7*4 



Field Sports in Minnesota. 



the water. In an instant, with a quacking and a terrible fluttering, 

 the well-concealed ducks spring into the air, and make a break in 

 the direction of one of the large lakes. This will bring them over 



J , and I watch them nearing the fatal stand. Now the barrel 



of his gun points upward from the clump of reeds in which he is con- 

 cealed, and two birds topple # 

 over almost before the double 

 report of his piece has drifted 

 across the puddle. This re- 

 ception has startled the flock, 

 and in considerable disorder 

 they turn only to be met by a 

 similar reception from W . 



BONDED GOODS IN TRANSIT. 



Again are they repulsed and 

 seek a new direction, which 

 brings them over my stand, 

 but such a height have they 

 attained that only one drops 

 dead to my gun. But Bill is 

 the champion, for he stops 

 three ducks with one barrel of 

 his gun, having had time to exchange his finer shot for " No. 



i," which tells with good effect at such long range. B alone 



has not soiled his gun, but by working the dogs has succeeded in 

 bagging most of the ducks killed. Fuller and Occie are sent over 

 the hill after those knocked down by Wilcox, and we are once more 

 on our way. 



To me there is not much real sport in this style of shooting, 

 though the game is large and fine ; it lacks the excitement of the 

 "pass" shooting, and many birds are lost by falling into the matted 

 reeds and grass, where the dogs have great trouble finding them ; 

 the incessant popping of the guns also has a tendency to divert their 

 attention from the careful search necessary to find skulking wounded 

 ducks. These sloughs or ponds occur very frequently upon the St. 

 Paul and Pacific and Sioux City and St. Paul railroads, and under 

 proper guidance a party of four or five will take heavy tribute from 

 each as they go along. For this kind of shooting, a Bond boat offers 

 superior advantages : composed of sheet-iron sides and a wooden 



