Photo by R.E. Ilg

Daylight grew gradually, transforming indistinct shapes into a spread of decoys drifting back and forth on their tethers. The dark silhouettes eventually showed white markings and shades of gray, which stood out in sharp contrast to the reddish brown of the water flowing gently beneath them. Ducks made conversation overhead as the sky filled with a flock here and a flock there. Chased by the daylight from the weedbeds and beaver ponds where they had been feeding overnight, the ducks sought other flocks flying or resting on the water. Suddenly, a flock of the birds cupped their wings to our decoys.

Gunfire shattered the stillness. A pair of fat mallard drakes remained, upside down on the water, as the rest of the ducks departed. Like most of the other ducks flying above the nearby Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, those escapees continued on their way to a safe landing at a refuge covering part of Columbus Lake.

"When it comes to setting up near a sanctuary, it's darned if you do and darned if you don't," said Chuck Forbes. "You see plenty of ducks and hear plenty of ducks. But once they hit the water inside the refuge, they aren't going to move much. They raft up in big flocks because they know where they're safe."

Forbes was hunting along the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers navigation project along the Tenn-Tom Waterway. The duck hunting can be fantastic when conditions are right, but the main reason for hunting the Tenn-Tom is that it is close to home for residents of Clay and Lowndes counties. Waterfowl hunting leases are extremely expensive everywhere, and so are daily guided hunts. However, anyone with a duck boat can explore the channels and lakes of the Tenn-Tom for free and find exciting hunting if they are willing to put in the effort it takes for success.

Forbes hunts at several of the pools formed by a series of locks and dams along the waterway. This particular hunt took place at Columbus Lake.

"The Waverly landing at Columbus Lake is a good one for launching a duck boat," Forbes said. "Lots of times along the Tenn-Tom, you're going to have hit-or-miss hunting. The birds use the waterway as a flyway, stick around for two or three days, then they head farther south. You have to be out here when they come through to get in on the action.

"The best hunting conditions are when there's a freeze that locks up all the water up north," he continued. "A 15 mph north or northwest wind that blows in on a cold front gives you the best hunting conditions."

While the bluebird weather brought flocks of mallards and green-winged teal to Forbes' decoys that morning, he said waves of cold fronts stir up migrant flocks of other puddle ducks like gadwall and widgeon.

"There are also lots of wood ducks," he added. "They are here all year 'round. Resident Canada geese are also here all along, but they've gotten smart enough so that when the first gun goes off, they just stay inside one of the refuge areas. I've killed migrant Canada geese during the late part of the season, and I've even killed speckle-belly geese and snow geese on the Tenn-Tom."

Forbes sets out a mixed spread of decoys for the diverse waterfowl that fly the waterway. The bulk of his spread usually consists of mallard decoys, but he makes adjustments depending upon the composition of the ducks using his hunting area. He adds a few teal, widgeon or gadwall if he notices those birds have arrived.