Photo by Robert Sloan.

Resembling scratches and dust on an old movie, rain poured down at all angles in front of the boat's spotlight. Visibility was further reduced by thick, rolling fog.

Everybody on board may as well have had his head inside a wet white pillowcase because that's what it felt and looked like.

Guided by GPS technology and the experience of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources' (SCDNR) employee, however, our boat made it safely down the South Santee River to a dock at Cedar Island on the river's north shore.

It was late January, and although the weather had been very warm and it was late in the season, I was still optimistic about my hunt.

The marsh was eerily quiet as I paddled to the blind I had drawn. Normally, duck sounds fill the air. I hoped the birds were merely hunkered down because of the rain and fog. The pothole in the marsh that held the blind was littered with pulled vegetation, an indication that the ducks -- or at least some coots -- had recently been feeding there.

The thick mat of floating vegetation reduced what little waves rippled over the pond. I put three widgeon decoys toward the outside edge of the grass where they would bob lifelike in the ripples. I did the same with three pintail decoys on the other side, and put a pair of blue-winged teal decoys in the center of the grass.

A pair of ringed-necked ducks arrived before shooting time only five yards in front of me, and departed before the big hand struck 30 minutes before sunrise. Next, a lone pintail drake decoyed nicely, only to have me whiff on it with two shots.

Ouch! Not a good way to start the morning.

My bag started to fill with a fully plumed drake widgeon that fell from a pair. The high-pitched twill of a pintail called my attention to the sky. Another lone drake was descending fast, and he hit hard, but belly-up.

A flock of five widgeons toyed with me before they landed beyond shotgun range. After about an hour, I got another drake widgeon with a shot off to the left before the action slowed.

I played with pintails the rest of the morning. They'd call. I'd call back, and with their necks craning, they'd sail right into the decoys. It was a gorgeous sight. It wasn't until a pair of green-winged teal buzzed my spread late in the morning that I saw another legal bird. The drake greenwing complemented my bag before it was time to pick up for the morning.

Herein lies the benefit of public-land duck hunts conducted by SCDNR. These hunts are, on average, good to excellent. Circumstances beyond the department's control may hinder success on any given area during a season or day's hunt, but these hunts routinely are better than freelancing it in public waters.

The Category 1 wildlife management areas (WMAs), the areas where hunters are selected by a drawing, average two to three times more ducks per hunter per day than the average waterfowler out on his own on public or private waters. During the 2006-07 season, hunters on Category 1 WMAs killed nearly three ducks per man per hunt.

There are seven WMAs that support drawn duck hunts. Most of these areas are concentrated in the Coastal Plain, but some are found in the Piedmont and near the mountains. Because of the size of some WMAs, they are broken up into smaller parcels that are hunted on different days. In all, there are 12 different locations where hunters may apply.

Of these 12 spots, the top area last season was Murphy Island at Santee Coastal Reserve WMA. Here, hunters averaged 4.28 ducks per day. Hunters averaged 3.88 ducks per day at the Cape, also located at Santee Coastal Reserve WMA, placing this area second. Santee Delta WMA East was third with 3.47 ducks per man.

Springfield/The Cut at Bear Island WMA was fourth with 3.35 ducks per hunter. Broad River WMA anchored the fifth spot, where hunters averaged 2.70 ducks per hunt.