542 
FOREST AND STREAM 
October, 1920 
red. The breeze freshens and whispers 
through the tall reeds, swaying them in 
waves and ripples. Countless fragrant 
odors of grasses and late marsh flowers 
are in the air. The long, narrow water- 
lanes wind through the beds of yellow 
rice and dimly reflect upon their dancing- 
surface the fleecy clouds sailing over- 
head. The sun shines brightly but the 
air holds the crispness and vigor of 
early fall. 
A red-wing blackbird sends his song 
out over the marsh as he sways on the 
tip of a reed and from the thickly mat- 
ted rice beds comes the chatter of the 
rails. A big gray marsh hawk skims the 
rushes on motionless wings. From se- 
cluded and unseen pond holes comes the 
nasal quack of mallards and black ducks. 
There are many ducks flying about and 
dropping at intervals into the spaces of 
open water. A band of little teal flash 
by with tremendous speed. With a rush 
of wings a flock of big mallards swing 
to the decoys, their emerald heads gleam- 
ing in the sunlight. 
The vast armies of rice stalks swing 
in line and bow low their heads as the 
wind stiffens. A bank of clouds obscure 
the sun, casting a shadow over the marsh 
and softening its many colors; the air 
grows colder, heralding the approach of 
winter. 
And so the pictures change one by one, 
always charming, ever new, sometimes 
simple, often sublime, — pictures which 
the pen is helpless to describe. 
T HE mallards come well to the de- 
coys and offer splendid marks. 
However, when they have been much 
shot at they become exceedingly shy and 
upon approaching the decoys will search 
the rushes with their sharp eyes and will 
detect at once the slightest movement on 
the part of the hunter in his blind, when 
they will swing rapidly off without com- 
ing within range. Decoys unnaturally 
placed, or set out on the water on the 
wrong side of a point of marsh, or a 
conspicuously built blind will be all suffi- 
cient to turn them from the hunter’s gun. 
Of the wooden decoys, those painted to 
represent their own species are, of course, 
the most attractive to the mallards al- 
though these ducks will often come very 
nicely to other decoys, especially black 
duck decoys. Live mallard decoys or 
callers, as they are termed, are the best 
of all and flocks of them are generally 
maintained on the club preserves or 
wherever the wild birds are sufficiently 
abundant to warrant their keep. 
When traveling from one feeding 
ground to another, mallards often fly 
very high in the air and always fly swift- 
ly. Point- or pass-shooting at these birds 
is, therefore, difficult, much more so than 
when shooting over decoys. 
When jumping the mallards by push- 
ing through the marsh in a boat, the 
sportsman will also find the shots diffi- 
cult. Although the ducks often arise 
close to the boat, offering shots at short 
range, they spring straight up from the 
rushes with surprising swiftness until 
they have reached a good height, when 
they fly off. Many shots are, therefore, 
missed by shooting under the birds. 
The mallards are adepts at hiding in 
the rushes when wounded and a dog, 
usually the spaniel, trained to retrieving, 
is not to be dispensed with on many 
grounds. As I have observed before, all 
the river- or fresh-water ducks resort 
to skulking and hiding in the rushes 
when wounded, since they do not dive 
as do the sea-ducks, and the sportsman 
who is unattended by a good retriever 
will fail to find many of his crippled 
birds in the thick cover. 
The gun for mallard shooting is the 
12-gauge, full choke bored, and the best 
all-around size of shot is number 6. Num- 
ber 4 or 5 shot may be used when the 
shooting is at long range, as in pass- or 
point-shooting, but for shooting over de- 
coys or jumping the ducks in the marsh- 
es, number 6 will be large enough and a 
better spread of shot will be obtained 
with the smaller pellets. I have shot 
ducks with number 8 shot when hunting 
rail birds in the marshes, but I would 
not recommend this size for general use. 
Chilled shot should be used since its 
velocity and penetration is superior to 
that of soft or drop shot. 
