'FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



367 



that our sportsmen are altogether down on 

 visiting sportsmen. Any man who will be 

 content with reasonable bags, and show a 

 disposition to be social, will be made wel- 

 come and royally treated. We will take 

 pleasure in sharing with him the best sport 

 to be had, and show him that Texans have 

 not forgotten how to be hospitable. But 

 we don't want any snob game hogs. 



Long may Recreation wave, and keep 

 its gridiron hot. 



R. S. De Loach, L. A. S. No. 1596. 



AMONG THE DUCKS ON LAKE THOMPSON. 



Sterling, 111. 

 Editor Recreation : 



Lake Thompson is in the beautiful Big 

 Sioux valley, South Dakota, and is one of 

 a chain of lakes and sloughs, nearly 100 

 miles in length and 40 in width. The 

 heavy snow of the winter of '96-97 left 

 the lakes and sloughs well filled, and the 

 following fall the waters were covered 

 with plump ducks. 



I arrived in Preston, 5 miles from Lake 

 Thompson, in good season, and chose as 

 my shooting companions Fred Look, Bert 

 Stoddard, Leon Stoddard, and John Zei- 

 ber. Mr. Zeiber was a tenderfoot like my- 

 self. Mr. Look and the Stoddard brothers 

 were considered the best shots in that sec- 

 tion. As my hunting partner I selected 

 Mr. Zeiber as about my equal in skill. 



With an abundant supply of black pow- 

 der, machine loaded shells and plenty of 

 good things to eat, we set forth in a big 

 lumber wagon, which we hoped would 

 hold all our ducks. I was as tickled as a 

 12 year old boy to think I was going with 

 crack-a-jacks who would kill birds where 

 there were none. We soon were • rolling 

 along the prairie roads, through wheat 

 fields, extending as far as the eye could 

 reach. In an hour we reached the lake, a 

 body of water dotted with rushes and cov- 

 ering several thousand acres. A half mile 

 or so from the water's edge was a former 

 boundary of the lake, a steep bank 20 to 

 50 feet high. The flat ground between that 

 and the lake was covered with tall wild 

 sunflowers. It took us some time to find 

 a place where we could get the wagon 

 down the bank. Before we were ready 

 to shoot, we heard a terrific fusilade 

 on the other side, and a cloud of ducks, 

 snipe, hawks and even bitterns, rose from 

 the water. 



It was agreed that the party should sep- 

 arate, each man choosing his own position. 

 I fancy the others were afraid Zeiber or 

 I might get rattled and shoot more than 

 ducks, and wanted to get as far from us as 

 possible. 



I took a straight cut through the sun- 

 flowers to the water, so if I killed any birds 

 I would not have to carry them far. I 



came out on a little point that extended 

 about 50 rods into the lake, which 

 was simply covered with waterfowl. They 

 were too far away to be reached by my 

 little 16 gauge and No. 6 shot. The sun- 

 flowers grew sparingly on the point, and I 

 decided to sneak through them and get the 

 greatest shot of my life. 



With cocked hammers and finger on 

 trigger, I started. When I thought I was 

 close enough to shoot, the weeds were too 

 thick to see through. While I was pon- 

 dering the situation, shooting began not far 

 from me. 



I could hear birds going over me in a41 

 directions, a confusion of ducks, geese and 

 pelicans. I crept down to the shore and 

 waited for some of them to alight on the 

 point, but none did. How was I to get any 

 ducks if they wouldn't alight? I wondered. 



Just then I saw one and then another 

 drop out of a bunch that passed close to 

 shore. That reminded me that birds can 

 be shot flying if one knows how to do it, 

 and I determined to try. I crouched in the 

 weeds until a nice bunch of blue wing 

 teal came along. They flew, as I judged, 

 about 10 yards over me, and I let them go 

 by. Then I put the sight on the bill of the 

 leader, pulled, and down he came. No. 2 

 next received my attention, and he fol- 

 lowed his leader to the ground. When I 

 retrieved them I was surprised to find they 

 had fallen nearly 50 yards from me. 



Guns were then booming all around the 

 lake. Ducks in endless number were mov- 

 ing everywhere, many of them coming my 

 way. When I put the sight on a duck's 

 bill, something dropped almost every time, 

 I was proving to myself that I could shoot 

 on the wing as well as anyone. I deter- 

 mined to shoot at blue wing teal only, 

 finding that if I fired at everything that 

 came, I could never carry my game out. 



After awhile Zeiber came to me. He 

 had fired all his shells and crippled a duck 

 with nearly every one, but they either flew 

 away or dived under water. He had not a 

 bird to show for his work. By that time 

 the firing around the lake ceased. We 

 gathered up my ducks and started for the 

 wagon. I told Zeiber he had spoiled the 

 greatest chance of my life, but I was satis- 

 fied with an even 2 dozen to my string; 

 the more so because at least 2 million were 

 left for future use. 



As each man came up, he laid out his 

 game. For the 5 guns we had 104 ducks, 

 of all kinds, from ruddy to mallard. We 

 could have killed 500 as easily. 



U. S. Smith. 



SOME OHIO LAW BREAKERS. 



Editor Recreation: Toledo ' 0hio - 



Monday, April 22, 1901, at least a dozen 

 hunters shot ducks on the Maumee river,. 



