IN THE OVERFLOW. 333 



SHOOTING IN THE OVERFLOW. 



Wildfowl shooting in the timber is practiced in 

 many parts of the South at seasons when the rivers 

 overflow their banks and spread over the low wooded 

 country through which they pass. Sometimes the 

 shooting is done in the pleasant autumn months, when 

 the October haze covers woods and fields with its light 

 veil, or, again, it may be followed in early spring, when 

 the winds howl noisily among the tree tops amid rain 

 and snow flurries. Suitable conditions for timber 

 shooting do not always prevail, for very often neither 

 spring nor fall overflow takes place. When, however, 

 the Mississippi River does break out of banks in the 

 autumn and covers much of the low country, making 

 more accessible the acorns and the roots and the shoots 

 that the birds like so well, great sport may be had in the 

 overflowed lands, to which all the fresh-water ducks 

 resort, though the most of them are mallards. 



When such conditions prevail, if the gunner can 

 choose a stormy, windy day, when the birds find it un- 

 comfortable to sit out in the broad, open waters, and 

 can find a place in the timber where the ducks are feed- 

 ing, he is likely to have great shooting. Of course, he 

 must go thither in a boat, and usually two men go 

 together — one to paddle and the other to shoot. 



On the way through the timber many shots will be 

 had at birds sprung from the water by the approach of 

 the boat, but when the spot is reached where the ducks 



