January, 1919 
FOREST AND S T R E A M 
19 
Another advertised product gave no re- 
sults, whatever. When used within a few 
feet of a runaway, the fur bearers did 
not travel it for days afterwards. Test 
after test was made with the same re- 
sult. Hence, it is evident in buying de- 
coys that one must know what to select 
and what to let alone. Some baits are 
made to sell rather than draw fur bear- 
ers. Remember this when tempted to 
part with the price of them. 
Never use an attractor unless the set 
cannot be made without it. The begin- 
ner imagines that unless he has some 
kind of lure he will not catch fur. While 
it is admitted that competition is keen 
among pelt hunters, that farms and vil- 
lages supply considerable food for the 
animals, most of the methods employed 
by professionals call for little or no bait. 
And in connection with this, I might add 
that those who have had no experience 
taking hides seem to imagine that the 
bigger the decoy, the more successful 
they will be. To illustrate, one Michigan 
trapper invariably used not less than one 
muskrat for each mink set, but as soon 
as he employed an eighth or a tenth, his 
catch increased. Of course what is true 
in this case would not be for skunk and 
civet. In fact the carcass of a steer 
might prove better than any part of it. 
One must, as stated before, know the 
habits of the animals he would trap be- 
fore he can make an intelligent selec- 
tion of decoys. 
Laughable as it may seem, one ambi- 
tious pelt hunter had carefully saved 
pieces of bacon rind and securely wired 
them to the pans of his traps. Best of 
all he was after foxes, one of the very 
hardest animals to draw, with lures 
which, as he soberly assured me, were 
permanent for the season. No amount 
of explanation would convince this no- 
vice that his methods were entirely 
wrong. It is safe to assume that he has 
never flooded the raw fur market. 
A piece of white paper or cloth a 
few inches above the water, will 
often attract the muskrat. I have 
known this decoy to get hides when all 
others failed. 
Those who have their trapping grounds 
to themselves often make a practice of 
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 44) 
DUCK SHOOTING ON THE MEXICAN BORDER 
THE FIRST FLIGHT OF DUCKS SOUTH CONSISTS OF OUR iSMALL 
FRIEND. THE BLUE-WINGED TEAL, AND THE SPOON-BILL 
By LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN A. CONSIDINE 
Crawford’s Ranch in Fresno Canon, on Marfa-Lajitas road 
T he duck 
season op- 
ened here 
October 16th, 
and as you 
might expect I 
was out bright 
and early to 
welcome the 
birds. I h a V e 
noticed for the 
past month a 
number of ducks 
sitting on the 
ponds, and fly- 
ing south over 
this country in 
great numbers. 
A great many 
ducks, thou- 
sands of them 
in fact, have 
passed over this 
range country 
going south into 
Mexico, and 
quite a few of them make this country, 
between the Southern Pacific Railroad 
and the Rio Grande, one of their stop- 
ping places in their long flight from the 
north to Central Mexico. 
The artificial tanks and ponds used 
for watering cattle on the range at pres- 
ent are covered with various species of 
ducks, mostly all varieties of teal, blue- 
wing, greenwing and cinnamon teal, 
quite a number of sprigs and what is 
knowm in this country as a grey duck. 
The grey duck is about the size and 
confirmation of a mallard. There are a 
few mallards in but not in any great 
numbers, though we expect to find more 
in later on in the season. 
As is usual in this country, the first 
flight of ducks south consists of our 
small friend the blue-winged teal and the 
spoon bill. Quite a few of these are now 
in on the lakes and ponds in the district. 
Having seen a great number of ducks 
HIS account of duck shooting 
in Texas is part of a personal 
letter from Lieut.-Col. Considine. 
Its interest to sportsmen and the 
fund of timely information it con- 
tains warrant this presentation of 
it to our readers. — [Editors.] 
that come through here, and noting them 
on the various ponds, etc., and having 
located about where I wanted to hunt, 
on the afternoon of the 16th I got out 
my trusty gun, called to my old Ches- 
apeake, jumped in a car and lit out from 
Marfa in the direction of the river. I 
went down in the general direction of 
Terlingua, Texas, on the old Antelope 
Springs road for about ten miles, and 
then cut across country to a large lake 
(for this country) where I had several 
times seen as many as a thousand birds 
at one time. I 
arrived at the 
lake and as 
there was no 
cover there, I 
went over far- 
ther to a small 
dip in the hills 
where the re- 
cent rains had 
formed a small 
lake about two 
hundred yards 
long and fifty 
yards wide. In 
the centre of 
this small pond 
was a high em- 
bankment with 
bushes growing 
all around it, 
forming one of 
the best natural 
blinds I have 
ever had the 
pleasure of 
shooting from on any trip after birds. 
I sent the car back and a friend who 
was with me took station on the big 
lake, and I remained on the small pond. 
This large lake was about a mile from 
the small lake or pond where I intended 
shooting. 
I set out my decoys and got ready for 
business. About ten minutes after 
everything was ready, I heard my friend 
firing on the large lake, and about two 
minutes afterwards a big flock of sprig 
swung over the hill, came up to the de- 
coys as prettily as anyone could wish, 
and I opened my 1918 duck season by 
making a double. The old dog, all dur- 
ing the preparation, wisely followed 
every movement, assisted me in locating 
the decoys, and when everything was 
set for the shooting, came in and lay 
down at my feet. He saw the ducks 
coming as soon as I did, and it was really 
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 47) 
