September, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
493 
dog has a heavy coat which protects it 
well from the cold waters and chill of 
late fall ducking days. It is also a 
powerful swimmer and has an excellent 
nose for finding a hiding duck in the 
thickest rushes. These dogs are most in- 
telligent and, since they have an inherent 
love for the sport, they usually require 
but little training. The Chesapeake 
Bay dog, another excellent water dog, is 
often used, as are also setters which have 
been broken to duck hunting and re- 
trieving. When the shooting is done 
from a blind, the dog is trained to lie 
motionless by the side of the hunter un- 
til ordered to retrieve. At the shot and 
upon receiving the command to “fetch,” 
the faithful retriever springs forward, 
swimming rapidly through the water or 
floundering through the thick rushes, 
and soon returns bearing the winged 
duck in his mouth, which he drops at the 
feet of his master with a very evident 
air of thorough satisfaction. 
The river-ducks are shot over decoys 
from blinds on the shore and in some 
places from batteries anchored out on 
the open water, although the batteries 
are used more often for the sea-ducks 
and, as I have observed, their use in 
most places is now prohibited. Point or 
flight shooting is another method em- 
ployed in capturing the river-ducks as 
well as the sea-ducks. Sculling, and 
jumping ducks are also favorite methods. 
T HE shooting of river-ducks over de- 
coys is much the same as shooting 
sea-ducks over decoys, which was de- 
scribed in the preceding chapter on sea- 
duck shooting. The start is made at the 
same early hour before dawn so that the 
hunter may be on the shooting ground 
and concealed by sunrise. The decoys are 
put out in the same manner and the 
bliqds, constructed in various ways, are 
often the same. The blinds are of 
course, located at points advantageous 
to the taking of the river-ducks, and 
these positions may be poor ones from 
which to shoot sea-ducks, should the lat- 
ter fowl be found in the same region. 
On a lake frequented by both the sea- 
ducks and river-ducks the former will 
very often be found using certain sec- 
tions where there is deep water or where 
the food or other conditions are to their 
liking, while the latter fowl are seeking 
the shallow, grassy or marshy sections. 
However, in some localities both the sea- 
ducks and river-ducks may be shot from 
the same blind. 
The amount of success attending the 
sportsman largely depends upon the 
amount of close observation he devotes 
to the hunting ground in question. 
Ducks act differently on different 
grounds. The habits of the fowl when 
found in one locality are not necessarily 
the habits of a bird, even of the same 
species, frequenting another locality. 
Therefore, it is most important for the 
sportsman to study the ways of the ducks 
on his particular shooting ground. This 
knowledge can be gained best, if not only, 
by experience. 
The actions of the ducks should be 
closely observed and remembered before 
as well as during the shooting season. 
It should be noted on what particular 
i 
Toll from the feathered clan 
sections of the lake or marsh the oucks 
are feeding, where they are accustomed 
to spending the early and late hours, 
and to where they resort during the mid- 
dle of the day. They may be seen fly- 
ing into the lake or marsh from a cer- 
tain direction, day after day, and flying 
out by the same or perhaps a different 
route. The places where the favorite 
foods are most abundant should be 
noted. Then, too, ducks often change 
their habits to a more or less degree as 
the season advances. Sections of a 
marsh in high favor during the early fall 
may be discarded for other places as the 
rougher and colder weather comes on. 
All this should be carefully taken into 
consideration and the blind and decoys 
placed accordingly. Much shooting may 
also cause the ducks to change their 
feeding grounds or the lines taken in 
flight, and the observant sportsman will 
not remain in a blind at a given place 
merely because there was good shooting 
to be had there on some other day. 
Of course, if the sportsman is to be 
accompanied by a guide or local hunter 
who is perfectly familiar with the 
grounds and the actions of the ducks 
thereon, it is unnecessary for him to 
know these finer but all important de- 
tails of the sport. But in any case it 
is well for him to know the whys and 
wherefores. Much of the interest and 
pleasure of the day afield is to be gained 
from this knowledge and the satisfaction 
of feeling that the duck in the bag is 
the result, not only of his accurate aim, 
but of his own decision as to where the 
decoys and blind should be placed. 
T HE natural habitat of the river- 
ducks are the great marshes of the 
interior where the wild rice and the 
fresh-water reeds and rushes grow. 
Here the sportsman often shoots from, 
a permanent blind constructed of reeds 
fastened to upright wooden frames 
which inclose a space large enough to 
conceal the shooter, and located at the 
edge of some reed or rice bed, where the 
ground is solid, or some other point of 
vantage. If the sportsman is moving 
about and shooting from different posi- 
tions each day, a temporary blind is 
built of the reeds and rushes only, since 
it is unnecessary to construct it to with- 
stand the winds and storms as in the 
case of a blind which is to be used often. 
A light draft ducking boat, painted 
brown to harmonize with the dead rush- 
es, is often used for a blind. The boat 
is pushed in among the tall reeds and 
the deck covered with cut reeds to fur- 
ther conceal it. 
The decoys, painted to represent the 
most common varieties of ducks, are put 
out in the water lane in front of the 
blind, some in the open water, others in 
the short grasses near at hand. Much 
skill can be used in placing the decoys 
so that they resemble a flock of live 
birds. After closely observing flocks of 
live birds on the water, the sportsman 
will soon come to know how to put out 
the wooden decoys. 
There is excellent shooting to be had 
on many of the lakes and rivers, espe- 
cially in the marshy areas and where 
small, marshy islands dot the open 
water. Here the blinds are erected on 
the shore or on the little islands. When 
shooting on the mud flats or sand bars 
in the rivers, a water-tight metal or 
wooden box large enough to hold one 
