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HINTS ON PUNTING TO FOWL 257 
have previously been discussed. Nothing, however, has been 
said of sailing to fowl. Sometimes a successful shot can be 
pulled off by sailing quickly, or, in a sense, suddenly, upon 
fowl. It is only under favourable conditions that sailing to 
fowl can be successful. Much depends upon locality and 
whether ships are a common sight to the fowl. Where there 
is no shipping, sailing to fowl is generally found impracticable. 
Where shipping traffic of not over-industrious a nature is going 
on, many kinds of fowl can, under favourable conditions, be 
sailed down to in a gunning-punt, and shots taken. No doubt, 
it is the deceiving size of a fowling-punt under sail which 
deludes wildfowl where shipping traffic is common. Taking a 
shot with a punt-gun when under sail must be the work of an 
instant, always to be done smartly and quickly as the punt is 
brought or swung skilfully, bows across the fowl. Here no 
time can be afforded for hesitation. Should the gun not be 
discharged in the right manner at the right moment, the 
chance of the shot will be lost, and not likely to be re- 
covered. 
Approaching fowl in a duck-punt is a matter which must be 
dealt with according to conditions (truly speaking, geographic- 
ally as well as circumstantially) as they present themselves. 
So varied may be these conditions under which a shot has to 
be taken that to deal separately with only the general ones 
would encroach too much upon the scope of these pages. More- 
over, this is a subject which is so different in each individual 
shot taken, that we very much doubt if any advantage would 
be found in detailing the various shots. It will suffice to 
note only a few of the most general, and leave others for 
the fowler himself to arrange, with the advice to watch and 
scheme, prudently, cautiously, and wisely. You can do 
nothing more. So unlike each other are different wildfowl- 
ing places around even our native shores that different methods 
_ have to be employed at nearly every place. Wecan, therefore, 
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