The Secret Language of the Duck Blind
by: stinson
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Word Count: 1301
The Secret Language of the Duck Blind
If you Duck hunt and spend time hunting from a Duck blind you know the mysterious language of the blind.
If not, you need to pay close attention. You may hear it spoken someday and will need to know its meaning.
It is not difficult to learn, but the only place you can hear it spoken correctly or begin to understand its meaning is
in a Duck blind. Blind talk is English; that is what I believe. It may not be the correct way to speak in public
but it is worth learning if you shoot waterfowl from a blind.
A friend of my father introduced me to the language of the blind, and all I wanted to learn about Duck hunting.
His name was Orville, and was a genius on the subject of Duck hunting; I know this because he told me.
Orville taught me the finer points that only a genius would know about blind building,
decoys spreads, shotguns, shooting, duck calling, and most importantly the secret language of the blind.
When my tenth birthday came and went, I was ready for my first organized shooting sport.
Ten years old was the benchmark in my family. At that age, you were ready to handle the actual work
and intellectual challenge of Duck hunting.
Two weeks before the season opened, we needed to work on the blind. It had been sitting idle for nine months
and was in bad shape. If I wanted to hunt, I had to get out there and help rebuild it.
My mentor was Orv, and I did everything he instructed I worked like a mule and was learning the finer points
of blind building and repair. When the work was completed, I knew I had made the cut.
“You do good work Stins.” No one had ever called me Stins before; I liked it, my first blind word.
No one uses their full name in the blind, you get a nickname or they shorten the one you all ready have.
When Orv called me Stins, I felt like an adult, he called my Dad Stins and used other nicknames when he
spoke to other grown ups. I felt an inch taller, I walked with a sense of purpose I was different, only ten
but I was changed somehow.
During the drive home Orv extended an invitation, “Next Saturday meet me at the house around ten and
we’ll get the deek’s ready.” He was testing me with a new blind word and I was ready.
“You mean the decoys.” Orv just smiled. That is two new words today and I have not even been hunting.
To hunt with the adults you need to do all the work they did at one time or another and decoy repair was
part of the journey.
Saturday could not get here fast enough and when it did, I was up at Orv’s at ten sharp. “Come on in Stins and
I pour you a cup of Joe.” I did not have a clue what Orv meant by that, so I answered “Sure.”
I did not want look like a complete rookie. When I saw what the invitation included I told Orv.
“I can’t drink coffee Orv my Mom told me it will stunt my growth.” “Smoking stunts your growth Stins not coffee!”
I was not sure what stunt was exactly but whatever it was, it did not sound like something I wanted to
have happen to me. A friend of mine had hands, feet and head that were much larger than the rest of his body.
He told me it was a gland problem and he got it from drinking coffee. My feet were already big for my age and
I was not about to wake up in a few days with a bigger head and hands. “Do you have any hot chocolate?
I like that.” Orv could hardly contain himself. “Hot chocolate! We don’t allow that in the blind Stins,
we don’t have a word for it.” “Can we call it Hot Chocolate? Sounded simple enough for me.
“You come up with a name for it later Stins.” I could not believe it; I will need some help on this job.
When the season arrives, I will have a name for it I promised myself.
Orv had a special gift; he was the only grown up that made me laugh. He wasn’t like any other adult that
I knew he acted more like me than I did. Orv told me years later that it took him seven years to graduate
from High school. He was having such a good time he wanted to stick around as long as he could get away with it.
Orv was no dummy, he was a pyrotechnic genius. Orv invented the first parachute firework.
The original copy is lost to long ago summer days but a copy currently resides at the Smithsonian Institute.
Orv never patented his work. He did it because he loved it, the same reason he hunted ducks.
Orv had many decoys and some were beyond repair, they had huge holes in them.
“Orv how did these deek’s get holes in them?” His answer came before I got the words out.
“Put those in a separate pile, we’ll work on those when we finish the others.” I learned two new blind words that
day, Dry Gulch and
on every decoy. Orv had dozen’s of decoys, some small some homemade and others that really did not even
look like a duck. . “Are these decoys, they look more like a car.” “Carved those when I was your age Stins,
we’ll slap some paint on them and there good to go.” I had to trust Orv on this one. They were so heavy I
did not think they would float. “Orv, are you sure these will work they are real heavy.” I was asking for it,
I should have kept that observation to myself. “Stins I have shot more Ducks over those car decoys as you
call them for years.” I stopped listening two minutes into his story it lasted for twenty minutes. I knew from that
day on not to question Orv about duck hunting. He knew it all and he was always right.
Opening day was here and Orv and I were in the Blind before daybreak. A light North wind moved the
decoys just enough to fool the smartest duck and the car decoys looked better on the water than the store bought.
About the Author
Pat Stinson has been involved with the Outdoor industry for 16 years. Pat hosted a nationally syndicated Outdoor Talk Radio program. (BaseCamp
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