10 THE “AUD U BOW? BU Dl eee 
THE ‘DUCKS UNLIMITED’ SAGA 
A Chronicle of Pioneering Achievement 
in Waterfowl Conservation 
by KEN McCREARY 
Executive Secretary, Ducks Unlimited, Inc. 
Since time began, waterfowl have held a unique and a wonderous fascination 
for mankind. Watching flocks of migrating ducks darken the sunrise of 
a crisp autumn morning; seeing a graceful vee of geese silhouetted high 
against a yellow Harvest Moon; following a flight of mallards as they wheet 
and drop into a wind-swept marsh—all these moments are memorable and 
pulse-quickening. 
Back at the century’s beginning it was a commonplace experience— 
when the color-splashed days of fall arrived—to see massive numbers of 
ducks and geese literally blanketing the sky as they winged southward to 
traditional wintering grounds, pulled by the mysterious magnet of a 
migratory instinct. 
This breath-taking vision of seemingly endless flocks of waterfowl in 
flight was a noble heritage graciously endowed upon man by nature—a 
heritage for him to enjoy, to protect, to hand down as a legacy for the 
generations to follow. 
Those who thrilled at the awesome sight of these countless thousands 
of wildfowl gave little thought to any possibility of the skies ever becoming 
almost devoid of ducks. Yet, fantastic as the possibility seemed, within a 
few fleeting years, such a grim prospect came dangerously close to reality. 
Shortly after World War I civilization rapidly sprawled westward 
across North America. It was like a huge wave encompassing the prairie 
areas of both Canada and the U.S. Among sportsmen-conservationists there 
