INLAND DUCK-SHOOTING. 135 



He should be on the pass at day-break, as some of his 

 best shots will be early in the morning. In order to have 

 the ducks fly well, there should be a strong wind. If 

 there are several shooters on the pass, and the ducks are 

 working south, and there is a north wind, he will hear 

 some one of them say, "Mark north!" Now be on the 

 lookout! 



Here the ducks come. They are coming directly over 

 him, about fifty yards high, and flying very fast. He 

 shoots, but no ducks fall. Here comes another lot. He 

 shoots again, but they all go on. He fires shot after shot, 

 but gets no ducks. What is the trouble? He has shot 

 from ten to twenty feet behind the ducks. 



Watch that "gray -haired shooter," just below him 

 on the pass. See how the ducks fall when he shoots. 

 Almost everyone of them is killed in the air. He has 

 held his gun right. 



There is a pair of ducks going toward him. Now 

 watch. He brings his gun to his shoulder, carries it 

 from three to ten feet ahead of the first duck, "according 

 to the speed at which the ducks are flying, ' ' touches the 

 trigger, and, quick as lightning, pulls on the other. They 

 are killed in the air. He is not troubled much with crip- 

 pled ducks. 



The sportsman should bear in mind that one shot put 

 in front of the wings is worth four put three inches 

 behind the wings. Where one sportsman shoots ahead 

 of a duck, twenty shoot behind. 



Pass-shooting is different from all other kinds of 

 duck-shooting, for the sportsman will find that he will 

 oftentimes have the best shooting in the middle of the 

 day. Ducks like to trade back and forth, where there 

 are large lots of them bedded in the lakes. 



The best day's duck-shooting that I ever had did not 

 begin till 10 o'clock in the forenoon. It was at Elbow 



