238 
They all get there. Of course, a license has 
been secured, and under the new laws, all sorts 
of red tape intervene 'between the application 
and rite official’s signature. That secured, the 
only thing that remains after the captain has got 
his party is to “drop down,” ready for the spec¬ 
tacular rush across the line in the early dawn. 
Rarely is it the case that a party of “sports” 
spends the night previous to the opening of the 
season, or any part of it, in dissipation. A 
sportsman’s greatest ambition is to head the list 
at sundown with the greatest number of killed, 
and to stand any chance he is well aware that he 
must retire early and to be strictly “on the 
water wagon.” So the prospective high gun is 
sound asleep probably before his vessel is un¬ 
moored for its sail of five miles or so to the 
grounds where the ducks congregate to feed upon 
the wild celery. 
Where the sail terminates is entirely a matter 
between the ducking police and the skipper’s 
conscience. There are imaginary lines enclosing- 
grounds forbidden, until a certain number of 
minutes before sunrise of the ducking day, but 
within these forbidden precincts are the choice 
places, the best feeding spots to which the ducks 
flock most numerously. 
Will the captain lie idly outside and trust to 
luck to get one of these choice spots in the early 
scramble? Upon what kind of party of “sports” 
he has on board depends the answer. If this 
party is willing to “put up” that is, to “protect” 
the captain and pay the fine, in case of arrest— 
well and good. The captain will go anywhere 
and trust to luck and the long pocket book be¬ 
hind him. There are supposed to be a couple of 
ducking police patrolling the river during the 
night to enforce the laws. One of these is from 
the east side of the river and the other from 
the west side. Generally, they are duckers them¬ 
selves. Of course, the vessel that slinks on for¬ 
bidden ground shows no lights. If the night is 
dark, there is danger of being run down, and 
when the moon shines bright there is danger of 
being observed. The beauty about the law is 
that when an arrest is made, the police simply 
give notice to the offender to appear and answer 
charges. The vessel and all its crew are un- 
Real 
Eagle Lake, Ticonderoga ,N. Y., 
. August 19, 1914. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The late cold snap which showed a little frost 
on the squash vines early in the morning caused 
a certain spotted “haoun dawg” to forget game 
laws and prudence in his desire to run a buck 
deer into this lake, which he surely did at about 
3 A. M. There have been a bunch of these beau¬ 
tiful creatures spending the spring on two farms 
at the head of these waters which were famous 
for hunting in the old “doggin’ days” when men 
and guns accompanied each hound. 
The eager bell-like notes of the animal were 
first heard on the mountain south of the Eagle 
Lake Hotel, then the chase continued to Side-Mill 
Bay, from which the stag swam over to the west 
end of the causeway and climbed old Skiff Moun¬ 
tain, over whose rocky sides he scrambled, closely 
pressed by the dog. Again he took to the water 
FOREST AND STREAM 
molested in any way, with the result that an 
“arrest” is simply the collection of a license for 
taking possession of grounds some hours before 
they are thrown open. 
But there are plenty of boats which remain 
quietly where they should be until the proper 
time. When that moment comes, lights spring 
up in the darkness as if by magic. Small boats 
are rowed with lusty stroke to the places desired, 
and the planting of a stake with a lantern 
attached is sufficient evidence of possession. 
That formality completed, the captain may take 
his time about moving in. Then comes getting 
overboard the sink box and decoys. The larger 
vessel is moored a mile or so from the shooting 
grounds, so that box and decoys have to be load¬ 
ed on a small boat and dropped off as the proper 
spot is crossed. 
Once left to itself, the little boat loses no time 
in getting the box overboard and the decoys set 
around it in as good an imitation of the real 
article as is possible. That done, the little boat 
is rowed back to the big one and the first man 
to try his luck sets forth for his berth. There 
isn’t much fun sometimes sitting in a sink box, 
waiting for ducks to decoy. In the first place, 
it is apt to be cold and raw- Even if clothed as 
warmly as possible, sitting still in such an atmos¬ 
phere will chill the blood. Then, too, in rough 
weather the waves are likely to slop into the box 
and not infrequently water enough is shipped to 
swamp box and occupant. 
