our guns to suit us? All of my guns 
which I am about to describe did not 
cost as much as the plain automobile I 
drive. I have known a wealthy man, 
through ignorance, to use heavy duck 
loads in a cheap Belgian gun at the risk 
of his life and limb, until advised to 
throw it away and buy a plain, sound 
and heavy American 12-gauge, which 
gave him pleasure and comfort. 
As the gun proposition is essentially 
a personal one, I think it may be of 
some interest to list my own selections 
for comparisons. A 7% lb. full choke 
Smith gun for ducks and the trap. A 
light Parker 12-gauge of 28-in. bbls., 
right 4%, left barrel 34 choke regulated 
for large shot. I have used it on tur- 
key, ducks and quail. One may call it 
an all-around gun, but there are others 
in the list. An old Parker 20-gauge, 6 
lbs. 2 ozs., 28-inch barrels, right cylin- 
der, left full choke. I have killed many 
kinds of game with the old gun ranging 
from turkey to quail. Another may 
say this is the all-around gun. 
A number of years after buying this 
gun, which I justly thought was about 
perfection, I came across a little Ithaca 
20-gauge of about 55% Ibs. having 24- 
inch steel barrels, right cylinder and 
left half choke. As I was at that time 
making long trips yearly, I concluded 
it would be handy to pack, so I bought 
it. After getting used to the short 
barrels, it became a very useful and 
handy gun for use on sage chicken, 
quail, snipe and rail. 
As a result of some experiments, I 
came to the conclusion that 5 of an 
ounce of shot is enough for rail, so 
why not get a gun to shoot it right? 
Most guns, particularly the small 
' bores, do the best work with their max- 
imum loads. Therefore I had Parker 
Bros. build a 28-gauge weighing 5 lbs. 
4 ozs. and having 26-in. barrels, which 
I subsequently rebored to suit the work. 
The right barrel is very close to cylin- 
der, the left is about half choke. The 
gun is a real game-getter. It is light, 
handy and fast. It is the best killer I 
have used in the push boat, a good jack 
snipe gun, and has knocked down a 
good number of ducks that got up out 
of the reeds too close. For quail it is 
very fair, depending on how the birds 
are jumping off. . The léad is 5% oz. of 
shot, 134 dr. of powder,.number 10 shot 
for rail and snipe 7% or 8 for quail. 
Everything has got -to be just about 
right in so small a bore gun as a 28- 
gauge— general dimensions, weight, 
balance, as well as the shape and pull 
of the triggers, in order to have a fast 
and accurately pointing gun. 
All of the above described guns ex- 
cept the heavy 12-gauge are ejector 
models. THOMAS H. GRANT, . 
Red Bank, N. J. 
CROWS Wits Eee 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
HAVE been interested in articles I 
have read about Crow Shooting. I 
find the most efficient way to kill crows 
is to go into a thick woods and make a 
blind. Then by using a crow call, a 
large number of crows can be called. 
The shooter should not shoot at them 
until a large number of them are flying 
around and they will eventually alight 
on the trees all around the caller. Then 
use a .22 rifle with smokeless cart- 
ridges, and the crows will sometimes 
stay around for an hour or more. Care 
should be used not to call too often, put 
if they attempt to fly, then a few calls 
will bring them back. The shooter 
must keep well hidden and not come 
out of the blind. A friend and I shoot 
crows most every Sunday afternoon 
and holidays, when we are at home in 
Y Ores 
W. H. McCoy, 
Bath, Maine. 
PROBLEMS OF THE DUCK 
HUNTER 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
EFORE the advent of the white 
man in Pacific Coast territory, 
myriads of wild waterfowl reared their 
young in practically all sections of the 
Pacific Northwest. 
Advancing civilization has come so 
near exterminating waterfowl in this 
vast domain that hunting ducks and 
other waterfowl has now become the 
pleasure of a favored few. 
Of the ducks which are common to 
the Northwest territory, nesting and 
brooding in sections where conditions 
are favorable, the best known are the 
Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, Pintail, Red- 
head and Canvas-Back. 
The Columbia River Flats between 
Portland and the Pacific Ocean origin 
ally produced more wild waterfow: 
than any other part of Oregon, with 
the possible exceptions of Malheur and 
Harney Lakes. 
The question of brooding wild ducks 
and of their remaining in any territory 
is primarily one of suitable marsh 
areas and a satisfactory food supply. 
The Columbia River District originally 
produced great quantities of wapato 
and many other varieties of duck food, 
but these foods have been destroyed by 
the countless thousands of German 
Carp which were introduced into the 
Columbia River many years ago, and 
which became not only destructive to 
the wapato and other duck foods, but 
also to native fish, which inhabited the 
sloughs and inlets along the Columbia 
River. Since the food supply in this 
district was eliminated, very few 
migratory birds nest along the Colum- 
bia River, and the only hunting oc- 
curring in this entire district worthy 
of note is that produced from the 
ducks stopping over in this district on 
their migrations from north to south 
during the migrating season. Were it 
not that the larger lakes in this district 
have been set aside as rest lakes and 
that the hunting clubs feed their shoot- 
ing grounds generously with wheat or 
other grains, the ducks would only 
tarry in this district for a brief time, 
then continue their journeys toward 
the rice fields of California. 
In the Willamette Valley, duck shoot- 
ing is almost a sport of the past, and 
various reasons are advanced by 
sportsmen in their attempt to deter- 
mine why the migratory birds do not 
feed in the Willamette Valley in the 
same manner as when the only crop 
raised in the Willamette Valley was 
wheat. 

JUST A FEW HOURS HUNTING WITHIN SIGHT OF TOWN. T. H. ELSNER AND 
SON, LOUP CITY, NEB. 
Page 26 
