HUNTING THE WARY BLACK DUCK 
IN ORDER TO OUTWIT THIS CRAFTY DENIZEN OF THE MARSH THE 
GUNNER MUST RESORT TO ALL THE SUBTERFUGE HE KNOWS 
By N. B. SMITHERS 
O N a brisk Autumn morning, just 
as the first gray streaks appear 
in the east, our old friend Mr. 
Black Duck gives a few power- 
ful strokes with his broad paddles which 
send him into the middle of the pond 
in the marsh’s fastness, where he has 
spent the night with the flock for whom 
he is sponsor and undisputed lord and 
master. Then, raising himself upon his 
tail with a series of short flaps of his 
flail-like wings, he gives a couple of long 
nasal blasts followed by a series of 
short quacks, either of greeting or de- 
fiance, depending upon his frame of 
mind at the particular time. Having 
declared himself, and gathered his clan, 
he leaves the quiet surface of the pond, 
propelled by both foot and pinion, close- 
ly followed by the lesser lights in no 
particular formation, except the big 
drake leading. 
Perhaps he will head directly for the 
open bay where the oyster boats are al- 
ready leaving their anchorage in the 
creek’s mouth and are proceeding in 
single file out of the channel, each pro- 
pelled by its power yawl lashed under 
the stern with a one-lunged kicker bark- 
ing openly into the morning haze. The 
dredges will soon be cast and wound, 
bringing up many tender mullusks and 
much succulent sea weed, dumped upon 
the surface and carried down with the 
ebbing tide, to furnish a leisurely and 
hearty breakfast for our wiley old friend 
and his flock. 
Perhaps, on the other hand, he will 
drop into another pond on his way out 
to pass the time of day with another 
bunch of his kind, spotted by his keen 
eye while upon his flight, and, perhaps, 
these same innocent and care-free ap- 
pearing fellow citizens, who quack greet- 
ings so loudly, are base deceivers and 
moored to a concealed cord under the 
surface, within easy gunshot of an inno- 
cent-looking pile of myrtle bushes, but 
that is another story. 
OlV comes the season when at 
early dazvn and dusky eve wild- 
fowl are limned against the autumn 
sky and the wide salt marshes call 
the sportsman to old paths of known 
delight. 
In this article Mr. Smithers tells 
how the duck-shooter may circum- 
vent the clever zoays of our most 
respected game bird and brings out 
clearly hozv much zve owe to the 
Migratory Bird Lazo zvhich has 
made our sport .secure . — [Editors.] 
IT is the perhaps in black-duck shoot- 
^ ing that makes the lure so irresistible. 
There are no fixed rules either of time, 
tide, or weather which can be followed 
to anything near certainty. We have sat 
in a perfect blind, by a perfect pond, on 
a perfect day for pneumonia and ducks, 
for hours and not a feather dropped in, 
while on another day so mild and clear 
we have decided that it was useless to 
go out at all and settled ourselves for 
a day of indoor sports, when an idle 
The head of a black-duck decoy should 
be exaggerated to some extent 
glance out of the hatch suddenly emptied 
the cabin, for the glance showed that 
they were dropping in the shanty ponds 
like flies and we would have some ex- 
cellent shooting after a belated start. 
As a general rule the black-duck loves 
a combination of broken marsh and open 
water and is probably the most wary of 
the duck family. It is a very rare oc- 
currence, indeed, for a sneak boat to 
scull within gunshot of one and wooden 
decoys have no attraction for him. He 
seldom skirts points or flies over land 
within gunshot and comparatively few 
are killed from sink boxes, due to the 
fact that the black-duck does not ordi- 
narily fly low over the water and the 
large stool of wooden decoys surround- 
ing a sink box do not lure him, as he 
travels in smaller flocks, seldom exceed- 
ing eight or ten. 
In order to outwit Mr. Black Duck, 
you have to work both brawn and brain, 
with plenty of both. The first thing, of 
course, is to find where the ducks are 
using. As a rule the natives who use the 
marshes as a workshop for their pro- 
fession of fishing, trapping, or hay cut- 
ting, can give you the best line upon this 
important phase, after you get under 
their skin. 
When you have selected your pond, 
or ponds, depending upon the number of 
gunners, the next thing is to build your 
blinds. Where the entire pond is small 
enough to be within gunshot from a 
small point, a single blind only should be 
placed as it is both dangerous and ex- 
tremely annoying to he compelled to 
keep one eye on a blind across the pond 
during a salvo of quick shooting and 
hope at the same time the other fellow 
is equally considerate of you. It is sur- 
prising how far a stay shot will carry, 
especially with a stiff breeze, when the 
heavy duck loads are used in a choke 
bore gun. I have had shot drop around 
me fully a hundred and fifty yards from 
the shooter, spent probably, but not 
pleasant to get in the eye. 
If possible it is always advisable to build 
the face of the blind opposite to the pre- 
vailing winds. A duck always rises and 
lights head into the wind, upon the same 
Contents copyrighted by Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 
