WITH BOGARDUS AND KLEINMAN 9 
evening shoot, Bogardus said, ‘‘You’ve caught on to 
shooting ducks first rate for your first real day. You 
know now how to handle side shots and incomers and 
understand that you must always aim a little above all 
ducks when they are frightened or leaving the decoys, 
as they are then always rising in their flight as they 
fly from you. These three pointers are the three rudi- 
ments to be remembered in shooting ducks over decoys.” 
‘““How about flight shooting’”’ I asked. 
‘Flight shooting is different. The birds are flying 
high and much faster than in decoy shooting. Prac- 
tice alone can teach you how to judge distance, rapidity 
of flight, and where to aim in flight shooting; you have to 
learn from experience. Shooting to my mind is a little 
like living. Overcoming obstacles makes the man. 
Missed shots make the incentive for shooting. There 
would be little excitement if you could kill every time 
you fired.”’ 
Four o’clock found us in a marsh of reeds mixed with 
grass and open muddy places. We shot from a low 
blind of reeds. The evening flight began late but it 
was something to dream about while it lasted. The 
ducks came in flocks, bunches, pairs, and singles. Bo- 
gardus made four doubles running with my gun and at 
last owned up that for a toy it shot fairly well, although 
as he said, ‘‘I miss the bumps my shoulder gets from 
those five drams of powder in my old ten gauge.”’ 
We had nearly seventy ducks that»night and every 
market shooter thought Bogardus shot them. There was 
no game limit in those days and the man that killed the 
greatest number was the lion of the evening. 
One night after dinner, Abe Kleinman, instead of 
starting reloading shells, sat down beside me by the 
stove. I had no birds to clean or shells to load and 
