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THE 4:30 AM DRAW FOR STATE PROPERTY
DUCK HUNTING BLINDS
What pushes an individual to wake up in the early morning hours and pull a
party together to draw for a possible duck blind? One can work a 3-11 pm
shift, midnights or straight days and this 4:30 am draw will pull crazy
duck hunters in like a moth to a light no matter what is happening in his
life at that moment in time. The mad rush to throw together some gear and
hope that the members in your party show up ready to go. How many guys do
you know that rarely show up on time or even sober with their license and
equipment. Even if there are no birds in the area unstable duck hunters
show up religiously. Back in the old days a party of 3 were required to
draw. Now all one needs is a party of two. Waiting with your party in the
parking lot getting discouraged with the freight train of cars beaming
down the road minutes before 4:30am. Than you would stand in a frozen or
raining parking lot waiting at your chance to hear take one disc. Than
stick your hand in the can and draw your disc. Hopefully it was not a
goose egg. Years ago in the draw the disc you pulled was the area you
hunted. Than it moved to picking the spot the hunters chose. But in
today’s draw it is a random selected envelope with computer drawn
positions. The new system is fast but takes the magic and crazy feeling of
sticking your hand in a can and drawing the #1 pick. Many superstitions
would come into the mix. Where you drew in line, what you had for
breakfast a favorite article of clothing, the superstitions are endless. I
myself still wear and old white Tennessee baseball hat feeling that there
is a connection with the duck hunting gods.
When our party receives a drawing button I will not let my dad know the
number we are nor will I let him touch it because I feel he is a form of
an unlucky black cat. And when you find your blind choice one has to wait
patiently for their turn to pick a spot. Everybody crowds the counter
hoping that there choice will still be hanging on the wall. Usually by the
wind direction and how the birds are feeding I get an idea of were I want
to hunt before the draw starts. Sometimes the blind I would take with
first choice comes to me with a bad or high draw. But you still see people
stealing glimpses at the kill sheet to see what is going on.
But one thing about standing in line and waiting for the 4:30 am draw is
seeing the faces and people you have associated with for years, and how
the generations of hunters family have grown. Telling stories about how
many ducks they have shot or how many wives they have gone thru. Just
standing around talking to most of the people who’s name you never really
got or know all are apart of that 4:30 am club that crazy duck hunters
call the state property draw. If you have experienced this phenomenon a
person would know why the morning draw brings hunters in like a moth to a
light.
God bless all the family members and hunters who have lost loved ones and
friends who cannot make the 4:30 am draw. You will be missed and
remembered always.
-Wild Bill-
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