152 



FOREST AND STKEAM. 



[March 25, 1880, 



light rosy tint in the east proclaims the approach of day, 

 and we watch the mists rolling away over the waters. 

 '• Mark e-a-s-t — " echoes along the line. A pair of " old 

 white wings " arc coming swiftly along to their feeding 

 grounds, when suddenly catching sight of the boats, 

 they endeavor to cross higher up in the air. A sharp re- 

 port, and one whirls over into the water. The other, 

 BWiftly turning at the sound, skims down the line and 

 falls a victim, as he tries to cross. "Mark east ! " again 

 rings out. This time a large ilock is seen. In a moment, 

 several splash into Hie water under our fire ; while the 

 rest, utterly panic-stricken, cross and recross the fatal 

 line. The fun has commenced in earnest. Almost con- 

 stantly a rattling volley is kept up along the whole stretch 

 of boats. The birds are flying thick and fast, and you 

 soon tire of yelling "Mark! Mark!" Sometimes the 

 birds seem possessed to cross in the same place ; conse- 

 quently the lucky man, who happens to be stationed 

 there has the cream of the shooting. Often the birds 

 are wild and will turn deliberately around when ap- 

 proaching, especially so when they "have been shot at a 

 good deal during the season. Occasionally a pair of old 

 loons will come swinging along to vary the monotony, 

 but one has to have a choke-bore of the first quality to 

 stop those fellows. I have always considered them iron- 

 bound and double-ri vetted, and will never think other- 

 wise. 



Broadbill and old-wives sometimes cross the line, but 

 the former are too shy generally. The shooting does not 

 last long as a rule — say from sunrise until 9 o'clock, when 

 it is over until 4 p.m. From that time until dark very 

 good shooting may be had, but the morning's work is 

 always the best. I am speaking now of Long Mand 

 Sound especially. In other localities the time to kill them 

 best may of course be different. It is famous sport for 

 those that love duck shooting indeed, as it requires a 

 deal of cool judgment and the right kind of nerves to 

 stop those white wings as they cleave the frosty air. 

 Take my advice, those who desire a day on the "line," 

 Use a choke-bore of not less than nine pounds weight, 

 and with plenty of good powder and chilled shot you 

 will not regret your venture, Blue Bill. 



BEACH SHOOTING ON JESSUFS NECK. 



THE day was beginning to dawn on the 22d of last 

 October as the Long Island Forester Club, repre- 

 sented by five as ardent sportsmen as ever drew bead on 

 a duck, landed at Sag Harbor, a village which might be 

 compared in somnolence with the one rendered more cel- 

 ebrated by the pen of Washington Irving. It has been 

 the custom of tue L. I. F. C. to m;ike an annual excur- 

 sion to these hunting grounds about this time for the last 

 four or five years, and wore not surprised to see a wagon 

 awaiting us, and into which guns, baggage and ammu- 

 nition were piled sufficient to stock an arsenal. 



A four-mile drive through cedar woods brought us at 

 last to one of the prettiest and most sequestered hamlets 

 on Long Island, named from an Indian tribe which once 

 dwelt here, Novae or Noeg (though it is believed that the 

 former is the true orthography, and it is now known by 

 the former name). It lies nestled close by a forest which 

 extends seven miles back to Bridgehampton, fronting 

 Noyac Bay, and commands a beautiful view of Long 

 Island Sound, Peconic Bay and the sandy hills of Shelter 

 Island. 



After breakfast we strolled around the vicinity, visit- 

 ing the former friends of the club. The time passed 

 pleasantly, listening to their homely gossip or some thrill- 

 ing sea yarn spun by an old whaleman. 



When we awoke early the following morning the 

 moon, which had been shining brightly early in the even- 

 ing, bail gone down, leaving the place shrouded in inky 

 darkness, and the wind howling around the house with 

 almost winter fierceness caused many wistful glances to 

 be east at the warm beds we had just left. 



