GEESE SHOOTING 277 



year. I am sure that with good management, 

 some fair bags could be secured there. I never 

 spent any time there, but killed an odd one in 

 passing. 



On Manicouagan shoals and at Seven Islands, 

 geese are mostly shot from canoes or by hiding 

 near some point where the birds come up with the 

 tide; what we call here pot shots. Shooting from 

 a canoe is much preferable and flying shots are 

 often obtained. The canoe is fitted up with 

 branches of the balsam or spruce sufficiently high 

 and thick to conceal both the steerer and the shoot- 

 er. When a flock of geese is sighted, the canoe is 

 quietly urged towards them by using the paddles 

 and keeping them always in the water. Advan- 

 tage is also taken of the wind, if any, to drift 

 down on them, but it must be a very light wind, 

 as if you approach too quickly, they get suspicious 

 and fly off. If very early in the spring and 

 ice is floating about, a cotton blind is the best. 

 Shooter or steerer should also be clothed in white 

 and the head especially should be well covered 

 with a cotton bonnet. I have drifted on geese in 

 this manner almost close enough to touch them 

 with the canoe. As the season advances and 

 trees and other rubbish come down the rivers with 

 the spring floods, branches are the best for blinds, 

 and late in the fall (September and October), 

 dead grass. At the other localities mentioned, 

 principally the Great Peninsula and the Romaine, 



