240 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



in the air. BANG, the shots rang out as one, and two of 

 the handsome ducks spilled from the flock, "Who 

 missed?" Sam looked rather sheepish and admitted 

 that he had not fired. Ice had frozen his safety tight 

 so that he could not pull the trigger. "If I'd only known 

 you were not going to shoot," said Claude, "I would have 

 shot another one for you." Further ar- 

 gument was checked by the appearance 

 of a slender black thread in the distance 

 above the mist. "Canvasbacks !" we ex- 

 claimed simultaneously," and headed 

 right for us." Blacker and longer be- 

 came the thread, stretched at right 

 angles to the line of flight. Soon it broke 

 up into a row of little black dots and we 

 were busily counting them as they rose 

 and fell, keeping ever in their line for- 

 mation, three hundred, if there was one. 

 Not a muscle did we move as they ap- 

 proached, the rhythmic movement of 

 their wings seeming to keep time with 

 our heart beats. "Too high, don't shoot," 

 came in muffled tones from the gen- 

 eralissimo. We dared not turn to watch 

 them as they passed directly over the 

 decoys and then over our heads, their 

 wings making music known only to the 

 wild fowler. Once over we all turned to 

 watch and see if any of them would be lured by the 

 magic of the decoys. It is exceedingly unusual to have 

 such a large flock come to decoys but often some of them 

 will break away and come back. We had seen a few 



the decoys, however, they made one of their spectacular 

 drops, we might almost say dives, for the lake and the 

 decoys. With arched wings, they rocked first to one 

 side and then to the other until instead of passing two 

 hundred feet over our heads they passed barely twenty. 

 Of course we were not ready to shoot, and we feared 



TWO NICE BRACK OF CANVASBACKS 

 The most delicious and most highly esteemed of all the water fowl. 



of them waver and crane their necks as they passed over 

 and sure enough, they had flown less than a quarter of 

 a mile when fifteen of them dropped from the flock, 

 made a big circle over the lake and headed again for the 

 decoys. Once more they were too high and we decided 

 to let them pass. When they were almost directly over 



THE COLDEST PART OF THE DAY 



Taking up the decoys is always cold work, for the hands because the wet anchor ropes soak 

 one's gloves unless the temperature is low enough to immediately freeze the ropes upon exposure 

 to the air. 



that they had seen us and would not circle again, but 

 quickening their wing strokes as they barely skimmed 

 the water north of the point, they r-^de one more big 

 circle over the lake and headed straight for the stools on 

 set wings. If excitement ever claims the 

 physical being of a man, it is at just this 

 moment when he fears the birds will dis- 

 cover the delusion before they get in 

 range and leave without giving him a 

 chance to test his skill. "Remember your 

 positions and choose your birds. Don't 

 shoot until they are in range NOW," 

 came the orders. Bang, bang. Six shots 

 rang out almost as two. At the first 

 round three birds dropped, at the second 

 but one. It is easy to pick your bird for 

 the first shot, but for the second, in- 

 stinct compels one to shoot at the nearest 

 one, and as a result, we all fired at the 

 same bird though there were eleven oth- 

 ers within easy range. Four birds had 

 dropped but as we now looked over the 

 lake only two were visible. All of the 

 diving ducks have a great deal of vitality 

 and unless killed stone dead at the first 

 shot usually dive when they hit the water and frequently 

 get away. So we jumped from the blind to be ready for 

 them when they should come up, for one cannot bear to 

 let crippled ducks get away as the majority starve to 

 death. When a crippled duck comes to the surface it 

 usually swims very low against the water, sometimes 



