Wild Fowl Shooting

The season in which this sport may be enjoyed begins with the autumn months, and because of the mis-guided laws of some states, may be continued until May first. To the true sportsman, however, it ends with the southward flight of the wild fowl -- as no one deserving the name will molest the birds on their return in the spring.

Duck shooting in the early fall is chiefly confined to fresh water marshes and to the creeks filled with lily pads, where the blue-wing teal, the beautiful wood duck, and the crafty black duck are to be found at this time. The last two varieties breed in most of our northern states, and the young birds are often seen during the summer months.

Blue-wing teal start on their southern pilgrimage as early as the first of September and afford good sport during that month. There will, undoubtedly, be more birds later, but he who loves not blustering weather will find fair sport with the early arrivals.

Let us take for example a day spent on one of our larger rivers the latter part of September. There are numerous little creeks leading back into the country filled with grass and other aquatic plants that offer tempting food and a quiet retreat for wood duck. There are flats of wild rice bordering the river where the black duck feed at night, and to which they often return during the day; and then there is a broad shallow bay, covered at low tide with eel grass, where both teal and black duck love to sit in the sun, preening themselves, or picking up snails in the shallow water.

With such hunting grounds and with the proper kind of boat, one may practise many different methods of shooting, and also become familiar with the little eccentricities and habits of the ducks.

Your boat should be a small one, about fourteen feet long, fairly beamy, but not flat-bottomed, and painted a dull green so as to be inconspicuous. A little flat cedar, in the way of a blind may be put on the bow just high enough to screen your movements when sitting low on the flooring. A paddle about three and a half feet long will be used when you are in this position, and a nine foot one when you wish to shove about through the wild rice.

Making an early start, about daylight, you paddle down to the first creek, sitting comfortably on the stern deck. Your guns being ready (two are better than one, as it is sometimes necessary to shoot quickly to secure a cripple), you seat yourself on the bottom of the boat and paddle quietly up the creek, keeping a sharp lookout as you turn each bend, and, if you are of an excitable nature, starting at every sound, for the stillness is intense, and the sudden splashing of a muskrat or the cracking of a twig in the swamp sounds very loud under these conditions.

Perhaps as you swing noiselessly around a sharp bend and the creek ahead comes into view, your eye detects a movement in the grass that borders the open water, and you let your boat drift while you watch the place carefully. Then suddenly a brown head rises, then another and another, and you are just reaching for your gun, when with a roar of wings the flock rises straight into the air, and you pick your ducks carefully, shooting quickly, and perhaps get in a shot with your second gun. One duck is crippled and gets into the swamp in spite of you. In such a case, shove your boat to the place where he disappeared, jump out and run in making as much racket as possible, and then stop and listen. Nine times out of ten you will hear him flopping along ahead of you and then your task is easy.

After leaving the creek, you shove along down the river through the nodding wild rice and will, perchance, jump a bunch of black duck or teal that have lingered from the night's feeding in the thick grass; under these circumstances you will have to move and shoot quickly, as being in a standing position, you are at some distance from your gun, which should be lying on a rest at your feet.

On reaching the bay, you go ashore on some point from which a good view is obtainable, and take a careful look around.
A pair of field-glasses comes in handy here. Perhaps you discover a flock of black ducks feeding about a quarter of a mile away. You get into your boat, sitting low, and paddle towards them. Go slowly and keep your boat from rolling or moving from side to side. When within a hundred yards or so from the flock, one old fellow may raise his head and look. The others will stop feeding and also look, sitting perfectly still. Stop your boat and don't move a hair: the slightest motion at this critical period, when the whole flock is trying to make out whether this dark bunch is dangerous or not, will spoil your chances and send the ducks off. After some minutes, perhaps, they begin feeding again, evidently being satisfied that you are harmless. Now go carefully ahead and as you approach within range watch them closely, so that you may have time to get hold of your gun when they jump. Now they all see you and will go in a second. See how they stretch their necks and turn from side to side, uncertain what to do. There you go! All together, and you have a fine chance to show your skill. This is a trying position, as you are cramped from sitting still in a small place, and if you make a good shot, so much the more credit. Of course if you can have a guide to paddle you, the shooting is much easier.

Now go over to that bunch of rushes and throw out your decoys. A dozen are enough at this season, but they should be the best made, as black ducks are always suspicious. Cork is the best material, as the decoy sits high on the water and does not roll about too much, as most cedar or hollow ones do. String them out about thirty yards from the rushes, then push your boat in, and lie low. Here patience is required, but as the scenery is beautiful, the sun bright and warm, and the air a tonic in itself, patience should come easy.

In October the southern pilgrimage of the duck family is at its hight and there should be good sport along the Atlantic seaboard as far south as the Chesapeake. Below this the shooting will be better a month later. The grandest part of the year is this, the Indian summer weather, the days of golden sunshine, the crisp, cool mornings with the white fog rising from the marshes, and hill and swamp clothed in a gorgeous garment of crimson and russet foliage. The wild rice, what there is left of it, is yellow gold, while the rushes are brown from the touch of
Jack Frost, while there is a tang in the air which enlivens.

Inland, on our larger rivers, mallards, pintail, widgeon and the other surface feeders should be plentiful, with a few of the divers to make things interesting. A good lot of decoys are necessary now -- a hundred will not be found too many -- as the birds are living in large flocks. Thirty or so black duck, fifty broadbill and the rest redhead and canvasback will make a good showing. Of course, this proportion may be varied in different localities. If there are many redheads about, a few Canada geese stool will be good, as the latter variety of duck seem to enjoy the company of the wily honkers and come to decoys better when a few of them are among the number.

