494 
FOREST AND STREAM 
September, 1920 
or more shooters is used for a blind. 
The box is sunk to its rim in the mud or 
sand and the shooter seats himself in- 
side, well hidden from incoming ducks. 
The decoys are put in the water nearby.- 
As I have observed, the shooting from 
sink-boxes on the sand-bars or mud flats 
is now prohibited in many places. On 
the grounds of some of the shooting 
clubs blinds are built on the open water 
by driving young trees or bushes into 
the muddy bottom to form an enclosure 
which will hold a boat. One end of the 
enclosure has a brush door to permit the 
entrance of the boat from which the 
sportsman shoots. Such blinds are pro- 
hibited in some states since they tend 
to drive the ducks from the feeding 
grounds and makes them timid and wary. 
Some of the varieties of river-ducks 
are shot with the sea-ducks on the salt 
water bays and sounds along the coasts. 
The black-duck, the mallard and the 
widgeon, as well as other river-ducks, 
are shot on salt water from the same 
blind and over the same flock of decoys 
as are the sea-fowl; but nowhere on salt 
water are the dabbling ducks as plenti- 
ful as they are on the fresh water. 
Live decoys are often used when 
shooting the river-ducks, as they like- 
wise are in sea-duck hunting. Mallards 
and black ducks are the two varieties 
almost always used since they are the 
most common ducks, the most easily do- 
mesticated and breed best in captivity, 
as well as having the loudest quack 
when calling the wild birds in. • 
The callers, as the live decoys are 
termed, are often procured by getting 
the eggs of the wild birds kept in cap- 
tivity and hatching them under hens. 
The callers are also wild birds which 
have been captured after being slightly 
wounded and which have recovered. 
They soon become very tame. 
The live decoys are, of course, the 
water by a weight and cord attached to 
the leg. They will notice a flock of wfld 
birds at a great distance, often long 
before the hunter sees them, and will 
lure the flock within range by calling. 
Their moving about, tipping up to feed 
under water and the occasional flapping 
of their wings as they stand upright also 
attracts the wild birds which are flying 
about in search of a feeding ground. 
Often a few callers are used with a flock 
of wooden decoys, but whether few or 
many, the live birds are always worth 
the expense and care attached to their 
possession. Many duck shooters who 
reside near the shooting grounds keep 
live decoys, and large numbers of the 
birds are usually maintained at the duck- 
ing clubs throughout the United States. 
A S I have observed in the preced- 
ing chapter on sea-duck shooting, 
it is of the greatest importance 
for the sportsman to remain absolutely 
motionless in the blind while the ducks 
are approaching. Should the hunter’s 
concealment be only partial when he first 
sees the approaching flock he should un- 
der no condition attempt to better it; 
instead, he should remain absolutely still. 
The fact that the ducks are headed for 
the decoys indicates that they have not 
seen the shooter, but if he lowers his 
head or in any way moves to better his 
concealment, he will be discovered at 
once. Motion is what attracts the duck’s 
eye, as it does the human eye, and, there- 
fore, by remaining motionless, even 
though only partially concealed, the 
sportsman stands a much less chance of 
being seen than he would should he move 
in the effort to hide more completely. 
When the ducks are well in over the 
decoys, and not before, is the time for the 
sportsman to shoot. In this day when 
game is fast disappearing, it is well not 
to shoot at the center of the flock where 
the birds are grouped closely in the 
a single bird flying apart from the rest 
and, having killed or missed it with the 
first shot, pick out another for the sec- 
ond barrel. In this manner two birds 
will be killed with the two shots, or if a 
pair of ducks are flying close together 
both may be bagged with the first shot, 
and a third with the second shot. Four 
birds should be the limit sought, and 
gained by shooting at two pairs of birds 
apart from the body of the flock. 
Surely this procedure is proof of the 
better grade of sportsmanship. The 
true sportsman trys to kill the bird 
aimed at instantly — “clean”, the gunners 
say. Dead birds are easily recovered, 
the wounded often escape. In shooting 
into the thick of the flock many birds 
besides those killed will receive a part of 
the charge and, wounded, get away to 
die later, a waste to man and nature. 
T HE first shot is often an easy one 
since the ducks are flying slowly 
preparatory to alighting among the 
decoys. The second shot is, however, far 
different. At the report of the gun, the 
ducks spring high into the air and in a 
few seconds are under full headway and 
out of range. The gun, therefore, must 
be aimed far in advance of the birds 
going off to the right or left, and well 
over those flying straight up. 
The shooting of river-ducks from a 
battery is the same as the method used 
for the sea-ducks which has previously 
been described. 
River-ducks are also shot from points 
or passes as they fly from one feeding 
ground to another, in the same manner 
as the sea-ducks are taken. Decoys are 
seldom used. The fowl have certain 
well-defined lines of flight and the 
sportsman’s blind must be under one of 
these. The blind is constructed of the 
surrounding cover and located in the 
marsh, or perhaps on some high field or 
by the edge of a woods — wherever the 
point of best advantage may be. 
The sportsman should closely observe 
what the ducks are doing in a given lo- 
cality. After he has discovered the 
course taken by the ducks and knows 
just when to expect the flight, he pro- 
ceeds to a chosen place and there con- 
ceals himself in his blind, well in ad- 
vance of the hour when the ducks are 
expected to pass. 
The lines of flight are not always the 
same. The wind, the weather, or much 
shooting may cause the ducks to change 
their course, and the observant sports- 
man will change the location of his blind 
accordingly so as to be within range. 
Point or flight shooting calls for much 
skill with the gun since the shots are 
usually at long range and the ducks al- 
ways under full headway when they 
pass, often high in the air. Most of the 
river-ducks fly with great rapidity and 
when shooting on a pass the gun must 
be aimed and kept swinging well ahead 
of the bird to insure a kill. It requires 
much practice to correctly estimate the 
speed and distance of a passing duck. 
The sportsman unaccustomed to this 
long range shooting at a swiftly moving 
target will use many shells before he can 
bring himself to “lead” the bird a suffi- 
A lull in the flight of ducks affords an opportunity to look around 
