Waterfowl hunting
Waterfowl are hunted in crop fields where they feed, or in areas with bodies of water such as rivers, lakes, ponds, wetlands, sloughs, or coasts.
The mural in the ancient Egyptian tomb of Khnumhotep II shows a man in a hunting blind capturing swimming ducks in a trap.
The transition from muzzle to breechloading shotguns was largely driven by innovations made by gunmakers such as Joseph Manton, at which time wildfowling was extremely popular in England.
Market hunting started to take form, to supply the local population living along the East Coast with fresh ducks and geese.
[7] In the Chesapeake Bay in the 1930s one of the biggest threats to waterfowl was local poachers using flat boats with swivel cannons that killed entire flocks with one shot.
[10] In North America a variety of ducks and geese are hunted, the most common being mallards, Canada goose, snow goose, canvasback, redhead, northern pintail, gadwall, ruddy duck, coots, common merganser and red-breasted merganser.
[14] In the autumn, the ducks and geese have finished raising their young and are migrating to warmer areas to feed.
[25] European hunters in the Middle Ages had a deep sense of justice for their prey and saw hunting as a challenge, where the animals deserved a fair chance.
This code of honor required hunters to actively pursue and kill all injured animals to prevent their suffering.
[32] Thus, each year, millions of ducks and geese are crippled or injured in North America due to hunting.
[33] The probable fate for mutilated ducks is a prolonged, agonizing death, marked by relentless suffering and distress.
In the Mississippi Flyway wildfowl hunting generally occurs on lakes, marshes, swamps, or rivers where ducks and geese land during their migration.
Cornfields and rice paddies are also common hunting grounds, since geese and ducks often feed on the grain that remains in the field after harvest.
[38] The Atlantic Flyway is a migration route used by waterfowl flying from northern Quebec to Florida in the autumn and back in the springtime.