Even that is not serious, however, for the 
water is not more than two or three feet deep 
and the victim escapes with nothing worse than 
a complete drenching. The box is of such 
dimensions that a man will cause it to sink to 
the level of the water. On the sides are wooden 
flaps which are supposed to keep off anything but 
unusually boisterous waves. The gunner lies flat 
on his back and when he notes that a bunch of 
ducks has decoyed, he rises suddenly, take quick 
aim and shoots. If he has luck, the ducks will 
come to him. If he has skill, they will stay. 
The deed done, he drops back into his recum¬ 
bent position again and the ducks he may have 
killed are allowed to float unnoticed until a suffi¬ 
cient number of kills has been made to warrant 
Deer Hounding in 
to obtain a rest from his pursuer. The last notes 
of the chase finally sounded faintly over the 
mountain, as the deer made for the Overshot or 
some of the Crown Point ponds where he could 
easily elude his tireless foe. 
It was gratifying to note that no rifle crack 
rang out its staccato accompaniment to the music 
of the hills. This hound has slipped its collar 
three times before, since June 15. It is hoped, 
however, that the deer have not been driven from 
their haunts in this vicinity and that they may 
fall before a licensed sportsman in October. 
Grouse, whenever seen, are invariably accom¬ 
panied by broods of from eight to fourteen young 
ones, almost as large as their elders, the young- 
cocks being particularly haughty and very in¬ 
quisitive when visited. The old hens have taken 
on a new device this year never before observed. 
Instead of the broken-wing artifice or the cripple 
dodge, formerly employed, Mrs. Pat. now charges 
the little boat coming off from the large one to 
“pick up.” The cripples, of course, have been 
shot dead long ago by the man in the box, if 
they fell in gun shot, and if not, they are at¬ 
tended to, if possible, by the man who comes 
from the big boat to pick up the dead ducks. 
After several hours of that kind of work, the 
shooter generally gets tired enough to welcome 
the coming of the hour when another member 
of the party is to take his place. The pick-up 
boat that brings his successor takes him back to 
the larger deck to stretch his legs and get a 
steaming cup of coffee. 
The ducks are laid on deck and carefully 
separated according to their values by epicures. 
Canvas backs are most highly prized, of course, 
and black-heads the least. 
Now for the professional ducker; the man 
who is in it, not for sport, but because it keeps 
himself and his family. He goes about his work 
in a thorough, business-like manner. He anchors 
his craft a quarter of a mile from his sink-box, 
and has in his employ men to handle the game 
killed, and assistants to row out to him and take 
the dead birds back to his vessel. A professional 
ducker will lie for hours in one of these sink 
boxes and by waving his hands above the sur¬ 
face of the water, so as to imitate a disabled 
bird, he always has some game hovering about 
his retreat. Some remarkable records have been 
made by these professional duckers, two men 
with one gun between them having been known 
to kill 600 in a single day. 
The canvas back duck is an aerial athlete, and 
nothing pleases him more than a piping breeze 
and plenty of cold weather. It is for this rea¬ 
son that he seeks the broad expanse of the 
Chesapeake Bay when milder conditions prevail 
on the Susquehanna flats. 
Of the other species of duck, the black-heads 
predominate, but they bring such a comparatively 
inferior price, they are, as a rule, not greatly 
sought after by market men. Yet there is little 
reason for this. Sentiment and reputation are 
largely responsible. Like the mallard, of which 
there is an abundance, the black-head is delici¬ 
ous food. The red-head duck is the great mar¬ 
ket bird and is always salable. 
July 
her supposed enemies much like an angry hen. 
Perhaps these tactics arise from the fact that the 
coveys are now large enough to take care of 
themselves. At any rate, sportsmen may look 
forward to an early shoot at finely matured birds 
when the season opens. A grouse three-quarters 
grown is able to take care of himself against 
hawks much better-than a younger one. 
Nearly all local hunters are now found on a 
novel quest—blueberrying, on Treadway, Puts’ 
Pond and Goose Neck Mountains. These wild 
fruits grow in great abundance upon the sides of 
the rocky hills or upon the plateaus, and bring 
about a shilling a quart—not dry measure, but 
in the quart tin milk cup. 
The removal of the log spillway ten feet wide 
from the center of the old stone dam at the 
foot of this lake has caused a fall of four feet 
in the average water level here and has greatly 
injured fishing conditions. The pike spawning 
