At first glance, this photo might give the impression that Sarah Hammell was a duck hunter herself. However a notation on the back indicates that the ducks Sarah is holding were shot by her husband John.

I imagine Sarah was enlisted to hold the gun and ducks so John could take a photo of his harvest. But that suggests she was close by during the hunt, not sitting at home while he went out.

Likely this photo was taken somewhere in the mid-Willamette Valley. There appear to be houses and barns in the distant background, so apparently this isn’t “in the middle of nowhere.” It might be that John was hunting somewhere on the McClain’s farm in Tallman, if the photo was taken after 1917.

John also hunted pheasants, as mentioned in this post.