462 DUCK SHOOTING. 



countries, ducks are shot in the stubble fields. In the 

 spring of the year, mallards, pintails, widgeons and 

 teal very commonly resort to the wheat fields to feed. 

 Indeed, the mallards and the pintails make regular 

 morning and evening flights, just as the geese do, and, 

 like the geese, can be depended on to come. 



In the autumn, however, the shooting in the stubble 

 fields depends largely on the season. If the fall has 

 been very wet, the mallards resort to the wheat fields 

 by thousands, but other ducks seldom put in an ap- 

 pearance. If the fields contain pools of water, the birds 

 will come in regularly in the morning and in the even- 

 ing. On the other hand, if the fields are dry, the birds 

 are likely to feed chiefly at night, coming into the fields 

 just at dusk, remaining during the night, and return- 

 ing in the early morning to the sloughs, where they 

 spend the day. If very much shot at in the stubbles, 

 they will give up feeding during the day and resort to 

 the fields at night only. Of course, now and then a bird 

 may come in the afternoon, but nine-tenths of them 

 come in at night. 



In shooting ducks in the stubble the same methods 

 are used as in shooting geese, but the ducks decoy much 

 more easily than geese. 



Blinds are of course required, and the best blind is a 

 pit such as geese are shot from. In the spring of the 

 year, however, when the ground is frozen to a con- 

 siderable depth, and a great deal of labor is required to 

 make a pit, other blinds are often prepared. Thus low 

 places in the field will have the stalks of pig weeds still 



