DUCK-SHOOTING IN THE CORN 
- The Country Duck-Hunter’s Recourse 
BY F. HENRY YORKE 
—"ET the duck-hunters of 
to-day study the flight 
of the wildfowl, the con- 
)| tour of the country, the 
effect the weather has 
2 upon the game; learn to 
"x<j-| Judge distances accurate- 
“| ly and how to arrange 
and use blinds suitable 
to various shooting-grounds. Let them 
learn ajl about decoys and the particular 
notes to call to lure the game within shot; 
learn to mark down accurately and pick 
up dead and crippled fowl with certainty 
and despatch, and they need have little 
cause to lament the scarcity of the game, 
due to drainage, and the preempting of all 
the best shooting grounds by the clubs. 
In the Middle West there are very many 
duck-hunters who are denied the use of a 
boat on river, slough or lake, and for the 
benefit of these I shall write of duck-shooting 
in the corn. 
When November days have come, hoar 
frost whitens the morning grass, cornfields 
are husked and standing stalks are broken 
and lying in every direction; ears of corn, 
dropped from the wagons, and loose grains 
are in plenty in every field the range of the 
corn-belt lands over. ‘The wood-duck and 
the blue-wing teal have passed by, the warm 
weather fowl have departed, but spoon- 
bills, pintails, green-wing teal and mallards 
are working down, driven by the Northern 
cold. Running streams and creeks are open 
whose high or timber-clad banks afford a 
protection from the keen, blustering wind; 
the cornfields provide abundance of food, 
and ducks are taking advantage of every 
secluded spot, loath to leave for a warmer 
clime. Now the country duck-hunter is 
watching for the feeding flocks and noting 
the water holes and creeks they nightly 
drop into. A heavy rain storm with a 
cold wind drives them to these places; a 

foggy morning scatters them over the 
feeding grounds, where low over the corn- 
stalks they fly and circle in search of food, 
dropping into puddle holes and low places 
to drink. 
One November evening, after an after- 
noon rain, we watched the feeding grounds 
about sundown, until darkness hid them 
from view. We saw several flocks of 
ducks rise from the corn-stalks and silently 
drop into a creek whose banks we knew 
were high and gravelly, and where running 
water was in evidence. We knew that if 
undisturbed they would remain there for 
the night and give us some shooting on the 
morrow. ‘The question was the wind, for 
that forms a very important factor. If it 
blew stiffly they would go out against it at 
an angle; if no wind blew, they were liable 
to scatter in any direction, for the feeding 
grounds lay upon both sides the creek. 
The night was cloudy, but before we re- 
tired we scanned the heavens and con- 
cluded that, although overcast, the “ Milky 
Way” was the widest and brightest in the 
southwest, so the wind would come from 
that quarter the following day. 
We started at daybreak. The morning 
was foggy and as yet with no wind, nor. 
would a wet finger record any. We 
crossed the creek some distance below the 
ducks, to prevent in any way disturbing 
them. We got upon the south side, where 
ample feeding grounds lay stretched before 
us, took up our stations about 200 yards 
apart and far enough from the creek that 
the report of our guns would not alarm 
the resting ducks. For blinds we pulled 
a few corn-stalks together, sticking a few 
in the ground, making the “hide” large 
enough to turn around in; not large enough 
to be noticeable, yet enough to shield our 
bodies when. kneeling in position. The 
swish and whistle of wings overhead, now 
and then, disclosed the fact the ducks were 
