It actually happened, as chronicled here by James Overstreet at Bassmaster.

Overstreet, like War Eagle, is an Arkansas native and in a recent post for Bassmaster, he recounted a 2009 incident on Lake Amistad in west Texas in which a buddy of his quite literally killed a duck with his face while racing across the open water.

A sample:

He was speeding wide open across the lake, and I see him coming towards me and ready my camera to photograph him speeding by. It all happened very quickly. I’m seeing it through a large lens, which makes you lose a bit of depth perception, but I’m also hearing it.

What I see through the lens is Lowen driving his boat, then something suddenly flying through air. My first thought is his cap must have flown off.

But what I’m hearing is a sudden scream and the sound of the motor shutting down. I had been ‘panning’ the camera following him running at 70 miles per hour, so when he shut down I temporarily lost him in the lens. When I move the lens back to Lowen I see he’s holding his face in his hands. And I can also see something lying in the water directly behind the boat.

No injuries…well, except for the bird. And fortunately, Overstreet is a seasoned photographer for Bassmaster, and he captured it all on film. Read the full post and see the pictures here.