Release Date:

October 30, 1954

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd

Summary:

Daffy Duck is determined to stop Elmer Fudd from hunting ducks, only for his schemes to bump Elmer off to backfire on him.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1306 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

Notably, Elmer is rather smart in this one as he actively foils most of Daffy’s attempts to attack him.

This is one of the few times where Daffy does his “Hoo Hoo!” laugh after he had officially moved out of his crazy screwball persona. Other instances of this occurring include “Dime to Retire” (1955), “Stupor Duck” (1956), “Don’t Axe Me” (1958), “Aqua Duck” (1963), “Moby Duck” (1965), “A Squeak in the Deep” (1966), and “Speedy Ghost to Town” (1967). Coincidentally, all except the latter are directed by McKimson.

Phil DeLara wrote this cartoon as well as animate on it, marking one of the few times a cartoon was written by an animator.

The title is a pun for “quick shot”.

The cartoon was considered for the Looney Tunes Super Stars Daffy Duck Frustrated Fowl DVD set in 2010 before being reconsidered. It was later restored for HBO Max in 2020 and later put on the Looney Tunes Collector’s Choice Volume 4 Blu-ray set in 2024.

Oddly, Daffy is seen wearing a hunter’s hat and holding a rifle like an excited duck hunter in the title card.

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

I love the rendition of “A-Hunting We Will Go” over the opening credits.

Favorite Scene:

Daffy’s only scheme that actually works, with this involving him sending a wind-up toy battleship to go up to Elmer. Elmer picks it up and calls it a “cute wittle boat” only for it to blast him in the face, causing him to look like Peter Lorre and also laugh like him.

What Happens in This One:

Out on the lake in a motorboat, Elmer shoots up at a flock of ducks flying by and is delighted to find one falling towards him and catches it in a net “Hooway! My first duck of the season! (laughs) Oh, boy! It’s a warge gween-necked mawward!” Daffy climbs in from out of the water and takes the duck Elmer shot away from him, “Stop right where you are!” He then bandages the duck before setting him free by allowing him to swim away. Daffy threatens Elmer, “Now, you listen to me, buster! If you shoot one more duck, just one more duck, you’ll be in trouble!” Not caring in the slightest, Elmer shoots at Daffy, which removes his feathers from the forehead up. “Now you’re in trouble! Prepare to defend yourself”. Daffy begins to leave by diving off the boat but before landing in the water, he gets his tail feathers shot off by Elmer (animated by Charles McKimson).

Dressed in a frogman outfit and wearing flippers, Daffy goes under the water with a corkscrew. He uses said corkscrew to drill his way into Elmer’s boat and ambush him, only for Elmer to shoot him once he sees Daffy rising up out of the water. Daffy chuckles awkwardly, “Oops. Heh, heh. Better set it into reverse”. He goes back down while turning the corkscrew the opposite way. Elmer goes to the hole Daffy made in his boat and scowls, “Ooh, that cwazy duck!” and shoots into the hole at Daffy. Having been successfully hit, Daffy’s feet stick into the air out of the water before he sinks back down (animated by Rod Scribner).

Daffy uses a smoke machine to surround Elmer’s boat with smoke and enable him to hit Elmer with a mallet unseen. After he swims up to Elmer on a wooden raft while wearing some sort of mask, his attempt to mallet Elmer is foiled by Elmer using an electric fan to blow the smoke away and allow him to shoot Daffy right in the face, destroying his mask. Daffy remarks in annoyance, “Smarty pants” and leaves (animated by Scribner).

Daffy next attempts to drop a bomb on Elmer from a hot air balloon but the bomb explodes just seconds after he lights the fuse, causing him and the destroyed balloon to fall (animated by Keith Darling).

While Elmer is using a duck call, Daffy emerges from the water wearing a scuba helmet and slips a dynamite stick into Elmer’s boat, only for Elmer to immediately put the stick into the helmet. After the explosion in said helmet, Daffy sinks back down (animated by Darling).

