Gun fires echoed to hunt wild ducks, we didnt miss our target but when we reached the destination, there was nothing except embarrassment and disappointment.
On a pleasant morning of December, me and my friend Arshad left home for a planned hunt of wild ducks along with the hunting equipment in wee hours. Arshad was fond of hunting wild ducks while the same feelings were mine when we planned the hunt.
Both of us chosen a pond outside the city that was known for having a large number of wild ducks; the same pond was also popular for fishing and hunting of some other sea birds. The pond was at a distance of around 2 miles from the city and there was also a village located in the premises of the pond. We travelled listening to jokes and talking to each other and reached near our destination.
The wee hours of morning are considered as ideal for hunting wild ducks as the birds reach deep waters during day hours and in morning they come near boundaries in search of some food while in evening, the hunters can also get wild ducks when they search for rice spikes but still the morning time is ideal.
We were moving with artificial nests on our heads as the hunter should be careful while hunting wild ducks and if the birds feel the presence of the hunters around them, the hunter will be unable to hunt them. The nest had two benefits as one was to keep the head warm and the other was to reach near the birds easily.
There were fields near the pond and in early morning they were covered with thin layer of snow due to dense fog that was giving the look of a white fabric covered fields. Arshad had an eye on a group of wild ducks from a long distance and asked me to stay alert while he lay down on his belly; I followed him in doing so. Our hands were unable to move due to freezing cold but we didn’t bother as we were near to our target.
We were glad while thinking of eating roasted ducks with smoked aroma. Both of us were crawling on our bellies and crossed one field within 10 minutes and reached to the other field. Now there left the distance of only 40 feet between the wild ducks and us. I was waiting for the whistle from Arshad to open fire on the ducks with the hunting gun. Suddenly he whistled and the sound of fire echoed while none of us missed our target.
We ran to get our hunt and held the knives in our hands but when we reached the target, we frozen with embarrassment and unconsciousness as we killed the pet ducks instead of hunting the wild ducks. The wild and the pet ducks have many things common in their features. The male wild ducks have similar features comparing to the pet ducks which creates confusion for the hunters.
With the echo of gun fires, the villagers reached the spot and the owner of the pet ducks got us before we were about to flee the scene.
"You people have killed these ducks?" he asked loudly and Arshad innocently replied, "Yes - mistakenly". He asked to pay 500 rupees or he would take us to the police station. In situation of disappointment, we looked at each other. I had some rupees in pocket of my coat which I paid them and the villagers settled the issue on payment of 400 rupees to the owner of ducks and we came back home after getting nothing.
