. Guns and gunning. thehunter. 1 st, there is decoy shooting, where the hunterlies in wait for the bird with a bunch of decoys. 2nd, there is pass-shooting, where the fowlerstations himself between two large bodies of water,and shoots the water-fowl as they change their feed-ing grounds. 3rd, there is point-shooting, where the hunterkills his birds as they are following the shore oflake or sea. 4th, is the stalking, or walking up of theducks as they are feeding in some marshy lake orslough. All these methods combine many varia-tions, and afford unlimited pleasure to the sportsman. SHOOTING OVE
. Guns and gunning. thehunter. 1 st, there is decoy shooting, where the hunterlies in wait for the bird with a bunch of decoys. 2nd, there is pass-shooting, where the fowlerstations himself between two large bodies of water,and shoots the water-fowl as they change their feed-ing grounds. 3rd, there is point-shooting, where the hunterkills his birds as they are following the shore oflake or sea. 4th, is the stalking, or walking up of theducks as they are feeding in some marshy lake orslough. All these methods combine many varia-tions, and afford unlimited pleasure to the sportsman. SHOOTING OVER DECOYS There is much to be learned in decoy shootingbesides the putting out of the stool and making theblind. One of the most difficult things to master is tell-ing when a flock of ducks has approached as closeto the blind as they are going to. Often a bunchwill swing around the decoys at long range, and flyaway, only to make a large circle and come sweep-ihjli / - ^8 ^^^^ ^^os^ ^° ^^^ hunter. He who can read 52. the minds of ducks \>y their actions, must spendmany a day on the marshes. At times some birdswill swing in, giving the hunter a long but possibleshot. If he hesitates for a minute, his chance isgone; and unless they turn again, he must sit sadlywhile the flock fades to a dim line in the greatest fault committed by beginners, how-ever, is that of shooting too soon; and many asplendid shot is lost in this way. There is alwaysa moment when the decoying birds hang for a frac-tion of a section above the stool, or waver betweena desire to alight, and a suspicion of their painteddummys. A wonderful picture they make withtheir graceful necks outstretched, wings bowed, andfeet hanging; and this is the time when the huntercarefully picks out one chosen bird, and swings theold gun into line. The beginner will often find to his cost that nomatter how full of birds the air looks, the holesbetween them are still more numerous; and thatno matter how large the floc
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbe, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjecthunting
