Goose-shooting 2 1 1 



the high knoll in front, and that is just where 

 they were; for in a few seconds a great line of 

 birds came into view, close over the ground ; there 

 was an everlasting host of them. If we ever get 

 a shot at that line of necks! Gee! they were 

 coming head on, getting bigger and blacker every 

 minute, making such a racket you couldn't hear 

 yourself think. If there had not been two guns 

 close by, I believe I would have been afraid. 



Just about the critical moment six geese sepa- 

 rated from the crowd and came straight overhead, 

 pretty high up, and here is where I made the big- 

 gest mistake in a life of blunders: I stood up in 

 the pit and fired at the head bird. He was as 

 big as the sum total of the other five. The first 

 shot plastered him all over, the second shot did 

 likewise, but he never winced. Then there was 

 the ten-bore, he was still in range; the first I 

 don't think touched him, the second put some 

 shot in a very good place, right in his neck ; he 

 folded up clean and hit that soft stubble with such 

 a jolt it about one-quarter buried him. When 

 we finished with his execution, for all that could 

 be seen and heard, there wasn't another goose in 

 North Dakota. That was all ; Jim didn't see any 

 more geese on the west stubble. We put that 

 gander in the buggy, — he had to go in front, 

 there was no room behind. He tipped the Bos- 

 worth scales at an even eighteen pounds. 



