THE CALL OF THE GEESE 
as a rule, though sometimes they may stay 
out all day. There is no rule by which 
you can even form an opinion as to where 
they will go or how far it may be. Having 
found good feed, where they are undis- 
turbed, they are liable to keep on feeding 
there. If you discover this, there is your 
golden opportunity, for of all the many 
and various ways that of shooting from 
pits over decoys is far the most satisfactory. 
Of decoys the tin abomination is the 
most common, but they are so limber and 
wabble in such an ‘‘ungooselike” way 
in a breeze, that I prefer to make my 
decoys with an oval board shaped like 
the body for a base, with a folding leg to 
stick in the ground, and a sheet iron upper 
body, head and neck, made to fold down 
when not in use, and braced with a triangle 
of stiff wire from the body board to the 
head to keep them steady. It is best to 
paint them with a dull finish, as the re- 
flection of a shiny paint in the sunlight 
may spoil everything. Place them in as 
natural a group as possible in a prominent 
position in the field where the geese have 
been using. : 
Dig your pit among the decoys if alone, 
or place them between you if two are out. 
Some hunters prefer placing the decoys 
to windward, as the geese always light 
up wind, but occasionally they light just 
out of gunshot beyond the decoys. The 
pit should be no larger than absolutely 
necessary, and deep enough for the shooter 
to be able to crouch below the surface. 
Gather stubble, if in a stubble field, 
pulling it up here and there by the roots, 
and scatter it carefully over the dirt you 
have thrown up, placing a fringe of stubble 
and weeds all round the rim, facing in- 
ward, so that there is just about room 
for your head to project through the center. 
Put some straws in your hat, which, with 
your coat, should harmonize with the dead 
grass color of the fields in autumn. Wherever 
your pit is, imitate the surroundings 
as much as possible. Don’t be content 
with half a pit ; devote all your spare 
time to perfecting your blind. It is time 
well spent, and keeps you from becoming 
uneasy. Have patience, if the geese are 
Canadas ; don’t give up too soon. They 
are riot, as a rule, early risers, and more 
341 
than once the writer has left his plant in 
disgust and then watched, from afar, 
the geese lighting around his abandoned 
pits. 
Once three of us had been laying for 
a bunch on millet stubble, dotted with 
small stacks. The ground was _ frozen, 
so we dug into two of the stacks and placed 
the decoys between. We waited patiently, 
though nearly freezing, till 8.30 A. M. 
It then commenced to snow, and having 
about given up hope we started to run about 
to get warm, becoming more careless as 
time slipped by. We got a considerable 
distance from our blind, when all at once, 
from the opposite direction from whence 
we were expecting them, through the 
blinding snow there came the loud cries 
of a big flock. JI managed to gain cover, 
but the other fellows dove for a closer 
stack and began to dig. Immediately 
these fellows threw a veritable cyclone of 
hay into the air, and so desperately busy 
were they that they never stopped until 
about sixty old honkers’ burst through 
the rift upon a sight that would have 
scared a flock of tame goslings. And after 
it was all over it was found that they had 
both left their guns in their original blind! 
The smaller geese, particularly the white- 
fronted goose (Aunser albijrons), come in to 
feed much earlier, often before daybreak, 
and really the only safe way is to be on 
deck before it is light and to wait patiently, 
considerably longer than you wish to. 
Where geese are plentiful, flock after flock 
may come, giving barely time to round 
up the cripples between times, so you 
must keep your weather eye open all the 
time and bolt for cover like gophers upon 
the sight of a distant string. If it be snow 
geese you are after, a lot of old newspapers, 
fifty or sixty of them looped up on the 
ground, with a chunk of dirt on each side 
to keep them down, is a good way to draw 
them within range and sometimes the black 
fellows will swing your way, too, as these 
white patches can be seen a long way off. 
Now a word as to “calling.’’ A good 
‘‘caller”’*certainly can attract their atten- 
tion sometimes, and a live goose or two 
is a splendid addition to one’s outfit. 
But a tyro may often do more harm than 
good, giving what is really a cry of 
