MORSON, Ontario _ The cry came from Phil Bakken's room just before 4:30 a.m.
"Daylight in the swamp," hollered Bakken, rousing his fellow duck hunters. For good measure, Bakken reeled off a few riffs on his duck and goose calls.
The world remained pitch black outside. Spoon, Bobby Clover's 4-year-old black Lab, stirred beside his bed, stretched and yawned. Another sweet October morning had begun at the Take 'Em Club, a gaggle of seasoned hunters who spend most of five weeks each fall in a waterfowl paradise on the backwaters of Lake of the Woods.
Bakken, 68, is a Tower fishing guide who first began exploring the lake's duck-hunting potential in 1979. Clover, 67, is from Hibbing, Minn., and joined him a few years later. Casey Sunsdahl, 33, a Soudan, Minn., fishing guide, is a more recent addition to the clan, and on this trip he had invited his friend Brad Redmond, 39, of Virginia.
The camp stirred to life. The hunters shuffled around in various layers of camouflage, sipping coffee, casing shotguns, letting the dogs in and out. Sunsdahl's 8-year-old black Lab, Drake, would share retrieving duties with Spoon.
The Take 'Em Club is no exclusive camp for well-heeled waterfowlers. No buy-in is required. No dues are charged. Just chip in for food and an occasional spinning-wing mallard decoy and gas for the outboards, plus cabin rental at the Pelican Landing near Morson. You're good to go.
