Misery Loves Company

Book excerpt: This book takes a fun-filled look at the foibles, follies, pratfalls, and unpredictable world of the duck hunter, from the time his alarm rings at 3:00 a.m. until he stumbles into freezing marsh water two hours later, swamping his waders but not dampening his enthusiasm for the sport. Why do duck hunters do it? Sit in driving rain for hours awaiting ducks that may never come? Shiver in freezing boats and blinds in the most inaccessible, not to mention inhospitable, environs imaginable? Author-photographer Bill Buckley writes about these magic moments with humor and verve, but it is his brilliant color photographs that steal the show. The hapless hunter who watches helplessly as his partner's Suburban backs out of the driveway-and over the gun case that holds his favorite shotgun. Click! The faithful retriever that elegantly lifts its leg and makes a sop of the hunter's blind bag. Click! And the pained expressions on the faces of duck hunters caught in the act of enjoying their favorite sport. Click. Waterfowlers who sometimes question their own sanity can now take heart. It's all right, Buckley writes, if you like standing in swamp muck for hours on end. It's okay if your family thinks you're weird. Who cares if your girlfriend diagnoses you as obsessive-compulsive or sadomasochistic? The important thing is, you're not alone.