Blind Ambitions

From our November/December 2025 Issue

If you hunt ducks, you’ve spent time in the no-fly zone when the minutes drag into hours while waiting for the wind to bring birds and the decoys are as motionless as lawn ornaments. On such a day last fall, I could have stayed home and raked the lawn. My partner had canceled with little notice, and I was hunting alone from our blind on a local lake. The lyrics from that old rock song kept running through my mind: Should I stay, or should I go? I stayed, because duck hunters know how downtime can turn into showtime faster than an autoloader cycles shells.

In the interim, I thought it best to use my time wisely. Out came the cellphone. The signal was strong enough to answer emails and text a couple of friends. Nine o’clock glaciated to 10 o’clock. Still no ducks sighted and no shots fired from other hunters. A hint of wind, though, kept my hopes alive.

But you know how it is with these smartphones. Soon I was Christmas shopping on the L.L.Bean website, and then paging through the state game department site to check dates and daily bag limits for the late goose season.

It had been my partner’s turn to bring lunch, but even if I had nothing to eat, I could at least look at food. An amateur cook, I like to play in the kitchen and try new things. Googling “duck” brought me to duck cassolet, an unfamiliar dish rumored to be irresistible. Originating in southern France as farmhouse fare, this hearty stew of meat and beans is as varied as paella in Spain and Pizza in Italy. After reading through a few recipes, I realized that I already had all the ingredients at home. And the freezer held whole mallards, dressed and plucked, from an earlier hunt.

Duck cassoulet is traditionally made from pork sausage and the legs and thighs of domestic ducks that have been cooked in herbs and spices and preserved in duck fat (confit in French). If my frozen mallards proved too lean, I could buy duck fat from a local butcher or substitute olive oil. That’s the supposed beauty of a cassoulet: Each is original, and substitution is encouraged.

Several YouTube videos made making cassoulet look easy. In fact, I was so caught up with my gastronomic adventuring that I missed a small knot of bluebills that buzzed the now-active decoys. Gone as fast as the wind had brought them, those ducks kept me in the blind for a couple more hours until I finally called it a day and waded out to gather the spread. With no shotshell hulls or lunch wrappers to pick up, I left the blind as I had found it. Lessons learned: 1) A hunting partner is a second pair of eyes, 2) always pack a sandwich, and 3) leave the phone in the car.