When gunning for black duck, mallards, or pintail be sure that you are well hidden, as all three of these varieties are suspicious and ever on the lookout for danger. The last-named especially, is, I think, the craftiest of all the duck family, and decoys and blind must be perfect to deceive this slim and wily fellow. Widgeon and teal come to stool readily, while broadbill, redheads and canvasbacks require little concealment on the hunter's part provided he keep still. In fact the art of remaining perfectly quiet when ducks are approaching is one that must be practised by the successful sportsman, as the slightest movement by him will often spoil a good chance. A good duck-call is of the greatest assistance in decoy shooting, and the human voice when properly used can produce a better imitation than any artificial contrivance. Comparatively few sportsmen, however, can call a duck in this manner and the manufactured squawker is only a little better than nothing. Most guides can imitate the duck language and it is wonderful how expert some of them become.

Don't try to shoot over decoys alone, for various reasons. One of the greatest is that it is extremely cold work picking up a large set of stool, and a man must be used to it to do it successfully. Have a good guide, a local one who knows where the birds are living, and who makes it his business to keep posted in regard to the best points, etc.

Don't try to kill all the ducks in the locality in one day. You can't do it for one thing, and you may gain a reputation that will not be savory. No sportsman brags of the number of birds he has killed, but values a small bag made under difficulties far more than a large one that required little effort. Always watch your guide's methods and familiarize yourself with them, but don't try to give him an idea that you know more than he does. If you really do, which is not likely, it won't make him feel or work any better, and will most likely lower you in his estimation.

In our northern states by the end of November, wild fowl are scarce and the sportsman who is looking for duck shooting must follow the birds into the more southerly climes. The bleak winds and snow flurries have driven most of the duck family before them, and the waters of the Chesapeake and its tributaries, and the bayous of the Carolinas, will be found swarming with wild fowl of every variety from the stately swan to the fat little butterball.

Here, however, will also be found, as everywhere else, the sportsman in search of good shooting, the market hunter in search of shekels, and the game-hog looking for newspaper notoriety, and counting the number of the slain.

Let us try to forget these last two types for the present and deal only with the sportsman true and his legitimate methods.

On the Chesapeake and upon the waters of the many rivers that flow into it, the sink-box or battery is widely used and although well-known to most duck shooters is worthy of a brief description. It consists of a light platform made of wood and canvas, about twelve feet long by seven feet wide, in the center of which is placed a coffin-like box just large enough for the hunter to lie at full length. The top of this box is flush with the deck or platform, and, when the machine is floating on the water and the hunter lying on his back, nothing is visible to the low flying ducks. The battery is nearly surrounded by a large flock of decoys, often as many as two hundred and fifty being used. Canvasback, redhead, broadbill and other divers come readily to this device, but the habit of high flying indulged in by black duck, mallard and pintail, give them a good view of the prostrate gunner, and generally, one look is enough.

Blinds made of cedar brushes stuck in the mud in shallow water are also used with good results. On the Virginia Broadwater hundreds of these blinds are so placed and the birds become used to them and readily approach, when the presence of a flock of decoys leads them to believe that some of their own number are feeding there. This locality is especially attractive to sportsmen as brant are very plenty and goose shooting good under proper weather conditions. Black duck far outnumber other varieties, while redheads and canvasbacks are almost unknown there. This latter fact is due to the absence of wild celery which is so abundant on the flats of the Chesapeake, only a few miles away. When shooting on the Broadwater have at least one friend with you, for here the conditions are such that you will only be able to spend about half of each day in the blinds and the rest of the time will hang rather heavily on your hands without someone congenial to talk to. To have a satisfactory experience of the shooting in this locality you should give at least a week to it, and the most comfortable way is for you and your companion to engage the services of two local guides who own a sloop and live on board. These boats are not uncomfortable, and if the cook is a good one you will enjoy yourselves. Your vessel is anchored within easy reach of the best feeding grounds and should the weather be right you will have excellent shooting.

On the falling tide the birds leave the marshes and repair to the shoals where the blinds have been placed. Here having put out your decoys and pushed your flat-bottomed "sharpie" into the blind, you can stand up and shoot with great ease. It is cold work, however, as the wind has a fair chance at you; and there must be a cold wind to make good shooting. Brant come to decoys readily in such weather and are easily killed, a few shot being enough to bring them down. Geese, on the contrary, require a heavy charge of shot and plenty of powder behind it for good results. For cold and uncomfortable work, however, the battery stands unexcelled. Here there is absolutely no chance for the sportsman to move about to get his blood in circulation, and when lying down he will the pleasure of feeling water trickling down his neck and soaking through his clothes, for on a windy day the spray will splash into the box and make things very unpleasant. Point shooting over decoys is also practised in the Chesapeake Bay region, from blinds built along the shore, but it is not so successful a method as shooting from a battery, for the birds soon get to shun the points and keep out in open water. In Currytuck Sound, natives only are allowed to shoot from batteries and various modifications of point shooting are used by members of the several clubs that are located here.

A very good method for goose shooting is used on the sand spits that jut out into the sound. A pit is dug about four feet deep near the water's edge, and the sportsman seats himself on a rough bench, his eyes about on a level with the sand. Live geese are used as decoys, and often very good sport is obtained. All along our coast, from Maine to Florida the wild fowl have to run a gauntlet every fall, and from Florida to Maine, what are left of them have to go through it again every spring.

Why there is a duck left, why they have not all followed the wild pigeon and the buffalo to the happy hunting grounds is only accounted for by their remote breeding places. But wild fowl are decreasing annually and unless sportsmen get together and make a stand for wise legislation, duck shooting will soon be a thing of memory only.

The task is a difficult one, but thanks to several enthusiastic men, the feeling against spring shooting is fast becoming universal among thinking sportsmen, and let us hope that there will be so general an uprising of the clans that this objectionable law will be repealed in every state of the Union, and the birds allowed to go northward without molestation.