HINTS ON PUNTING TO FOWL 257 



have previously been discussed. Nothing, however, has been 

 said of sailing to fowl. Sometimes a successful shot can be 

 pulled off by sailing quickly, or, in a sense, suddenly, upon 

 fowl. It is only under favourable conditions that sailing to 

 fowl can be successful. Much depends upon locality and 

 whether ships are a common sight to the fowl. Where there 

 is no shipping, sailing to fowl is generally found impracticable. 

 Where shipping traffic of not over-industrious a nature is going 

 on, many kinds of fowl can, under favourable conditions, be 

 sailed down to in a gunning-punt, and shots taken. No doubt, 

 it is the deceiving size of a fowling-punt under sail which 

 deludes wildfowl where shipping traffic is common. Taking a 

 shot with a punt-gun when under sail must be the work of an 

 instant, always to be done smartly and quickly as the punt is 

 brought or swung skilfully, bows across the fowl. Here no 

 time can be afforded for hesitation. Should the gun not be 

 discharged in the right manner at the right moment, the 

 chance of the shot will be lost, and not likely to be re- 

 covered. 



Approaching fowl in a duck-punt is a matter which must be 

 dealt with according to conditions (truly speaking, geographic- 

 ally as well as circumstantially) as they present themselves. 

 So varied may be these conditions under which a shot has to 

 be taken that to deal separately with only the general ones 

 would encroach too much upon the scope of these pages. More- 

 over, this is a subject which is so different in each individual 

 shot taken, that we very much doubt if any advantage would 

 be found in detailing the various shots. It will suffice to 

 note only a few of the most general, and leave others for 

 the fowler himself to arrange, with the advice to watch and 

 scheme, prudently, cautiously, and wisely. You can do 

 nothing more. So unlike each other are different wildfowl- 

 ing places around even our native shores that different methods 

 have to be employed at nearly every place. We can, therefore, 



