Have you Auduboned?

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

A couple wild-flushing coveys were all that stood between FAN Outdoors radio host Billy Hildebrand and a prairie chicken "Audubon" last December.

Yes, that’s the big question, Have you ever Auduboned while hunting?

You’re probably thinking that’s silly and perhaps perverted, so allow me to explain.

Hopefully you’re familiar with John James Audubon, famed naturalist and “bird guy.”  He’s even got a Society named in his honor.  But old J.J. was one heck of a hunter, and he had to be. Believe it or not, feathered friends weren’t just lining up single-file barnyard style and posing for Audubon to identify and sketch. So he did what any practical researcher would have done. He shot them.

A few weeks ago, a conversation with Pheasants Forever’s Rick Young (also a heck of a hunter) led to him recounting his only Brant, which he harvested in North Dakota. It was the first time he’d ever seen a Brant outside of a bird book, and he managed to identify it, make the shot and add it to his game bag. And thus the verb of “Auduboning” was born.

I wracked my brain trying to think if I’ve ever Auduboned anything while wingshooting – making an ethical, clean kill the first time I’d ever witnessed a particular species. My closest came two Septembers ago on my first grouse hunt when I downed my first ruffed on the second flushing bird I’d ever seen – mere seconds after missing the first. Close is no Audubon, though. My best chance for Auduboning this fall will come waterfowling: I’ve never seen a Goldeneye or Greater Scaup.

So have you Auduboned? I’d love to hear about it. Keep in mind:

• You can not have previously seen the animal in the wild. For example, if you’ve never harvested a Hungarian partridge, and on your way to hunt you see a covey on the side of the road, you’re out. Even if you saw the animal as a kid when you weren’t legal to hunt, you’re out. No one said Auduboning would be easy.

• If you’ve seen an animal in captivity, a picture or a mount, that’s okay – you need a frame of reference.