barrilL-house blind 

 first duck shooting trip to the South /'Aarshcs 

 was made in October, 1872. As a boy of 

 twelve years I had done a little shooting in the 

 ponds and on fly-ways at our island home but 

 never had been out on a big hunt like this be- 

 fore, as I termed it when any mention was made 

 of this trip. I found the hunting entirely differ- 

 ent on the big, open marsh than what I was 

 used to around the island. Ducks v,/ere not 

 very plentiful on the marsh that fall so my first 

 hunting trip was of short duration. A year or so 

 after this I was sitting in a trapper's shanty be- 

 hind a stove, it was a cold winter night, listening 

 to hunters' yarns and stories, told by a party of 

 deer hunters who were in camp on the island. 

 They were spinning hunters' yarns and discuss- 

 ing the excellent hunting conditions of the Kan- 

 kakee region, as two members of the party were 

 old-time hunters of the swamps for many years. 

 While the old story-teller had- stopped to get his 

 wind. Bill Jones, a marked hunter, turned to me 

 with the question: "How would you enjoy a duck 



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