September, iyi9 
forest and S T R E a 
493 
A pair of swans and their newly hatched 
young 
using under certain wind, tide and 
weather conditions. Good shooting may 
be had from a certain point during a 
north wind while the same place may be 
worthless in a south wind. A point might 
be excellent at low tide, useless at high 
tide, and so on. 
T he sportsman who puts himself in 
the hands of a competent local gun- 
ner will hardly fail to get shooting, 
provided the weather is right and the 
birds are there. The old bay-men who 
have spent many years following wild- 
fowding every season know" just where to 
go for the best shooting. They are ex- 
perts in their line and it is seldom that 
they go wrong. 
The sportsman who goes out alone must 
know these things to be successful. Ad- 
vice in only the most general way can 
be given, since it is all dependent on a 
given locality and existing weather con- 
ditions. E.xperience is the best if not the 
only teacher. Time spent in finding out 
w'hat the geese are doing is well spent, 
since a mistake in choosing a place for 
the blind may mean the difference be- 
tween good shooting and none at all. 
Geese, like swan and other water-fowl, 
are shot from shore blinds located on 
points of marsh running out into the bay, 
or on the small meadow islands in the 
bay. Where permanent blinds are used, 
these are often built of straw, rushes or 
marsh grass interwoven through a light 
W"ood frame inclosing on all four sides a 
space sufficiently large to hold one or 
more shooters. Small, one-man gunning 
boats are often used to shoot from. They 
are generally used on Barnegat Bay. The 
boats are drawn up among the grass on 
a point and the decks are carefully cov- 
ered with cut grass or rushes, so that at 
a short distance they cannot be distin- 
guished from the surrounding marsh. 
The wooden decoys, often supplemented 
by live geese decoys, are anchored out on 
the water just off the point, within easy 
gun-shot of the blind. 
A battery or sink-box is sometimes 
used and this is anchored out on the open 
water over a feeding ground, the decoys 
being arranged on all sides in a natural 
looking flock. Geese are frequenters of 
the sand bars in the bays or rivers where 
they consume quantities of sand and 
gravel. The hunter takes advantage of 
this knowledge ; a hole is dug on the bar 
and a large wooden or metal box is» sunk 
level with the surrounding sand. The 
box must be water tight since it is often 
below w’ater level. Some of the decoys 
are placed on the water nearby, while 
others, mounted on sticks which serve as 
legs, are put on the sand around the pit. 
The hunter takes his position in the pit 
with his head just level with the surface 
of the sand, using a small box for a seat. 
The use of the battery and also shooting 
from sand-bars is now unlawful in many 
states. 
Wild -geese often resort to the -.fields 
to feed on the grain and grass, returning 
in the middle of the day and at night to 
the lakes, rivers and marshes. They are 
shot from a blind placed under their line 
of flight. The geese often follow exafctly 
the same course day after day. However, ' 
the big fowl are exceedingly wary and 
it does not take many days of constant 
shooting to cause them to change their 
line of travel through the air. 
O N the wide prairies and grain fields 
of the inland sections of the west, 
geese are shot over decoys from a 
blind, the sport being similar to that 
practised on the bays and sounds about 
the coasts. It is all important to know 
what the geese are doing. It must be 
known what fields they are frequenting 
and in what part of the field they are 
feeding. 
When this point has been established, 
the hunters go to the field in question, 
after the geese have left and dig the holes 
in the ground in which they are to hide. 
Great care should be taken to scatter the 
earth removed so it will not be noticeable. 
Still more care should be used in re-ar- 
ranging the stubble or grass about the 
holes. Wild geese have exceedingly keen 
sight and they will at once notice and be 
suspicious of any change in the appear- 
ance of the feeding ground. 
It is well to dig the pits several days 
before shooting from them and in the 
meantime to leave the geese undisturbed 
and to become accustomed to any slight 
change their sharp eyes may detect. 
On the day of the shooting, the decoys, 
live birds or metal profile decoys, should 
be arranged nearby and the hunters con- 
cealed in the pits well in advance of the 
time when the flight is expected. Often 
the hunters sew small bunches of grass 
on their hats and on the upper part of 
their coats, so that when they are in the 
pits the general outlines of their bodies 
wdll be broken and less discernible to a 
bird flying high over head. The color 
of the hunter’s clothes should by all 
means harmonize w-ith the surroundings. 
Live decoys are, of course, the best. 
These are either birds raised from wild 
goose eggs, or wild birds which have 
been wounded and which have recovered. 
They are wing-clipped and tied out by a 
cord from the leg to a small stake. After 
a number of seasons of serving as de- 
coys, \\-ild geese not only become very 
tame, but they show great intelligence 
and seem to know just what is expected 
of them. 
The professional gunners can imitate 
the call of the geese, and where only 
wooden decoys are used, often lure the 
wild birds to the decoys by “honking.” 
Some good shooting is often had dur- 
ing a fog or a snow storm, since the 
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