With the rain, wind and the coldest temperatures of this fall, duck hunters are starting to bring out the decoys for repair, checking shotguns and, most of all, dreaming about the good shooting that the winter promises to bring.

I hesitate to voice too many of the rosy predictions that some of our governmental agencies or waterfowl conservationists have made about all the ducks and geese that are headed toward North Carolina's waters this winter, because these predictions haven't worked out too well in past years. I fear that a lot of these rather "rosy" predictions are just to build up false hopes to make people feel better about the taxes they've been paying for hunting licenses and permits.

Most of us older duck and goose hunters enjoy sitting around the wood stove on a cold night reminiscing about our best years of waterfowl hunting. The younger generation of waterfowlers sits dreamy-eyed listening to our wild tales of dark clouds of canvasback or bluebill ducks heading to huge spreads of wooden decoys, and wish that they could have been around to experience shooting like that. At one time, we old-timers had our evenings broadened by listening to the tales of yet an older generation of duck hunters who had even wilder tales to tell. We never get tired of listening to these waterfowl hunting stories, be they old ones or the more modern ones.

That's what piqued my interest in a new book by Tom S. Long titled, "Spent Shells along the Atlantic." Long has compiled some of the best waterfowling stories from every state along the Atlantic Flyway, added in photos from his extensive collection of duck and goods hunting photographs, and made it into a coffee table type book that's appealing to the hunters who enjoy pictures of our sport.

North Carolinians will particularly enjoy the sections about hunting ducks and geese along our state's coast. Long is intimately familiar with hunting along this area, its history and the uniqueness of the Outer Banks.

The special chapter on Ocracoke Island's waterfowling history and that lore of local guides during the market hunting days is of particular interest to the reader.

The sport lured "dude" hunters from all over the world to experience this island's unique culture as well as the hunting. Even today, Ocracoke and the Pamlico Sound is somewhere that duck and goose hunters must visit at some time in their hunting career.

Once known as the Canada Goose Capitol of the World, Lake Mattamuskeet and Hyde County is another integral part of Long's book.

Although this waterfowling area is working diligently to regain their title of being the Canada Goose Capitol the sport of hunting tundra swan has replaced the Canada goose as the most sought after waterfowl trophy to hunters.

In Long's childhood he "had run up and down the Outer Banks hunting and fishing.

Later, men like Anderson Midgett, "Stocky" Midgett, Captain O'Neal, Captain Earnal Foster and Captain Bill Foster of Hatteras taught him how to run a boat and respect the power of the sea."

Stating that "this area offers history and romance to the waterfowler as well as some of the most spectacular scenic beauty that you will ever witness while waterfowl hunting," Long takes the reader through his memories of hunting from layout rigs, shore blinds or the famed stake blinds of Pamlico Sound in a way that makes the reader wish that he too could experience. Reading and enjoying this book is a good way to whet one's appetite for the season to come.

No waterfowling book would be complete without liberal references to the carving and history of duck and goose decoys.

"Spent Shells along the Atlantic" includes photos and information on famous Tar Heel carvers such as Roy Willis of Stacy and how he carves decoys with rasp, knife and hatchet and transforms rough wood into works of art.

A member of the Core Sound Decoy Guild, Willis still carves his decoys by hand the way they've been made in our state throughout history.

No history of the gunning of waterfowl would be incomplete without recognizing the importance of the great old waterfowling clubs of the Outer Banks and Lake Mattamuskeet, although a few private duck hunting clubs of massive proportions still exist.

"Spent Shells" recognizes that "most gunning clubs in the area of Nags Head and the Pamlico Sound were small with local members.

"These groups came together in the late 1930s but there are few notable clubs from that era that still exist today."

If you'd ever like to visit one of these old waterfowling clubs that still exist it's at the Currituck Heritage Park, which is owned and operated by Currituck County on the northern part of our Outer Banks. The Currituck Heritage Park is not open for hunting anymore. It's a museum and open for tours. The still spectacular Whalebone Club is within a stone's throw of the new Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education, which is owned and operated by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

Long has written hundreds of magazine articles on duck and goose hunting across America and several other countries.

He's a certified NRA shooting instructor and a certified Florida Hunter Safety Instructor.

Although a licensed charter boat captain and waterfowl hunting guide, Long now prefers to hunt with just his son and many friends to enjoy the outdoors.

Along with the historic waterfowling stories from the Chesapeake Bay and other states of the Atlantic coast, "Spent Shells along the Atlantic" takes the reader on a wonderful tour of hunting ducks and geese where the sport originated in the entire Atlantic coast.

It is part of our national (and particularly) our North Carolina outdoor heritage.