?" I asked.

"Sure did," he said.

"Why didn't you shoot twice?" I laughed.

"Because I'm an idiot outworlder." He frowned at me.

"Huh?" I smiled in embarrassment.

"I just wasn't expecting the cloud of smoke for some reason. I shot a shotgun a lot on Earth, I've told you about our smokeless gunpowder. My brain just wasn't ready for it." He looked at me as if I were crazy, but he didn't say anything else. We went and grabbed the three ducks we'd shot, then made our way farther upriver. We ended up bagging twenty between the two of us, then took them back to the homestead to be plucked and hung for a couple of days before we'd have them roasted up for dinner for the whole crew.

Of course, we didn't forget Spot and Buck. They each got their own duck for being such good guard rabbits. After that, we crossed the river and found the turkeys. We each shot one, then brought them back to the homestead as well. We prepared them and threw them in the cold storage room. Two of them would feed the whole crew sometime in the next week.

There are more than fourteen species of wild duck found in the Western Territories. The most common of which are: the Territory Black Duck, which is so named for the entirely black feathers and bill of both the male and female of the species, and the Common Feral Duck. The female Common Feral Duck is a brownish color with blue or purple wing tips, while the male duck has a green head to go along with the brownish body and blue or purple wing tips. There are also six species of geese found in the Territories.

The two most common are the Black and White Headed Goose, which can be found in great numbers, and the Snow Goose, so called for its snow-white feathers. Excerpt from A Compendium of Native Wildlife in the Western Territories by Joseph Braun. This book is available in the Albion Trade Guild store, and can be added to the same tab as any other animal guides in an almanac.