MALLARD SHOOTING IN KANSAS 



By I. BRANCARD 



E R T A I N salt 

 marshes bordering 

 on or adjacent to 

 the Arkansas River 

 in Southwestern 

 Kansas afford some 

 remarkable duck 

 shooting. This feed- 

 ing ground draws 

 great quantities of 

 mallards, which 

 alight in their mi- 

 gratory flight, while 

 following the beds of 

 the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, re- 

 maining for a considerable period of 

 time, thereby affording some of the 

 very best duck shooting of its kind on 

 the continent. 



Up to the present day, excepting a cer- 

 tain few, the ones who have obtained this 

 shooting have been the "market 1 ' hunt- 

 ers of that section, who have been able 

 to provide for the entire State from 

 this source. It is a pity this slaughter 

 cannot be put a stop to. 



To inquire more minutely we find 

 that ten miles from the town of Great 

 Bend is the largest of these so-called 

 salt marshes, being fifteen miles long by 

 half as many wide, and is commonly 

 known as the "Cheyenne Bottoms." The 

 inhabitants say that this used once to be 

 the bed of the Arkansas River, which 

 somehow or other got turned off ages 

 ago. This has left a great marsh, or 

 meadow, pretty generally covered with 

 a dense growth of weeds and waving 

 grass to a height of one's head in some 

 places — also here and there pools of 

 stagnant water. No more ideal feeding 

 or resting grounds for ducks are else- 

 where obtainable. Early in October the 

 great flight begins, and the marsh is 

 alive with them until late in December. 

 To get the cream of this shooting one 

 must arrive on the scene of operations 



just after the first cold weather of the 

 season, prepared to rough it with the 

 professional hunters, and thoroughly 

 prepared with an outfit suitable for cold 

 and wet weather, not forgetting a pair 

 of good, high wading boots. A few 

 cigars also will not go amiss for dis- 

 tribution among the friends you will of 

 necessity make. 



If you expect to spend some' days bet- 

 ter not forget to provide yourself with 

 necessary provisions, for you will have 

 to camp out on the "Bottoms," and you 

 may make your presence all the more 

 agreeable by having something to dis- 

 tribute. So when all arrangements are 

 made you retire early in preparation 

 for a very early start on the morrow. 



Long before the break of day begins 

 your drive, taking your seat in a ram- 

 shackle Missouri buggy alongside your 

 old darky driver. You are too sleepy 

 and uncomfortable to notice much what 

 is going on about you as he urges the 

 horses on over the miserable roadbed. 

 It seems ages to you before at last you 

 are awakened from a sort of reverie by 

 a peculiar whizzing sound. overhead. It 

 dawns on your befuddled brain that 

 this must be ducks — and you are not 

 far out of the way. Yes, mallards, and 

 thousands of them, beginning their 

 early morning flight. You better hurry 

 up or you won't get any of the early 

 morning flight. But first you must find a 

 camp to shoot from, and then again, 

 will there be room for you ? Well ! you 

 must take your chances. You have been 

 told before leaving town that there will 

 be no trouble, and the horses are sent 

 forward again in the direction of the 

 first small speck you are able to make 

 out in the early morning mist. This, 

 then, is a camp. We now leave the road 

 and plunge into the weeds and water, 

 the horses floundering and splashing, 

 and the buggy going up to the hubs 



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