THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997 TAG: 9701140204
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 76 lines
Hunters across the region had been waiting a long time for the good ducking day that loomed last Saturday.
Ducks usually precede a cold front, and the front was moving in early that morning. Temperatures were dropping and wind was whipping up the water.
``Those are the kind of days a hunter lives for,'' said Virginia Beach duck hunter Archie Johnson, who has written two books on the sport, one titled ``Gun Clubs & Decoys of Back Bay and Currituck Sound.''
Unlike most other sportsmen, duck hunters long for cloudy, windy and cold weather. The nastier the better.
``We call it a good ducking day,'' Johnson said.
But a good ducking day turned bad Saturday on Currituck Sound. A hunting trip ended in tragedy when three in a party of five died from exposure - one was still missing Monday - after their boat wallowed and swamped in rough seas.
Sometimes it's hard to take a measure of what's a good day and what's bad, Johnson said. Hunters had been waiting a long time for some good duck weather, and the hunting season, which opened last month, was only a week away from ending.
``We've had such poor hunting weather,'' he explained, ``no wind and 70 degrees.''
To a duck hunter, those unseasonably warm and calm winter days are ``bluebird days, days when only the bluebirds fly. On those days, ducks rest comfortably out on the water, not moving around. If they do fly, they fly high out of gun range because visibility is good.''
On nasty days, the ducks get a little uncomfortable out on the water, and they fly in search of shelter, Johnson said. They also tend to fly low where visibility is better and where the wind resistance is less, closer to the water.
``When ducks are out on the move,'' Johnson said, ``and they see decoys out, they think, `Well, this is a nice place to be,' and they fly in.
``At least that's what we hunters think,'' he added.
Consequently, bad weather was a part of the challenge of hunting on Currituck Sound Saturday.
``I wouldn't be afraid to bet you that there were a half-dozen people out there doing the same thing,'' Johnson said.
Johnny Messina of Bell's Island, N.C., and fellow hunter Gaston Williams of nearby Camden were among those who took advantage of the conditions Saturday to venture onto the sound.
The two waterfowlers were headed for the same area where Saturday's accident occurred but delayed their departure that morning, even though they were in a high-sided, 18-foot fiberglass boat.
Messina, the boat's owner, said he and Williams were ready to leave from a dock near Messina's home by 5:45 a.m., well before daylight.
``When we drove up to the dock, we saw seas breaking over the bulkhead,'' Messina said. ``We knew the wind was blowing at least 35 mph. And it was spitting snow.
``So we got back into our truck and waited until it was good and light, about 7:10. Even then, the seas were breaking over the bow of the boat. It's a good thing the boat is self-bailing.
``And it was cold. The spray turned to ice as soon as it hit. It was a nasty day.''
Messina and Williams altered their plans, going to a secondary shooting blind, staying out of rougher seas in the sound's open waters.
``But the water was too high for puddle ducks, so we ended up not firing a shot,'' Messina said.
Still, what normally would have been a 10-minute ride to the blind turned into a 20- to 25-minute challenge.
``We weren't in any danger,'' Messina said, ``but I sure wouldn't have wanted to go out in a smaller boat.''
The hunting party that met tragedy on the sound Saturday had to cross six miles of open water in their 17-foot Polar craft.
``They call duck hunters crazy,'' Johnson said. ``But duck hunters call skiers crazy. It all depends on what you like.'' MEMO: Staff writer Bob Hutchinson contributed to this report.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT BOAT FATALITY NORTH CAROLINA