POINT SHOOTING. 405 



The man who sits all day in his blind is likely to have 

 some of these moving flocks of geese pass near him, 

 and sometimes they may fly so close that he will have 

 an opportunity to shoot into them, and to pick a bird 

 or two down from the sky. If he has a couple of goose 

 decoys in the water, and if his boatman is a good caller, 

 his chance for a shot is, of course, much better. It is 

 extremely interesting to see the boatman call down a 

 goose and to watch the actions of the deluded bird as 

 it swings lower and lower in wide circles, and at length, 

 with outstretched neck and hanging feet, comes up over 

 the decoys to join its supposed comrades at their head. 

 When the bird is distant the men fairly shriek out their 

 calls, but as it gets nearer and nearer their voices are 

 lowered, their heads are bent toward the earth, perhaps 

 they place their hands or their hats in front of their 

 mouths. The conversations which they hold with each 

 other and with the goose are no longer shrill and loud- 

 voiced honks, but are chuckling confidences which the 

 supposed geese on the water are sharing with one an- 

 other. The incoming bird still calls with loud, sonor- 

 ous tones, as if anxious to attract the attention of the 

 wooden decoys, but as he gets nearer and nearer, the 

 talk of the men becomes still lower, until at last, when 

 the gunner jumps to his feet and levels his arm, it 

 ceases altogether. 



Let no one imagine that because the goose is a great 

 bird nearly 4 feet long, and apparently of slow and 

 unwieldy flight, it is a matter of course that he will kill 

 him. I confidently assert that there is nearly as much 



