uld go and nosed my NuCanoe up to shore. When the water is high, it's possible to paddle all the way to the very back but with the current low water levels, I had to drag the craft about fifty feet through a beaver slide that connects the back marsh with the deeper waters that I had just navigated. Before dragging the boat through the little cut, I decided to walk over, sit down and observe the sights and sounds of this backwater wonderland. As I walked through the cut into the more shallow water, I flushed several wood ducks that were rafted close by. I set down in some brush and soon everything became quiet again. Well, not really quiet, not if one really listens!A hundred yards, behind a little island, I heard a small flock of mallards feeding on the aquatic vegetation. They were making the contented quacks that mallards make when they are in a safe, sheltered place feeding. I could hear the squeal of wood ducks, the whistle of widgeon and the deep throated buzzing sound made by gadwall in flight. I watched ducks of several species circle high over the backwaters and begin their beautiful spiraling decent to join their kind on the water. My vantage point was close to the waters edge and occasionally, I would see a crappie in the shallow water slapping its tail on the surface. Each spring during the spawn, the fish pull out of the deeper channels and stage in the shallows in the remote marsh. From this same spot a few weeks earlier, I set and watched a family of nutria playing on a little island fifty yards out into the marsh. They were engaged in a game of tag and would chase each other around the island, dive into the water, in pursuit of one of the adults. Then, they would back paddle on the surface, flipping over on their backs with their front paws exposed on their chest. I was privy to their antics for a good ten minutes, until the entire family decided to go subsurface into their den underneath the island. In the woods, behind the marsh, I heard the unmistakable squeal of feral hogs, probably a sounder made up of sows and piglets. Hog tracks were everywhere along the shoreline. I have a couple of feeders that throw corn at 6 and again at 7 pm every evening and fresh pork for the freezer is usually, but not always, obtained easily by setting on stand in late afternoon. I watch the wind and set my GhostBlind up downwind of where I expect the hogs to appear.I often stalk hogs and have killed them back in some pretty remote spots. Since the connecting gravel pits are well distributed throughout the property, I use my NuCanoe to get to areas that are next to impossible to access by foot. The craft