U PON a most enjoyable visit last fall 
to the Blooming Grove Club in 
Pennsylvania, I found the mem- 
bers shooting number 2 and number 4 
shot at the mallards, and after watching 
the mallard shoot and also participating 
in it, I saw the wisdom in the use of so 
large sizes of shot. The shots offered 
were at extremely high flying birds, as 
they came over the top of a wood en 
route to their feeding pond, and passed 
over the shooters who were concealed in 
blinds in a clearing down in the hollow. 
Many mallards were killed but I am sat- 
isfied that few of those high flying birds 
would have been bagged had much small- 
er shot been used. This shooting at 
ducks which had been raised in captivity 
and then liberated and which were regu- 
larly baited with corn so as to insure 
their flight to the pond at the proper 
times, did not hold much interest for me. 
It seemed like rather tame sport, to say 
the least, after hunting wild mallards — 
shooting them over decoys on the bay, 
shooting them on their natural fly-ways 
and jumping them in the marshes where 
no clubs held sway. But the actual 
shooting was difficult enough, I will ad- 
mit, and the stage was set to make it 
so, hence the blinds in the hollow and 
the wooded hill over which the ducks 
would fly, maintaining their elevation as 
they passed over the shooters. 
The mallards are still very abundant 
at many places throughout the interior 
and on the coasts. The great Kankakee 
marshes of Illinois and Indiana, the tule 
marshes of California and the low-lands 
about the Great Lakes are famous for 
the mallard shooting. The birds are also 
plentiful on many of the ponds of Minne- 
sota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas, and in 
the swamps of the Southern States. In 
no place, however, are they as plentiful 
as in former years. 
The majority of mallards, like the 
other water-fowl, go far into the North 
to nest, but many remain within the 
United States. Many have been found 
raising their young in the Dakotas 'and 
in New York as well as elsewhere. Since 
spring shooting has been prohibited, the 
number of ducks of all species remain- 
ing within our borders to nest is increas- 
ing each year. The establishment of 
refuges comprising sections of marshland 
where all shooting is prohibited will also 
encourage them to nest without going 
further north, and will be the means of 
preserving the race and furnishing sport 
and food for all times to come. The 
state of Vermont has recently established 
a wild-fowl sanctuary including over one 
thousand acres of marsh and upland bor- 
dering on Lake Champlain where the 
ducks, geese and shore birds may find 
rest and food, undisturbed by guns. 
Other states already have such places 
for their game. In a recent bulletin of 
t;.c American Game Protective Associa- 
tion, 1 read an account which is well 
worth quoting here: — “Through the gen- 
erosity of Mr. F. F. Nicola, of Pittsburg, 
Pa., the State of Maryland has recently 
established a game refuge of 1,500 acres 
on Meadow and Negro Mountains in 
Garrett County. This refuge is about 
twelve miles from the town of Oakland. 
Large timber was removed from the land 
about fifteen years ago, and the second 
growth has come forward fast, and fully 
three-quarters of the refuge is timbered. 
The soil being fertile, excellent cover 
and forage are available. 
Maryland plans to follow the Pennsyl- 
vania system of placing a single strand 
of wire around the land allotted to the 
State by Mr. Nicola to show the boun- 
dary of the refuge. A warden will be 
appointed to look after the property, and 
posters put up at frequent intervals to 
warn trespassers. The property already 
harbors deer, pheasant and wild turkey. 
During the migration water-fowl fre- 
quent the streams. In addition to the 
native game already present, Maryland 
will stock this property from time to 
time, and the entire vicinity around the 
refuge will benefit from the overflow. 
Mr. Nicola has made a wonderful do- 
nation to the sportsmen of Maryland, 
and we hope that his generosity will 
prove an impetus to other philanthropic 
sportsmen who are financially able to 
make similar contributions.” 
It is such splendid action by states and 
individuals that will receive the undy- 
ing praise of all outdoor-loving men. 
