of the call, or it will serve rather to frighten than to 

 attract the wild birds. 



When a flock is at a good distance, a few loud 

 " quacks " on the call will often start them towards 

 the stool. As soon as the flock has seen the stool 

 and started towards it, the calling should stop, or at 

 least be very subdued. Ducks when feeding often 

 carry on a low, chattering conversation among them- 

 selves, and many wild fowlers imitate this guttural 

 chattering sound up to the time that the birds are 

 within gun shot. 1 have often noticed that ducks 

 are not frightened much by the human voice, when 

 decoying ; and have even seen them come into the 

 stool when the unprepared hunters were laughing 

 heartily at some joke. The young sportsman, how- 

 ever, should take much pains to keep still and well 

 hidden, as the less done to take the duck's eyes 

 from the decoys, the greater the chance of success. 



PASS SHOOTING 



Point and pass shooting are very much in the 

 same class. In both cases the ducks fly by the hid- 

 den sportsman on the way to some feeding ground. 

 In point shooting decoys are used but merely to 

 attract the attention of the ducks and bring them 

 a little closer to the hunter. Ducks seldom if ever 

 come in to the decoys on an exposed point between 

 feeding grounds. This form of hunting is interest- 

 ing chiefly on account of the skill needed to stop 

 the hard flying birds at long range. It is not my 



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