A buddy and I hunted at Cherry Valley this morning, (my buddy wasn't hunting), and it was a very slow morning. While walking back to the truck I saw a duck land in one of the canals and I started to sneak up on it. At this time, two other hunters started working there way towards the canal but I got there first and one asked where it went. He said it was a crippled pintail drake. I couldn't locate it and my buddy and the two other hunters went to the bridge over the canal to try to locate it for me. They guided me to the spot with the overhanging brush and I tried using my shotgun to part the weeds, plugging my barrel with mud in the process. The bird flushed towards them and I didn't attempt to fire and I figured one of the other guys would take the shot with the lone shotgun they were carrying. But they didn't. I tried to remove the mud but I wasn't having any luck. I was just going to head home and clear the barrel, figured it was my last try this season. One of the guys found a twig and he started clearing my barrel for me and I asked why he didn't take the shot and that's when he told me he was a warden and so was the other guy. So I removed the barrel, cleared the rest of the debris and put the gun back together and the 4 of us made the attempt to get the duck. At this time it was near the bank, very close range, and they were trying to get it up so I could fire. The rock throwing wasn't working so one of the officers went down the bank and flushed it out for me. Prior to this he asked me not to shoot him and I told him I wouldn't. The bird flushed down the canal and I killed it. Glad I didn't miss. That would have been too embarrassing. After I retrieved the bird I came back to the bridge and told them how great it was to see them out there because I've been hunting at Cherry Valley since the mid 90's and I've never seen a warden but once or twice and they were never out in the field and I was never asked to show my license. I asked if they wanted to see my license and they didn't feel it was necessary, but I insisted and they checked everything out and I thanked them for the duck and we left. I just wanted to share this positive experience I had this morning with two wildlife officers.
Eric
