IN THE MARSH. se 
some eights, for cripples. There is a curious thing con- 
nected with duck shooting. Hunters in flight-shooting 
use 4’s 5’s and 6’s; over decoys, 5's, 6’sand7’s. They 
shoot a duck thirty-five yards over decoys with 5’s or 
6’s, cripple it; the duck swims off, is fully forty yards 
away before they are ready to shoot it; then they let 
drive a charge of 8’s, and although the duck is half 
buried under the water, it is killed instantly. Here is 
a problem to solve. If one can kill a duck swimming 
from him at thirty-five and forty yards, merely the top 
of its head and back exposed to view, using No. 8 shot, 
ean he not kill one flying at the same distance with the 
same sized shot, when it presents a target eight to ten 
times as large, with all its vital parts exposed? Most 
assuredly he can. You admit it, so do I; and yet, 
when we start out duck shooting, knowing we will 
shoot over decoys, we will have ten shells loaded with 
other sizes where we have one with No. 8’s. Since we 
arrived here and began placing out our decoys, and ar- 
ranging our blind, numerous flocks and pairs have 
started to come in, then sheered away, because they 
saw us. This is almost invariably the case. Don’t 
feel discouraged at this, because the hunter should take 
his time and make all preparations to suit. Discretion 
and judgment must be used in the selection of a stand, 
the setting out of the decoys and the building of the 
blind. Perhaps you think I am doing a good deal of 
talking and we are not bagging many birds. Remem- 
ber what I am telling you, for someday you will be out 
and not having me, or some other experienced person 
along, these hints and instructions will then be of far 
more benefit to you than if you bagged one hundred 
birds to-day. Mark, south! Red-heads! The wind is 
