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Memories from a ‘wannabe duck hunter’

This 1982 photo shows duck and goose decoys that Durkin made when he considered himself a fledgling waterfowler. (Photos courtesy of Patrick Durkin)

While rearranging tools and lawn-care gear in our backyard shed last week, I paused to inspect the duck and goose decoys stacked high and wide along the shed’s south wall.
My hand-crafted decoys aren’t works of art, and I doubt they’d sell for much if dumped at a garage sale. Still, I built 99% of them back in the early 1980s, a time when I counted down the days until duck season with the same zeal I still have for deer season.

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