But the expectations of a great bag which we hoped to 

 get made us shake off these feelings, and we descended 

 to partake of hot coffee and rolls, after which, shoulder- 

 ing our guns, wc stumbled out on the dark road en route 

 for our destination — Jessup's Neck. 



A twenty minutes' walk brought us to the neck. This 

 singular formation of land consists of a low sandy penin- 

 sula, one hundred feet in width, extending out into the 

 sound about a mile and terminating in a promontory 

 perhaps eighty feet in height, and separating Peconic 

 Bay from Noyac Bay. Hastily collecting dried sea grass 

 we" make a circular blind about one hundred yards apart, 

 high enough to screen us from the keen eyes of the ducks, 

 and lying inside these cramped quarters we patiently 

 await the breaking of day. 



The distant gull in this early light, in his search for 

 food, appears to be magnified to the size of an eagle. Soon 

 the sun appears creeping above the horizon, and rerlect- 

 ing on water and clouds the most brilliant and beautiful 

 colors I have ever seen. A glance along the ontire beach 

 reveals nothing but heaps of sea grass, whose tops rustle 

 in the keen blasts which sweep over them. Suddenly a 

 cry is faintly brought to our ears of "Down east'ard !" 

 and peeping just over my blind in that direction I can 

 percei vc up against the sky a bunch of ducks. They are 

 rapidly nearingus, and we anxiously, breathlessly, watch 

 their course, hoping they will cross over one of our blinds. 

 They veer northwesterly and cross over Lon Edwards' 

 stand (one of the L. I. F. C.'s best shots) at lightning 

 speed, their wings going so fast they resemble the spokes 

 of a wheel in rapid motion. A puff of smoke issues up 

 from the blind, and a duck, suddenly arrested in its tre- 

 mendous velocitv of flight, leaves the flock and falls 

 heavily to the ground. It proves to be a coot, of the 

 swiftest of ducks, whose flight is computed to bo from 

 sixty to ninety miles an hour. 



Now a flock of sheldrakes appear in front, going across 

 the beach. They pass in front of my cover ; the gun fol- 

 lows their line of flight a moment and is discharged, but 

 still they keep on their course for two or three hundred 

 yards, and 1 am chagrined to think I juissed what seemed 

 go fair a shot ; but suddenly one flutters his wings in a 

 desperate effort to keep up with the rest, but in vain, and 

 then a sullen p! unge follows as the water of the bay closes 

 over it. 



A great many wounded ducks are lost here in this 

 manner. Sometimes at the turn of the tide they drift 

 aebore and are picked up next day ; but more frequently 

 they either sink, and iu their death struggles grasp hold 

 of some marine plants and never come to the surface, or 



else are carried out into the sound. One of the most diffi- 

 cult things in dunk shooting to a novice is to be able to 

 ■ i:i a. duck is within killing distance ; also Con- 

 siderable address is required so to aim as to give them the 

 coup de. grace before they could pass over this narrow strip 

 of land, and requires one who is truly a dead shot. 



But to return to our mutton — the ducks. The fusilade 

 is now general from the end of the beach to the main- 

 land. Occasionally a flock will fly along abreast the en- 

 tire peninsula receiving a whole broadside of shot, and 

 then pass on leaving their number somewhat decimated. 

 Toward 11 o'clock the flights slacken, and by 12 the sport 

 is over for that day. 



The club returned to New York, bearing as their 

 trophy of the morning's shoot twelve coots, six broad- 

 bills and five whistlers — a small bag comparatively, but 

 well earned by long and difficult shots. 



Ha rry Hunter. 



MY FIRST SHOOTING ON AU SABLE FLATS. 