Winding up a toy battleship, Daffy chuckles, “If at first you don’t succeed, heh, heh, get smarter, I always say!” (animated by Scribner) Elmer takes notice of it approaching him and remarks, “My! What a cute wittle boat!” before picking it up while chuckling (animated by Darling). A cannon then emerges from the battleship and blasts Elmer in the face, making him look like Peter Lorre and also give a crazed laugh like him (animated by Scribner).

Later, Elmer has several duck decoys out, so Daffy fills a decoy of his own with explosive black powder while stating, “With my brains and your cooperation, we should make an unbeatable combination. Eh, chum?”, before swimming up to the rest of the decoys with his. With no more ducks in sight, Elmer expresses his annoyance, “Goodness gwacious, what wotten hunting awound here!”, before pulling the decoys into the boat, “Come on, decoys. Wet’s go somepwace else!” (animated by Phil DeLara) Daffy ties his decoy to one of Elmer’s and lights the explosive keg for his decoy. Unfortunately, he accidentally ties his finger to the decoy he tied the explosive one to (animated by Charles), so he also gets pulled into the boat as well. Daffy unties his finger from the regular decoy and jumps in the water to avoid the explosion. He ends up taking his decoy with him by mistake, and attempts to swim away from it to no avail. The explosion blasts him all the way to the bank at the edge of the water with his head buried in the ground. Daffy comes out unharmed and remarks, “Huh. Nothing more serious than a few minor concussions and some broken bones and stuff” (animated by Scribner).

Watching Elmer dock his boat, Daffy hides in a bucket with some dynamite and sneaks up to him while hidden. Daffy puts the dynamite next to Elmer and lights it, only for Elmer to see the explosives and put the bucket over it to muffle the explosion. After Elmer silently lets out a sigh of relief, Daffy, who’s still under the bucket, walks away, leaving a trail of feathers behind him (animated by DeLara).

Now tired out, Elmer realizes, “For some weason, duck hunting is tougher this season! I think I’ll wewax a bit! (yawns)” He takes a nap on a pillow propped up against one of the dock poles as Daffy says to him in a motherly-like voice, “Oh, sleepy-head. Wake up”. Daffy removes the bullets from the gun and then pulls Elmer’s hat down in front of his face, waking him up. “Huh? What? Oh. You again!” Daffy tells him, “Now don’t tell me you’re surprised”. Elmer becomes angry, “Why, you-!” (animated by Herman Cohen), only for Daffy to smugly dare him, “Go ahead. Shoot me. See if I give a moon and sixpence”. Elmer grabs a rifle that is not the one Daffy emptied out and shoots him with it. Irritated, Daffy yells, “No, not THAT gun! Use THE OTHER GUN! THE OTHER GUN, STUPID!” Elmer does so and manages to shoot Daffy with it anyway, giving the latter numerous holes in his beak, “Uh, yeah”. Elmer then ties Daffy up and snickers evilly, “Your goose is cooked, duck!” (animated by DeLara)

Elmer puts numerous explosives on his boat and puts the tied-up Daffy on it to get rid of him once and for all. Elmer releases the boat after lighting the fuse to the explosives, but the boat comes back to the dock and Daffy manages to jump off the boat and under the water, as the boat explodes on Elmer (animated by Cohen).

Bandaged from the explosion, Elmer has decided, “Duck hunting is too stwenuous. I’ll twy fishing for a while”. He manages to catch a small red one, “Oh, boy! A miniature wed-stwiped bawwacuda!” A large blue fish comes in out of nowhere and warns, “Stop right where you are!” He sets the red-striped barracuda free and gives Elmer a similar warning, “Now, you listen to me, buster! If you catch one more fish, just one more fish, you’ll be in trouble!” before jumping back into the water (animated by Charles). Revealed to be under Elmer’s hat during this, Daffy removes the hat and remarks, “Strong union!” before hopping away wackily and hoo-hooing (animated by Scribner).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