A Duck-Hunting Trip 



As I expected, the ducks that 

 were inclined to fly within our range, 

 coming up the wind behind us, saw 

 our blinds and us before they saw 

 the decoys, and when we tried to 

 turn and get a shot, a sudden flare or 

 tower put them out of reach. As for 

 fair decoying, they had no notion of 

 such a thing. We killed a few ducks 

 through much tribulation; but the ir- 

 ritation of knowing that many good 

 opportunities had been lost by our im- 

 proper location more than overbal- 

 anced all the satisfaction of our slight 

 success. That my theory on the sub- 

 ject of windward decoys is correct was 

 proved when on Thursday, with a 

 west wind and decoys to the leeward, 

 we killed at the same place more than 

 twice as many ducks as we killed the 

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