IT was in the year 1865, before the Canada company had 

 any thoughts of draining the marsh country near the 

 bend of the Au Sable River, that myself and Jack R. pro- 

 posed going to the marshes for a few days for ducks, 

 which then were to be found in countless numbers in that 

 section. There were not many shooters who were famil- 

 iar with this ground then, so that we had some fine sport 

 over a ground that was almost a preserve. The Au Sable, 

 I may say, is not the stream of that name known to most 

 of my sporting brethren in the State of Michigan, but one 

 that rises somewhere in the interior of the western penin- 

 sula of Ontario, and flows into Lake Huron near a small 

 village known as Port Franks. Before reaching the lake 

 the river winds in a tortuous course to almost every point 

 of the compass, and one of these bends, encircling many 

 hundreds of acres of marsh, is known to all sportsmen 

 who go there as the Devil's Elbow. In the bend of the 

 elbow there were in olden times two lakes known as 

 lakes George and Burwell, of considerable area, shallow, 

 and partially grown up with rice and other water plants! 

 making one of the best duck grounds for its size in 

 Canada. The lakes were from one to five miles wide and 

 about seven miles in length, with an average d ■■.' 1 .1 r 

 six feet. Some distance below the bend of ~t he Civel - 

 obstruction existed, which caused the river to overflow 

 what little banks it had, and flood thousands Of aor*S of 

 the adjacent flat land to a depth of about three feet ; this, 

 like the lakes, was grown up with water plants, and in 

 stormy weather was a secure haven for ducks that had 

 been driven iu off Lake Huron and the other two lakes by 

 heavy seas and winds. For many years not more than 

 a dozen sportsmen visited this El Dorado in a season : 

 thus, as I said before, it was almost a preserve, So much 

 for our ground. 



We started from Stratford. and took with us all our pro- 

 visions, blankets, etc., sufficient for a trip of ten days, 

 although we found out afterward that we did not re- 

 quire them, as we got lodgings at the house of a French- 

 Canadian by the name of Varey, about two miles from 

 the shooting-ground. This man was one of those who 

 had settled in that place, and contrived to eke out a 

 miserable existence by shooting ducks, fishing, trapping 

 and taking in sportsmen who came there in the fall for 

 sport — not, reader, " taking them in," as that term is 

 generally understood, for he was one of the fairest men 

 in his charges I ever saw. 



My armament consisted of a single-barrel gun, some- 

 what noted about Stratford, and a double gun borrowed 

 from Joe Turner, Of happy memory, and a good weapon 

 it was. Jack carried one double "gun of large bore and 

 heavy metal. Our stock of ammunition might have 

 served a company of regulars for a week in war time, so 

 extensive was it.' and it is needless to rem ark that most of 

 it came home again. 



We arrived at our ground in the evening, after a drive 

 of sixteen miles over a rough road from the railroad 

 station, and after a good supper got things in order for 



terrific onslaught on duck: 

 night Jack was troubled in h 

 hit or too heavy to carrv. wl 



country ever shot so 

 in this "the first night 



We 



up lo 



During the 



; sleep overducks hard to 



while no twenty men in the 



ny ducks in a whole trip 



>f my first duck shootin, 



ag before day fight, an 



vaterproof and arranging sundry 

 ?seandthe good breakfast being 



or the marsh in a small skiff bc- 

 s at pulbng to k 



Idid 

 xeur- 



while 



breakfast 



boots one more coat of 

 other little details. Tl 

 disposed of, we started 

 longing to Varey, takn _, 

 Arrived there, if did not take long to run tl: 

 the cover of the rushes, and very soon the fun began. 

 With daylight the ducks flew, and up to that time I had 

 never seen so many in my life. What wonder, then. 

 that fever (whether *' buck" or "duck" I know not) look 

 me, but the flight was passed for that day before 

 my nerves got cooled down enough for mc to shoot 

 with any success. However, I soon made up for lost time, 

 and during the remainder of our stay, gave a good ac- 

 count of myself. 



We were five days on the ground . but after the 

 second, the weather got so fine that the ducks only came 

 in to feed at night, and went out in the lakes, where it 

 was impossible to get them in the daytime. After Wait- 

 ing three days more in hopes of a change, but none ap- 

 pearing, we packed up, sent a Imy for our team ami re- 

 turned once more to civilized life, after live days of rest 

 and two of good sport. Our bag, when divided, gave us 

 forty-five, nearly all mallards, BO our time was not lost. 



