If this sounds like a title from the Onion that's because it is. As is often the case the Onion skewers with wit and very few words. The subject is not duck hunting but rather effete catch and release fishing. Below the fold for a lot of opinion.
Hunting (which includes fishing) in North America is supposed to follow a few broadly held concepts one of which is that game and fish should only be taken for a reason. Often the reason is obvious, to eat them. Other reasons are not so obvious, a check on overpopulation, a way to even out the numbers of predators and prey, even a skin to be sold on the international fur market.
Other reasons still are less valued by the general non hunting population such as trophy hunting or to score some arbitrary number of points for the record books. As long as the end result is conservation or money for conservation, wildlife managers don't pay much attention. They are after all scientists not moralists.
Catch and release fishing fits into this second category of hunting. No use is made of the fish, and no matter what anyone claims a percent of the fish will die from being hooked and landed, and many people keep them out of the water long enough for the photo certainly. The upside is that catch and release is usually practiced by people who spend a boatload of money on gear, gear that is taxed at 10% or more to pay for conservation.
I take a broad view on all types of hunting. I personally don't practice many forms for my own ethical reasons. I couldn't tell you for instance how to measure a set of horns to give their Boon and Crocket score. Many methods of hunting that are practiced where you might live are either illegal or frowned upon where I'm at. Likewise predator hunting for population control is misunderstood by people who live in areas without heavy predation. When fishing I hook em, I cook em.
How about you? Ever spent over four figures for a fly rod or three for a net?
PS go check out the Onion at the link, it's only a paragraph and it's funny as all hell. It was so good I just couldn't ruin it by stealing a line or two. Needs to be savored as a whole.