FOREST AND STREAM 
47 
JANUAKY, 1919 
DUCK SHOOTING ON THE BORDER 
(continued from page 19) 
a pleasure to see the dog tense all over, 
his eyes shining, and his ears pricked 
up as much as to say “Here they come, 
let’s open the season right.” At the 
crack of my double the dog lit twenty 
feet from the bank, and proceeded to re- 
trieve both ducks at once, which is rather 
remarkable when you figure the size of 
the sprig duck and the mouth of a Ches- 
apeake. However, he seemed to under- 
stand the exact procedure, because he 
first picked up the whole body of the 
first bird in his mouth and then tried to 
pick up the other bird. Finding this 
would not work, he dropped the first 
bird, went over and picked up the sec- 
ond bird and brought it over to where 
the first bird had fallen. He then tried 
to pick up both birds in his mouth, and 
in his attempt tried to put the bodies 
of both birds in his mouth at once with- 
out success. He then dropped both birds 
and looked at me in a wise sort of way, 
and barked several times. I encouraged 
him and all of a sudden he seemed to 
get the idea for he picked up the head 
of the first bird in his mouth and then 
the other, and came trotting into the 
blind as proud as could be, wagging his 
tail and seeming toi say “It was a hard 
proposition, but we figured it out.” 
F or about an hour, my friend and I 
kept the birds busy working back and 
forth between our two ponds, and it was 
very excellent shooting. 
I have always said that the teal duck 
is, next to the mud hen, the most fool- 
ish of wild ducks that fly, and desiring 
to prove this again to my entire satis- 
faction, I permitted a flock of about ten 
teal to alight in my decoys. I rose up 
without firing, let them see me when 
they were only about fifteen yards from 
me. They immediately took to the air, 
circling up to the far end of the pond 
about one hundred yards when I took 
cover, they circling the pond twice, and 
lit back in the decoys about fifteen yards 
from me. I jumped up again and fired 
on them when they left, flew about a 
mile, then turned around and came right 
back to the decoys again, upon which I 
fired dropping one. I just put this little 
digression in to show the action of teal 
ducks in the range country here. All 
the other ducks are as wary in this sec- 
tion as in other places with the possible 
exception of the spoon bill who is more 
or less wooden headed, like the teal. 
As I said before, I quit shooting after 
about an hour, having twelve ducks, and 
wanting to get home for the evening. 
My friend came back from thg big lake 
with fourteen birds, and we started back 
for Marfa, after having had a very en- 
joyable shoot. It was enjoyable indeed 
to me because it was the first opportu- 
nity I had had to get out and do any 
duck shooting in the last three years. 
• There are plenty of birds in this sec- 
tion now but not nearly as many as there 
will be in November and December. We 
passed four coveys of Mexican blue quail 
on the road going in, each covey having 
from twenty-five to fifty birds. We did 
not disturb them as the season on them 
is not yet open. Previous to this I had 
seen a number of coveys of young birds, 
just able to fly. Right in close to Marfa, 
the quail shooting I do not believe will 
be especially good on account of the long 
drouth just broken by this fall’s rain. 
However, down towards the Rio Grande, 
between Candelaria and Bouquillas, I be- 
lieve therel are any number of coveys of 
blue quail, in fact, I have received re- 
( ports that they are very thick. 
Interspersed amongst the coveys of 
blue quail one often encounters what is 
known in this country as a fool quail. 
They approximate the Bob White in 
color and size, having a sort of checkered 
breast. These quail will lie at your feet 
until almost stepped on, and will then 
fly a very short distance. They are 
practically the only quail in this coun- 
try on which a man can work a dog and 
not drive him crazy. 
Down towards Glenn Springs and Ter- 
lingua in the Chisos Mountain country 
I have seen numbers of deer signs and 
also quite a number of deer. I am sure 
that when the season opens, I will be 
able to go into this country and be al- 
most certain of bringing back a buck. 
Tbe ranchers in this country tell me that 
in the low foothills of the Chisos Moun- 
tains, which are about eighty miles south 
of Marathon, Texas, there are numbers 
of black tail deer, and up on the Chisos 
themselves any quantity of white tail 
deer. In fact, a Mr. Daniels who has 
a goat ranch up on the top of the Chisos 
Mountains requested me to come up and 
hunt there as the white tail deer were 
eating up the salt set out for his goats 
practically as fast as he could put it out. 
It is a beautiful trip from Marfa to 
the vicinity of Glenn Springs by auto- 
mobile, travelling about one hundred and 
forty miles through all kinds and de- 
scription of country. Leaving Marfa 
one takes the road following the railroad 
track to Alpine, a small town twenty- 
six miles east of Marfa on the S. P. 
railroad. Passing through range coun- 
try, etc., over Paisono Pass, the highest 
point on the S. P. Railroad between New 
Orleans and San Francisco. The alti- 
tude is approximately five thousand feet. 
Arriving at Alpine, one goes south on 
the road towards Terlingua, going 
through the foothills across wide open 
flats covered with grazing Herford cat- 
tle, passing through innumerable dry ar- 
royos, and now and then encountering 
a running spring. Along this road one 
encounters the familiar figure of the 
Mexican freighter hauling his supplies 
from Alpine to the Chisos Mining Com- 
pany at Terlingua, Texas. The freighter 
is a picturesque Mexican having a large 
wagon drawn by ten or twelve small 
burros, the Mexican riding one of the 
wheelers. All along the road one en- 
counters their camping grounds where 
they lay up for the night, and where 
they feed and graze their stock. 
About thirty-five miles out south of 
Alpine, one begins to encounter the flat 
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