. American game-bird shooting . s traveling, is with-out a shotgun, and is thinking more of filling his potfor the nights meal than of giving the bird a chanceto escape. Practically the only exception to this ruleis Newfoundland, where, under the name of partridge,the ptarmigan is commonly shot over dogs, and givesexcellent sport. Mr. Comeau, in his Life and Sport on the NorthShore, speaks most interestingly of the migrations ofthe willow ptarmigan, and tells of the extraordinarynumbers of them that are killed. He says: During the last two migrations, taking the bestyears, 1895 and 1904, I too
. American game-bird shooting . s traveling, is with-out a shotgun, and is thinking more of filling his potfor the nights meal than of giving the bird a chanceto escape. Practically the only exception to this ruleis Newfoundland, where, under the name of partridge,the ptarmigan is commonly shot over dogs, and givesexcellent sport. Mr. Comeau, in his Life and Sport on the NorthShore, speaks most interestingly of the migrations ofthe willow ptarmigan, and tells of the extraordinarynumbers of them that are killed. He says: During the last two migrations, taking the bestyears, 1895 and 1904, I took some trouble to try andfind out, approximately, how many birds were killedbetween certain points. During the first year men-tioned, between Mingan and Godbout, 175 miles ofcoast, 30,000 were killed; in the second (1904),14,000; and I am sure that during 1885 nearly 60,000must have been shot or snared. When a flight begins,every man, woman and boy able to handle a gun isout. To avoid accidents, which are very rare, indeed, 392. PTARMIGAN SHOOTING 393 each gun occupies a certain point or station, and shootsat all the birds that pass or alight in his vicinity. Theladies keep watch for those that may alight near thehouses. The bags vary, of course, according to theskill of the shooter and his method of shooting. Ifhe is there for business he will take all the pot can frequently get five or six in one shot. I haveseen fourteen killed in a single shot. A few willonly shoot on the wing, but there are many days whenthe wing shooter comes out ahead. The biggest bagI ever made (it was in 1885) shooting at flying birdswas eighty-two brace in one morning. At CaribouIsland, that winter, nets were tried, but they were notvery successful, more being got by shooting. Indiansfrequently snare them by setting their snares aroundwillow clumps where the birds feed. It is a very sim-ple arrangement. A twig is stuck in the snow, a twinesnare is tied to it, a very light support placed under
Size: 1242px × 2012px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecthunting, bookyear1910