The expense of the trip onlv amounted to $15, 



Thus it was not ruinous and well repaid itself, and 1 

 may say, although I have been duck-shooting many 

 times since, that this was the only trip 1 ever had in my 

 life where the receipts exceeded the expenditure. 



This fine shooting ground is now only a. shadow of 

 what it formerly was, as the Canada company cut a 

 canal from the lakes to the river, about a mile "from its 

 mouth, and partially drained them out, Instead of being 

 covered with Water and rice, it is now a vast bog, impass- 

 able in many places, and during spring and fall one of 

 the best snipe grounds in Canada, especially in fall after 

 a dry summer. With the rice the ducks departed also. 

 and now not one is shot where as many hundred 

 could be killed fifteen j-ears ago. I have "been there 

 nearly every year, but it is only to Bee the glory surely 

 waning, and instead of ducks, employ my summer holi- 

 day in catching black bass, of which more at another 

 time, Au Sauble. 



Adirondack Deer Hunting.— Moiru, A. K, March 

 15th. — I think the deer the coining season will be plenty 

 in the Adirondacks, for there has not been snow enough 

 during the winter for crusting or tjllragthBrn in yards, 

 as is generally done in winter when the snows arc" deep. 

 They also will come out in good order, the weather has 

 boon so mild, and they could get at their food easily. I 

 have not heard of any being killed during the past winter 

 which is the first one that I have not for many years. 

 Adkion 0"npack. 



New Jersey— Ocean County, March Slsfc — ShootSng 

 has been poor. Ducks are plenty, but hard to get at, as 

 they will hot stool. The flight has already commenced, 

 and" thousands are i ; daily. Wilson's 



snipe are here, but are very scattering. I have seen and 

 Shot a few this week, but the strong easterly winds 

 nearly all the month have kept the tide so high that 

 walking on the meadows is very difficult. We shall have 

 plenty of good sport the first w arm days that come. 



S. K., Jr. 



Pennsylvania— Applcbachftvilte, March 23d.— 1 and 

 Mr. Townsend of Philadelphia were down around Tini- 

 cum Island the 8th Of this month, We met with poor 

 success. It was stormy nearly all the time, and the ducks 

 were very wild. £]\ we shot were over stool-ducks. 

 Snipe do "not seem to come very thick. I was down in 

 the Big Meadows last Saturday and started two snipe. I 

 think it is most too early for them, but, I hope in a week 

 or two thev will be plenty. There is any quantity of 

 quails and rabbits left from the winter. I hope by next 

 fall we will meet with good success. Pheasants are very 

 scarce. S. T. L. 



Virginia HKhsbsl—. Bedford County, Va., March 12th, 

 — This is a dead time of year in these parts as regards 

 sporting mat tors, unless one can dignify the annual flights 

 of robins by classing their migrations under that- head. 

 For want of more interesting matter we may state that 

 those birds have arrived in unusually largo numbers this 

 spring, and the heart of the single barreled Schoolboy has 

 waxed extra joyful at their abundance, and the danger to 

 those people whoso avocations lead them in the neighbor- 

 hood of grass lots around towns and other such locali- 

 ties dear to robins and their youthful pursuers is propor- 

 tionately increased. The winter in the mountains has 

 been specially favorable to the young trout, and we may 

 hope when the season opens — April 1st — to have better 

 luck than last year. 



I hear that black bass are bei 

 titles lower down the Stauntoi 

 fore known. I visited Cantab 



■aught in great quan- 

 lanoko) than over be- 

 Murdo's kennels last 

 y at work upon some 

 m of the canine aris- 



nion. 



is at last to awaken 

 lley, that hitherto have 



eek and found ths 



: young dogs, fl prj 



tocracv of diverse sections 



The whistle of the stean 



the. echoes of the James Ei 



responded only to the music of the boatmen's horns, and 

 the splendid bass fishing at the head of the river will m 

 the. course of a year or "two be more easily reached than 

 now. " Rinuwoud. 



