Cousin Joe Le Duc 
A Humorous Duck Story in French-Canadian Dialect 
E had experienced a good 
\\V morning’s shoot, and after a 
dinner of roast duck and 
everything that goes with it, were sit- 
ting around camp with our smokes, 
some on the ground and some of us on 
boxes or whatever we could get for 
chairs. Some were near the dozing 
stage, as we were all tired. You who 
have done it know that it is hard work 
wading duck marshes in a pair of high 
waders where the bottom is probably 
a floor of mud ten inches deep, with 
marsh grass dragging on your feet at 
every step. But if it were too easy 
there would be no fun doing it. 
It happened that Louie Bois- 
vaire was a member of our 
party. Louie had shot ducks 
for thirty years and knew every 
duck marsh in North Dakota. 
He was the general source of 
information for any who wished 
to know about shooting condi- 
tions in any given locality. He 
knew duck habits and was a 
crack shot. To help while away 
the hours before it would be 
time to go out into the marsh 
for our afternoon shoot, I 
asked Louie to tell us about his most 
remarkable duck-hunting trip, the one 
that he would remember the longest of 
all in his years of experience. Louie 
meditated a moment and then pushed 
himself into a more comfortable po- 
sition. Everyone else did the same 
thing, feeling that something was com- 
ing. This is what came: 
AVG ee et happen like dese. Et was 
only las’ fall dat one of my neigh- 
bor, MackDonald, you know heem, she 
sell lumber to buil’ you a house, an’ 
his frien’ Murray, you know heem too, 
she lend you money to buil’ dat house 
—maybe. Well, dose fellow would take 
some frien’ an’ go out to shoot dose 
green-head mallard, an’ dey want me 
to take dem to de bes’ place. Dey mus’ 
have mallard, no small duck will do. 
So, I remembaire one wonderful 
place on Cheyenne Revair, south of 
Warwick. Eet es small revair an’ you 
can shoot across. De land run flat 
out almos’ to de water an’ den a drop 
almos’ straight down to de water level. 
So you can walk out vaire close to de 
duck an’ he cannot see you. An’ for 
one mile each way from you dere is 
wild rice, an’ dere is no more wild 
rice in dat countree. All de mallard 
in dat countree have to come dere. 
Page 73 
amusing yarn. 
By FRANK RORKE 
Well, w’en I am out at de garage 
to get my car ready for dat trip, 
along come Joe LeDuc from de house. 
You know Joe LeDuc? Well, Joe Le 
Duc is cousin to me an’ she want to 
go along. Well, I tell you about me. 
Now, w’en I go to shoot dose duck I 
mus’ have along men dat onderstan’ 
all about dose trip. But I mus’ be 
nice to my relations, so I ask Joe do 
she know anyt’ing about dose duck, an’ 
she say, “You should see me on Lake 
Champlain. W’y et es not’ing to shoot 
duck on Lake Champlain. Dey are so 
t’ick you don’t see de water, an’ so 
AUT VLU 
Did you ever plan an elaborate trip, say, a 
week-end of fishing or shooting, and then 
have something go wrong at the last minute 
and spoil everything P 
thereby giving Frank Rorke material for an 
You are sure to enjoy it. 
TINIE 
tame dey will not fly hardlee. I get 
sometime in one shot seven, eight, nine, 
maybe half dozen duck. You should 
see me.” 
S° I tell Joe dat she can come an’ I 
ask heem if she will bring dose de- 
coy from de garage an’ put dem in de 
car, an’ she smile vaire wide an’ laugh 
an’ say to me, “Ha ha, you t’ink I do 
not know w’at es dose decoy.” 
An’ I say, “Well, w’at es does de- 
coy?” 
An’ Joe say, “W’y, dose decoy es 
w’ere de hunter dig dat hole in de 
groun’, wit’ grass all aroun’, an’ he 
hide in dere so de duck cannot see heem 
coming. How can I bring along a hole 
in de groun?” 
So I bring dose decoy out myself an’ 
show to Joe an’ say, “Well, den, w’at 
es dese?” Joe took a good look an’ den 
she say, “W’y, dose are some of dose 
Wood Duck dat de Government say 
you cannot shoot. Only yesterday I 
read about et.” 
Right away I know dat Joe LeDuc 
make bluff to me an’ dat she know not’- 
ing about dose duck shoot. But I have 
already promise dat she can come so 
IT t’ink me maybe I can keep heem quiet 
an’ not be disgrace wit’ my friend’, 
Louie Boisvaire did, 
WV dat trip es about one hun- 
dred mile an’ Joe talk mos’ of de 
time. I ask heem w’ere is Lake Cham- 
plain an’ she tell me, not far from 
Winnipeg. Lake Champlain? Winni- 
peg? Et do not sound right, but et es 
long time w’en I go to school so I say 
not’ing. Also, I would like to fin’ out 
ef Joe can shoot so I make offer to bet 
ten dollaire dat I will shoot more duck 
than Joe. Joe say not’ing but jus’ hol’ 
out one ten-dollaire bill an’ say, “Here, 
MackDonald, will you hol’ de stake.” 
MackDonald take dat money so dere es 
not’ing for me but to give heem also 
my ten dollaire. 
Also, I would fin’ out ef Joe 
is good sport. I talk to Mack- 
Donald an’ say that I nevair 
care so much about how many 
duck, but shoot jus’ for sport, 
to be good sport, dat es all. Joe 
say not’ing. 
Vaire soon we arrive near dat 
Cheyenne Revair where I want 
to go. I get dose fellow line up 
few yards apart an’ we will 
walk vaire quiet to de re- 
vaire. Nobodee shall _ shoot 
de gun for any reason ontil 
we have arrive close to de bank 
wen de duck will go out in big 
bunch. . We mus’ be vaire careful 
as we will have only dat one chance, 
an’ mus’ get all we can w’en dose duck 
go out dat revair. Everybodee onder- 
stand, so we start out vaire quiet wit’ 
de gun loaded an’ ready. Sure enough, 
soon we can hear dat ripple sound like 
vair small stream w’ich you always 
hear w’en a great many duck feed in de 
water, an’ we know we will get some 
nice green-head. 
Ween we are about eighty yard 
from the revair, w’at you t’ink? 
Dat dam fool cousin Joe LeDuc she get 
his feet tangle wit’ somet’ing an’ down 
she fall flat on his face. An’ w’en his 
gun hit de groun’ et go off Bang! like 
whole French armee. W’en dat gun 
go off dere es noise in dati revaire like 
Niagara Fall. Green-head, hondreds, 
t’ousands, I believe me four t’ousand 
green-head get out dat revair an’ in 
one-half minute dey es scatter all over 
dat countree, in big flock, in small 
flock, all goin’ away from here, an’ 
don’ come back. Everybodee turn to 
look at me. Even Joe LeDuc turn an’ 
look at me. I wan’ to be one t’ousand 
mile from here but w’at can I do? 
(Continued on page 105) 
