66 Hunting Trips of a Ranchman 



Care must be taken to lie quiet until the ducks are 

 near enough; shots are most often lost through 

 shooting too soon. Heavy guns with heavy loads 

 are necessary, for the ducks are generally killed 

 at long range; and from this circumstance as 

 well as from the rapidity of their flight, it is im- 

 perative to hold well ahead of the bird fired at. 

 It has one advantage over shooting in a marsh, 

 and that is that a wounded bird which drops is 

 of course hardly ever lost. Corn-fed mallards are 

 most delicious eating; they rank on a par with teal 

 and red-head, and second only to the canvas-back 

 a bird, by the way, of which I have killed but one 

 or two individuals in the West. 



In going out of this field we got a shot at a 

 gang of wild geese. We saw them a long way off, 

 coming straight toward us in a head and tail line. 

 Down we dropped, flat on our faces, remaining per- 

 fectly still without even looking up (for wild geese 

 are quick to catch the slightest motion) until the 

 sound of the heavy wing strokes and the honking 

 seemed directly overhead. Then we rose on our 

 knees and fired all four barrels, into which we had 

 slipped buckshot cartridges. They were away up 

 in the air, much beyond an ordinary gunshot; and 

 we looked regretfully after them as they flew off. 

 Pretty soon one lagged a little behind; his wings 

 beat slower; suddenly his long neck dropped, and 

 he came down like a stone, one of the buckshot hav- 

 ing gone clean through his breast. 



We had a long distance to make that day, and 