Duck and GooSh Shooting at Gooo Ground, L. I. 

 — l-'foi-iilence, H, /., March V.!lh. — Myself and com- 

 panion, Ml. I J ., of Providence, arrived at Lane's, 

 Good Ground, L. I., on the ovrming of Mae 

 Found Mr, 1. and Mr, S. ( Of New Vork. and Mr. 

 P., of Hartford, all fine sportsmen, waiting for a 

 llight of geese, Wednesday dawned cold, cloudy and 

 windy, and as Lane said, "a, poor prospect for geese." 

 Messrs. D. and S. started early for ducks, and the rest of 

 us. four in number, took to the boxes for geese, After 



the stools were well set out and the boxes emptied of 

 water and sand, the party helped themselves to boxes 



ana waited for the game, They soon hove in sight (a 

 bunch of eight), and settled among the stools. We se- 

 cured only three of that hunch, owing partly to a miss- 

 fire from Mr, P.'s gun and the poor shooling of your 

 correspondent. We waited a long time before another 

 bunch came in sight, and when they did come, they 

 were very shy and settled a long way off; and after 

 half an bour'of skillful work of the boat, with Si. at 

 the helm. Lane thought it best to "give it; to 'em," al- 

 though a long way off. Eight shots rewarded us with 

 Seven as fine geese as over fed in the bay, and soon after 

 a black duck fell to Mr. P.'s ,1.1.. of Providence, at a very 

 longshoti and thai Wl sthe extent of the bag for the day. 

 We were nearly chilled to the bone, and returned to the 

 house through a severe snow squall. The luck, since then, 

 1 know not of. J, H. 



Nebraska Duck Shooting.— Omaha, March lfifh— A 

 pari v consisting of General Crook, Major Feney, J. 8. 

 ttollfnsand J. W. Petty left to-day at 8 a.m. for' a hunt 

 aboutfourteen miles north of Omaha. Theyretu i 



: '. p.m. with the following bag, 476 ducks, red- 

 ely; i Canada goose and i trumpeter swan, 



The same party last spring, on the Platte River, thirty 

 miles west of Omaha, bagged 138 geese. It) ducks and 3 

 sandhill cranes. General" Crook and J. S. Colli' 

 Friday, the 12th, killed and bagged 185 ducks in about 

 two hours 1 shooting at the first-named pi 



If any of the sportsmen want some good Sport this is 



the best place to come to. The fall -hooting is much 



a the spring. Parties wishing information will 



be favored « ith any reply by addressing Collins & Petty, 



Omaha. M. 



The St. Majiy's anu Okebfbekoks. — Your recent no- 

 tices of the St. Mary's ftrver and the Okeefeenoke, as 

 " happy bunting grounds." have turned the attention of 

 sportsmen already in that direction, and their experi- 

 ences, no doubt, will bring many more next your, wheu 



Of Chesser's Island will be better prepared than 

 i hem lust week. Our party consisted of two 

 Harvard men, one Long Islander, and 

 ent, As one of the party proposes a "contribution on 

 the subject, 1 Will Hot steal his thunder, but 

 frain from expressing our entire satisfaction at the trip 



own the St, Mary's River, which fai 

 our combiM 6 ■■■ pectations, and wo had all hadnrett; 

 . to the tropics. 

 The St. Mary's offers a perfect " battue " for 

 shooting, Our rifles and "shot-e. ustant re- 



quisition ; wc did not lo i lo-up-trip, baton 



the down, fifteen fell to our tiro, The Captain and 

 Engineer of the Flora are both first-cf 

 doubt have first-rate practice on this beautiful river, Al- 

 ready the banks were ablaze with all kinds of flowering 





