Dean Rundell crouches in the marsh grass, clad in three different kinds of camouflage.

Cast skyward, his pale eyes seem drawn from the same palette as the environment.

An ammo belt filled with gleaming shotgun cartridges encircles the 28-year-old's waist.

From his neck dangle two bird callers and a device known as a 'finisher', with a sharp prong for dealing with wounded ducks.
It's garb that would draw strong disapproval, on sight, from a large portion of the populace.

It's impossible to be a duck hunter and be unaware of the almost universally negative media coverage of your kind.

For long stretches, the hunt devolves into bird watching.
Large mobs of pelicans lope past. Black swans with necks outstretched. Cormorants.

Tethered to the boat, the gun dog shivers half from the cold and half from anticipation. A Brittany, this is what he was bred for.
You get the feeling Rundell doesn't really mind the lull.
The shotgun rests between his knees, hands clasped around the barrel.

Now would be the perfect time to gnaw on some duck jerky. But it's early in the season and he hasn't made any yet.

Coming home with a feed is only part of the point.
Being outdoors is as much the pleasure.

When Rundell isn't here he is fishing, four wheel driving.

In between hunting seasons he builds nesting boxes to help regenerate waterbird populations.

This is what people miss, he says.
"Hunters are true conservationists.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-11/duck-hunting-on-lake-connewarre/9591250