330 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



is our first trip out, of course it is impossible to tell just 

 what time to look for them*, but it is perfectly safe to 

 say that it will be at tlie same time as yesterday after- 

 noon, and that it will be the same time to-morrow after- 

 noon, for it is a remarkable peculiarity of wild geese 

 that they leave their roosting-'grounds and go out to 

 feed with a regularity truly wonderful. I have fre- 

 quently timed their afternoon flights so accurately that 

 I would not have five minutes to wait after setting up my 

 decoys. 



"Whoa!" 



Look at that stubble-field yonder! it's full of 'em, Just 

 as sure as you're alive. What! want to get out and 

 make a sneak on them? My dear fellow, you qouldn't 

 get within rifie-shot of them to save your life. The grass 

 is high, to be sure, but the stubble-field is much larger 

 than it looks from this distance; they are near the center 

 of it, and if you could crawl to its edge without being 

 discovered — which is extremely improbable — you would 

 still be 1.'50 yards away. Take my advice now, as well as 

 hereafter; don't ever waste your time trying to creep 

 upon geese sitting either on a stubble or in a corn-field. 

 It is an almost impossible task. 



There they go! They got suspicious at our stopping; 

 evidence to them that we were plotting them no good. 

 Lots of them, are there not? Must be a dozen or twenty 

 big flocks in that outfit. They are going to the river. 

 Let us drive over and take a look at the field. Had we 

 kept on driving, they would not have taken fiight, unless 

 we drove very close to them. When there is a chance to 

 make a sneak on them, the team must not be stopped, but 

 the shooter drop out of the wagon into the grass while 

 the team is moving; and while the team and driver 

 endeavor to retain the attention of the geese, the hunter 

 crawls up on them from an opposite direction. We 



