90 HUNTING TRIPS 



the cattle, each duck, in the latter case, 

 representing the expenditure of a vast num- 

 ber of cartridges. 



Later in the fall, when the young ducks 

 are grown and the flocks are coming in from 

 the north, fair shooting may be had by ly- 

 ing in the rushes on the edge of some large 

 pond, and waiting for the evening flight of 

 the birds ; or else by taking a station on some 

 spot of low ground across which the ducks 

 fly in passing from one sheet of water to 

 another. Frequently quite a bag of mal- 

 lard, widgeon, and pintail can be made in 

 this manner, although nowhere in the Bad 

 Lands is there any such duck-shooting as is 

 found farther east. Ducks are not very easy 

 to kill, or even to hit, when they fly past. 

 My duck gun, the No. 10 choke-bore, is 

 a very strong and close shooting piece, and 

 such a one is needed when the strong-flying 

 birds are at any distance ; but the very fact 

 of its shooting so close makes it necessary 

 that the aim should be very true; and as a 

 consequence my shooting at ducks has varied 



