THE WILD GOOSE. 321 



low, and, if abundant in numbers, good shooting may be 

 had by locating upon an elevated piece of ground in line 

 with, their flight. If convenient, it is a good plan to set 

 out decoys. They may not draw them in, but they serve 

 to disarm suspicion. When the hunter is located in a 

 stubble-field, with decoys set out, these birds haVe a 

 provoking habit of bearing down on the field with the 

 speed of an express t:;ain, seemingly bound straight for the 

 decoys, but when just out of shooting distance, sheer off, 

 and alight but a short distance away. When up to such 

 tricks, carefully note from which direction most of them' 

 come, and then locate yourself 100 yards away from 

 your decoys in that direction. This will bring them 

 between you and the decoys, and give you many good 

 opportunities, if you are properly concealed and arise to 

 shoot at just the right moment. When using Canada 

 geese decoys, and they act in this manner, the novice is 

 apt to believe that if he but had decoys after their own 

 kind, they would come in readily. Well, they wouldn't 

 do anything of the kind. 



The sportsman who yearns for goose-shooting will 

 never experience its delights and pleasures to the utmost 

 until he encounters the Canadas and the Hutchins. 

 WhUe almost as wary, keen, and wild as any bird that 

 flies, they decoy readily under favorable circumstances, 

 and the sport is simply magnificent. 



As previously stated, it is probably in Dakota that 

 goose-shooting is to-day seen at its best, though by no 

 means as good as was to be had a few years ago. During 

 the years of 1880-85, the goose-shooting in Dakota was 

 grand almost beyond belief. The very few cultivated 

 fields of grain at that time — particularly during the 

 earlier years mentioned — served to attract the great body 

 of birds then in the country during their southern migra- 

 tions, and a visit to any one of them, during an afternoon 



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