48 
FOREST AND STREAM 
pitched to the decoys. Again and again oppor¬ 
tunities presented for potting half a dozen swim¬ 
mers at a shot, but I don't shoot duck that way. 
When Baptiste rattled a paper, it was noon. 
“Bes’ eat,” he grunted, so I sat down for a 
sandwich while ducks whizzed this way and that 
overhead. In fifteen minutes the action was re¬ 
sumed, the attacking forces resolutely refusing to 
retire. At one-thirty I laid down the gun and 
voiced a question which had been troubling me 
for some little time, 
“How many are down, Baptiste?” 
Somewhat to my dismay, that smoke-tanned, 
semi-aborigine grunted out, “Eighty-fo’!” My 
sporting conscience smote me, for this was not 
exactly in accordance with my rule of “In reason 
and in season,” but the thing had been so fast 
and engrossing that it had temporarily carried 
Undeniable Evidence of the Game Hog. 
me away. Greatly to the disgust of Baptiste, I 
said, “Let’s gather,” and the shooting ended. At 
exactly two-thirty we reached camp, then hung 
our ducks and tackled the welcome meal. 
Within half a mile of camp was a long slough, 
and to pass the afternoon away I took light 
shells and went after snipe. Nineteen of the 
long-bills were gathered within a space of half 
a mile square, and a double on sharptail grouse 
near dusk ended one of the easiest, yet most en¬ 
joyable days of a long experience. The other 
canoes did not return until just before dark, and 
all but one had outscored me. Fine as this bag 
was, it might easily have been excelled day after 
day, but so good a start insuring the number of 
fowl wanted for friends and winter consumption, 
we agreed to hold our hands a bit and thus, as it 
were, spread our butter of sport evenly over our 
bread of allotted days. Every day there were 
the ducks in myriads, while the southward drift 
of snipe nightly restocked our nearest ground. 
There were many plover, too, but we did not 
bother with them. As we had brought no dogs, 
there was no serious attempt at grouse shoot¬ 
ing, but a number which came near the camp 
were gathered in, as were several brace seen near 
the trail while the heavily-laden wagon bore us 
back to the railway. 
Such is the brief yarn of one trip to Lake 
Manitoba. There was nothing of luck about our 
shooting, indeed the weather was too fine for the 
very best sport. Any duck-shooter knows how 
rough weather will help the bag, and I feel con¬ 
vinced that a good duckshot, upon a typical duck¬ 
ing day, could kill from two hundred to two 
hundred and fifty fine fowl. I would not do it, 
nor would I advise anyone so to exceed the 
bounds of sportsmanlike action, but I merely 
mention .the possibility in order to convey a 
proper idea of the stock of fowl of this marsh. 
Every lakelet and slough of Manitoba has its 
share of web-footed game but there is no use 
dwelling upon them while this great ground 
spreads within easy reach. 
So extensive a marsh, naturally, is no place 
for a tenderfoot without a guide. The “breed” 
punters of the district are as good as any I have 
seen. Masters of the marshlands, keen, strong 
and silent; their one idea seems to be to put 
their employer in the warmest of warm corners, 
and only a temperate drinker could keep a clear 
head on a time such as this. 
HOW SHOT IS MADE. 
By O. C. Horn of National Lead Company. 
Shot is made by dropping molten lead from a 
high point to the earth. The principle used is the 
same which causes rain drops to form into glo¬ 
bules while falling from the clouds. Ordinarily 
we do not realize that the rain drops are little 
spheres, but under the proper conditions they 
freeze and we have hail stones, which might be 
called shot made of ice. 
In the making of shot, pure lead is melted and 
mixed with what is known as “temper,” and then 
poured into a perforated pan or sieve, the perfora¬ 
tions varying according to the size of shot to be 
made. 
A temper is mixed with the lead in order to 
induce the forming of the globules when the lead 
falls. If the pure lead without the temper were 
used the lead would fall in the form of little 
bars instead of round shot. 
In order to obtain the proper height from 
which to allow the lead to fall, towers are built. 
The towers used to be made as high as 200 feet 
and more, but this height is unnecessary and 
modern towers are rarely over 150 feet. 
The perforated pan or tin into which the mol¬ 
ten lead is poured is located at the top of the 
tower and the globules of lead fall to the bot¬ 
tom into tanks of water which cools them and 
also prevents their being flattened out, as they 
would be if they fell upon a solid floor. 
From the water the shot are carried mechani¬ 
cally to steam dryers. After driving the perfect 
shot are separated from the imperfect, the modern 
way being by the means of glass tables inclined 
enough so that the shot when poured on at one 
end of the table will roll to the other end. At 
the low end of the table are two gutters side by 
side. The imperfect shot roll slowly and with 
difficulty, so that they have not enough momentum 
to carry them beyond the first gutter. The per¬ 
fectly round shot roll easily and swiftly and by 
the time they are at the foot of the table they 
jump nimbly across the first gutter and land in 
the second. 
After separation the perfect shot are polished 
by rolling in plumbago and are then bagged for 
shipment or go direct to the cartridge filling de¬ 
partment to be loaded into shells. 
PENNSYLVANIA NOTES. 
A detail of three surveyors from the State 
Department completed recently a survey of Con- 
neaut Lake, which included soundings of the 
depth of the lake as well as surveys of the 
boundaries. The deepest place found was 68 
feet. The length is three and a half miles and 
the width one and a half miles, the widest point 
being from Oakland Beach to the south shore 
of Horse Shoe Basin. 
Local fishermen who have been fishing the 
Shenango river between this city and Orange¬ 
ville, stated that Fred Swogger of that city has 
succeeded in landing 102 fine catfish during a 
single night recently. This is the largest catch 
that has been reported in this section of the 
State up to the present time and it is expected 
that several more large catches will be reported 
in the near future. 
Since the bass season the banks of both the 
big and little Shenango have been lined with 
anglers from nearly every section of the State 
and also many Ohians coming over the line to 
cast for the scrappy little fishes. Since the 
opening of the season which was last Monday 
nearly 100 pounds of Black Bass have been 
taken from the waters. 
