My first duck hunt at Long Point was in 1965 at the ripe old age of 16.Thankfully, I had several "mentor's" who gave me the opportunity to become involved in the sport, and without their time ,and effort I would have never have become a 'duck hunter '. My best year,s were from 1965 ,to 1975. I am not sure if it was because I had the time ,and youthfull enthusiasm to put into hunting ,or because the hunting was better. One thing I am sure of is that more ducks used the unit. There was simply more water for the birds to rest, and feed. The mid 60's were some of the lowest water levels recorded ,but there was a lot more water in the unit than there is now. It is silting in and growing over. Another thing I have noticed is that despite what appear's to be large numbers of divers ,the diver hunting has deteriorated. It seemed to me that when I started hunting the diver's utilized in the inner bay more ,small group's and single's etc. There were also a lot more Bluebill's . It seems to me that they raft up in the middle of the bay ,or the main lake and don't provide a lot of shooting opportunities. We used to have good diver shoot's out on little Rice Bay in a red Spingbok aluminum boat with a bunch of burlap bags for a blind ! A couple of dozen of the worst decoys ever made ,and we managed to get birds. (and it took a lot of shells because we could hardly hit anything )Having said that I have had many memorable hunt's over the year's ,and it all happens when you are in the right place ,at the right time.