Several years ago on a balmy September morning I found myself along with my faithful retriever Lady on a brush island in the back of a cove on Lake O’ the Pines. We were there for two reasons…. The first reason was to hunt teal and the second reason was to spend time with Lady since she was one of the dogs I had trained to sell to another duck hunter.
I had grown very attached to her and I was kind of sad. However I knew this was part of being in the dog business. The morning was slow to start with absolutely no teal flying. After hunting for over an hour with no action I had a little talk with the Lord. I told Him that I wasn’t going to make a deal and promise to become a preacher since I already was one, but I explained to him that I had killed piles of ducks in my life but had never killed a banded duck.
I asked if He would please send one my way and in exchange for Him doing this I would retell this story every time I had a chance. Within just a few minutes of my prayer I was still sitting there with full expectation of seeing absolutely nothing when out of the corner of my eye a teal buzzes the decoys. My slow reaction resulted in the duck escaping without a shot fired.
I quickly hit my duck call and quack like a mallard because that was the main quack I knew at the time. The call wasn’t convincing enough to bring the teal into the decoys but it did turn him back to my direction. As he flew over at a distance far too high to make an ethical kill I did what many weak duck hunters do and shot anyway! On my third out of range shot at a distance near 80 yards the duck folded up! I was amazed!
As Lady made her retrieve I remembered my prayer and thought how awesome it would be if this duck was banded…. After a long swim she returns with nothing less than a freshly banded teal! Almost unbelievable! Here is what I learned… The God who parted the Red Sea, calmed the storms, walked on water, and commanded the fish to swallow Jonah was also in control of the ducks! This story is a continual reminder to me that God is in control and He continues to amaze me with his blessings and goodness! No matter the situation you find yourself in always remember the God is able to do more than you could ask or imagine! If you are ever in our neighborhood and want to hear more stories of God’s faithfulness, stop by the Duck Dog Trainer kennels a have a visit with us.
