GOOSE SHOOTING IN MANITOBA. 



H. M. LAING. 



When the autumn frosts have dispelled 

 summer and brought mellow and invigorat- 

 ing days, where is the sportsman who does 

 not begin to fidget and to cast longing 

 eyes toward the scenes of his former ex- 

 ploits, or, if caged within the town, to 

 have day dreams in which he vividly pic- 

 tures once more the details of some by- 

 gone hunt dear to his heart ? How small, 

 indeed, would be the pleasure derived from 

 the hunt if such gratification ended with 

 the quarry bagged! To the true sportsman 

 this is the least part of his joy. It is the 

 opportunity opened for those delightful 

 ruminations ; to live over again, through 

 long winter evenings, past experiences ; for 

 those confidential chats with brother sports- 

 men who have shared the same vexations 

 and joys afield; and to rehabilitate and 

 freshen those interviews with nature itself. 

 Perhaps the duck and grouse seasons come 

 and hurry by with little impression on his 

 assumed stoicism ; but wait till the gray 

 geese return from the North and get their 

 music going, night and morning, as the old 

 ganders lead their lines to the fields ! Then 

 see him cast business to the winds, spend an 

 hour or 2 in oiling and fondling his trusty 

 double barrel, and then go off for " a day 

 with the geese!" Where is the sportsman 

 who can withstand the invitation of that 

 bird of game birds ! 



The geese commence to congregate on 

 our prairies about September and stay until 

 the freeze in November. The essentials of 

 a good goose-shooting locality are open 

 prairies and proximity to lakes and sloughs. 

 Owing to perpetual molestation during the 

 fall the birds become wary and shun the 

 scrubby country, keeeping to the open, 

 where it is a grand sight to see them in the 

 mornings and evenings, going to and from 

 their feeding grounds. Immunity from 

 pursuit, when they can secure it, shows 

 them regular in their habits. They select 

 some particular locality for feeding ground 

 and thither they go on frosty mornings 

 punctually with the sun's rising ; but on 

 warm or windy mornings at daybreak and 

 frequently before it. These birds have, 

 without doubt, a .system of command 

 among them ; for in their flight they move 

 in small detachments, each under the direc- 

 tion and leadership of a wise old gander, 

 who preserves strict discipline. When not 

 disturbed or alarmed they settle, flock by 

 flock, on their chosen field, and, while their 

 sentries keep unremitting watch and ward, 

 the remainder of the flock gabble and gob- 

 ble until 9 or 10 o'clock a. m„ when the 



return flight takes place, generally in less 

 systematic order. About 3 or 4 o'clock 

 they return as in the morning and leave at 

 dusk or dark. For a night roost geese joy 

 in a sandy beach or bar, or a bit of bank 

 projecting far out into the water. 



So highly is the gray goose prized as a 

 game bird that many and various methods 

 are resorted to by sportsmen for his un- 

 doing. Of stalking, running or driving 

 with a horse, decoying on land and in the 

 water and flight shooting to and from the 

 feeding grounds, the 2 latter methods are 

 most commonly adopted as being the. most 

 successful and sportsmanlike. Happily, 

 few geese are now killed by stalking, on ac- 

 count of their wildness and watchfulness ; 

 but formerly, when they were more numer- 

 ous and less wary, hunters frequently ap- 

 proached a feeding flock by keeping con- 

 cealed behind a horse, and often secured 

 half a dozen birds by a ground shot at close 

 quarters. Running the flock with a horse 

 is a practice which some shooters resort to, 

 but it requires several men, is a trifle risky 

 for the horse, and none too satisfactory. 

 It would be useless pursuit but for the fact 

 that geese will almost never rise from the 

 ground and fly either directly with or 

 against the wind. They tack off against it 

 on an angle depending on the strength of 

 the wind. When a flock is chosen the 

 hunters slip from the rig and lie concealed 

 on the ground, some distance apart, form- 

 ing a line in the direction the geese will 

 take after rising. Then the teamster cir- 

 cles around the birds, and, approaching 

 quietly, until they take wing, dashes at 

 them from the side and often directs them 

 over the line of fire. While the horse or 

 team is running full speed over the prairie 

 or field a badger-hole may prove disastrous 

 to horse or tyiggy ; but such is the usual 

 spice of danger. 



In flight shooting, as the birds leave the 

 water the hunter must get the line and di- 

 rection of flight taken by the first flock; 

 and it is remarkable how the succeeding 

 flocks will, one after another, follow that 

 same course. The same is true of the re- 

 turn flights. 



In decoy shooting on the fields different 

 sportsmen employ different means. The de- 

 coys used are generally sheet iron, cut and 

 painted to the nearest resemblance of a 

 goose; but it is better still to have partially 

 domesticated live wild geese tethered. These 

 may be secured from some nesting place be- 

 fore or after hatching and with care be 

 raised with the barnyard fowls. The shoot- 



271 



