GOOSE SHOOTING. 2S7 



come by an old friend who lives about forty rods from 

 the river; we put up our team and then commence to 

 pitch tent, for we come prepared to camp out. While 

 working around camp we see long strings of ducks and 

 geese come sailing leisurely in from their feeding 

 grounds out on the bluffs and in the valley; old-time 

 memories are revived, and we all work with a vim to 

 get the tent up and banked and ditched around; we 

 carry hay to make our bed, and then get supper. When 

 this is all done it is too late to do any shooting. Shells 

 are gotten out, guns are examined, hunting suits are 

 laid out handy, and everything is put in readiness for 

 an early start in the morning. While all this was going 

 on, ducks and geese have been alighting in the river, 

 and several hundred geese are out on the sand-bars, 

 making merry music for our ears. The musical honk- 

 a-honk is heard after it gets dark, as some tardy mem- 

 bers come in to their roost on the sand-bars. 



We go to bed with the intention of having goose for 

 dinner next day if Dame Fortune shall see fit to send a 

 flock our way. We all arise next morning before day- 

 light, eat a hasty breakfast, don dead grass color suits, 

 and, with a dozen decoys each and a gun, sally forth, 

 going out where we know they feed in a corn or 

 wheat field. Arriving at the field, we dig a pit, place 

 the loose dirt where it won't be conspicuous, then put 

 out the decoys, and settle ourselves comfortably and 

 await the coming of a flock of honkers, or perhaps 

 ducks. We are in sight of the rim, and pretty soon we 

 see some rise up and start for the feeding grounds. We 



