My memories of October duck hunts are still vivid.

Loading up a canoe in the near-darkness with dogs, guns and decoys.

Breaking shell ice to get to the other end of the bog in Stetson. Putting out the tollers as the eastern sky begins to break day. Warming cold fingers on a cup of hot coffee from the Stanley thermos. And waiting with an overeager Lab for those low flyers to scale across the marsh grass and come on in to the decoys. Most of the time it didn’t really matter, except to the dog maybe, whether we brought home ducks or not. By the time the sun’s warming rays settled into the blind and the coffee was gone, it was good just to have been there – to have conversation with a hunting companion as you both witnessed the beginning of another autumn day on the marsh.

So, I wonder, why don’t I do that anymore?

I still deer hunt. I walk all day in the woods, or sit in a treestand on frosty mornings for hours. I still, after 40 years, hunt upland birds and spring turkeys. What happened to my duck hunting days?

Things happened that dampened my appetite for waterfowling, or so I tell myself. The ban of lead shot was a turnoff. Not a great wingshooter, I had a lot of trouble killing ducks with steel shot. Too many flew away as unretrieved cripples. The duck hunting regulations became increasingly inscrutable. My Labrador Retriever, Bernice, died. A morning in the blind just wasn’t the same without her beside me.

My wife would tell me that these are all excuses, that I am just indulging in rationalizations. Perhaps she is right. It could be an age thing, a waning enthusiasm for getting out of bed at the obscene hour of of 3 a.m to break ice on some fog-shrouded bog. You gotta be a little nuts to hunt ducks. According to a Massachusetts outdoor writer, the number of licensed duck hunters in New England has declined by more than 50 percent during the past decade!

What’s the reason? An aging population of waterfowlers, or is it maybe the confusing array of rules and regulations attendant to waterfowling? It may be a combination of both.

If you are a die-hard duck hunter, good for you. Your patience with the ever-confusing array of rules, as well as your personal grit that is the mark of a waterfowler, is praiseworthy. Here, for your use, is an abbreviated version of this season’s recently released waterfowl seasons and bag limits:

North Zone: Oct.3- Dec. 10. South Zone (split season): Oct. 3-Oct. 29; Nov. 14-Dec. 24. Daily bag limit: four.

Exceptions to the above rules are: No Harlequin Ducks, only one of the four may be a Black Duck, only two of the four may be hen Mallards or Wood Ducks. Along with the four ducks per day, you may also take an additional two Teal, which may be blue- or green-winged.

V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. (WVOM-FM 103.9, WCME-FM 96.7). His e-mail address is [email protected].