Duck Shooting Along the Alamo 
A Trip to the Tule-beds of Southern California 
By JAMES L. DARRELL 
Phot s by the Author 
I N October, November, and Decem¬ 
ber, and on into January the duck 
tribes that breed in the far north¬ 
ern fastnesses begin their annual pil¬ 
grimage to the south along the 
Pacific Coast. 
Clouds of “sprigs,” 
as the pin - tails 
are called here, 
mallards, canvas- 
b a c k, red - heads, 
teal, blue - bills, 
spoon - bills, rud¬ 
dies, and other 
ducks come in al¬ 
though the bulk of 
the red-heads have 
apparently shifted 
their flight lately 
from the Pacific to 
the Atlantic coast. 
The first flight 
of sprigs comes in 
early enough to 
make them “ripe” 
for the opening 
day, October 1st, 
in Southern Cali¬ 
fornia. Quite a 
number of cinna¬ 
mon teal breed in 
some parts of the country, and these 
local birds are found with the initial 
flight of the sprigs. Later on the 
mallards, canvas-backs, red-heads and 
northern teal and various ducks come 
down and the shooting gets to its top 
peak as the colder weather approaches. 
Some of our extra good duck-shoot¬ 
ing here we get in the Imperial Val¬ 
ley along the 
Alamo river, the 
shooting being 
both over wood de¬ 
coys and live wild 
decoys, aided by 
English call ducks. 
Occasionally you 
come across a man 
who is a marvel at 
llll!ll!!llll!l!lllll 
HOLD WELL AHEAD 
AND KEEP THE GUN 
MOVING 
lll!lllllll!ll!lllll!ll!ll!l!!l!ll!!l!ll!ll!lllllllll!!l 
calling ducks with¬ 
out a “duck - call¬ 
er,” using his own 
vocal skill to draw 
the birds down, but 
such men are very 
rare and far be- 
» 
tween. 
Page 680 
