Pin the Tail on the Butte Sink

LIVE OAK GUN CLUB, Calif. -- We had come to a pivotal moment in the duck hunt, a moment duck hunters all over the world have hit at one time or another.

The last couple hours had been spent scratching out a couple of limits from Live Oak Gun Club in the shadow of “The Butte,” the nation’s smallest mountain range.

Lying on the floor of the blind were 13 ducks: six mallards, three widgeons, two spoon bills and two ring necks. We were one shy of the two limits needed for the blind, and we had one glaring omission for a day’s hunt in Northern California -- a pintail.

The last duck of a hunt can come easy or prolong a day, sometimes...