Quogue and Hampton Bays (formerly 
Good Ground). They always put out 
with each rig about ten live black duck 
decoys and from six to ten domesti- 
cated wild geese decoys. I think they 
have the best equipment of any guides 
on Long Island—certainly the best I 
know of. 
THEIR schedule for the season is 
filled before September 1st, but 
on account of changes which occur one 
may at times arrange for a day or two 
after the season opens. 
In addition, a daily feed of cracked 
corn is taken along. This is not alone 
for the decoys, but is widely scattered 
to feed the water fowl that come in 
the bay at night always in places where 
water is from a few inches to a foot 
and a half or more deep and adjacent 
to the gunner’s stand. This is a useful 
procedure, inducing the ducks to decoy 
well. 
This bay is comparatively narrow 
west of Shinnecock lighthouse, where, 
for a distance of six miles or so, it aver- 
ages one and one-half miles in width. 
At the lighthouse and to the eastward 
toward the reservation of the Shinne- 
cock Indian and Southampton Village 
for a distance of about three miles, it 
is nearly twice that width. 
In recent years the water fowl have 
been only moderately plentiful; always 
some shooting, but large bags the ex- 
ception. 
RECENTLY with a pal and guide, 
Mr. Jackson of East Quogue, I 
went out rigged for geese and also 
black duck. We had live decoys of both 
kinds. Arising at 3.30 on a nippy late 
October morning after a drive of seven 
miles from a neighboring village, we 
were at the dock at five o’clock, the 
time set to get away. The day proved 
mild with a gentle east-southeast air 
prevailing most of the day. 
Ducks were especially scarce this 
day. Our guide rigged out in a chan- 
nel toward the sand dunes, a_ short 
quarter of a mile from the open bay 
and with several other rigs within a 
mile of us. The day was uneventful 
up to about nine o’clock when the fun 
began. One lone goose skimming over 
the marsh and grass tops came down 
to our decoys and in range. My friend 
and I shot onward from the guide, but 
our goose refused to go away, though 
perfectly able to do so. At this point 
our guide heard honking nearby and, 
after a short wait, a small flock of 
eight geese came from our back across 
the marsh and directly over our heads, 
and about twenty-five feet high. They 
came down to our decoys, lighting a 
short distance away, as is their custom, 
and working in carefully toward the 
live decoys. 
Page 5 
After a wait of twenty minutes or so 
the wild birds became bunched at a dis- 
tance of forty to fifty yards away from 
us, and our guide gave the word to rise 
and shoot. With our first round we 
secured three birds. Much to my as- 
tonishment, the, other six left, circling 
about once or twice and again lighting 
a hundred yards or so from our stand 
and decoys. In the meantime, we had 
quickly disappeared in our blind. After 
another fifteen- to twenty-minute wait 
they were again in range. We shot and 
got three more and crippled the re- 
maining three. It being shoal, we 
waded out to them and finally got the 
whole lot of nine geese. 
Such experience as this is only oc- 
casional, and is explained by the guides 
that we were dealing with a pair of old 
ones with their brood of young. This 
is likely true, but the one that came 
first was not of the flock unless it had 
become temporarily separated. How- 
ever, geese are clanny, and a strange 
bird will often stick in the face of un- 
toward circumstances. 
L£7 the hunters be hopeful — the 
100% thrill associated with an ex- 
perience of this kind awaits them. We 
surely had intensive gunning for the 
most of one hour. All we lacked to 
make it a perfect day was someone on 
the gunning box with a camera to take 
pictures of the three men out after the 
crippled birds, and with game lying 
about in all directions. Not all of these 
were nearby, for one goose dropped 
two hundred yards from our stand. 
One more single bird came in after 
lunch, lighting eighty to a hundred 
yards or so from our decoys and slowly 
working in. We were obliged to take 
a chance shot at it of about seventy 
yards as it was raised by the approach 
of a hunter from an adjoining rig. 
This made ten geese with no ducks 
coming around all day. 
HEN gunning for geese in partic- 
ular, the hunter should be very 
calm and take plenty of time. They 
are a bigy lumbering bird compared 
with black duck and so move much 
more slowly. More game is lost by an 
Over-anxious gunner than by the man 
who waits judiciously for the best mo- 
ment to shoot. 
If black duck are shot into at the in- 
stant while rising from the water, they 
will, in most instances, go away with a 
broad black duck smile, for these birds 
jump off the water straight in the air 
for a distance varying from a few feet 
to twenty or sometimes more. The shot 
should take place at the moment the 
bird breaks into the line of flight and 
after you have taken a generous lead 
on your bird, for they are fast movers 
when alarmed. No doubt most missed 
shots are due to shooting behind the 
‘begins six weeks or so earlier. 
game. The natural tendency is to 
shoot at the bird, in which case the at- 
mosphere only is put in a state of tem- 
porary commotion. The reverse shoot- 
ing at the air in advance of the bird is 
the thing. 
Even if geese are lighting outside 
the decoys but still in range, a wait is 
indicated, for they naturally will work 
toward the live decoys. Taking a shot 
at geese when they set their wings and 
drop their feet to light as is done with 
ducks is a mistake, but unfortunately 
made all too often. 
T another time, during a north- 
west wind, we were rigged out for 
geese on the southerly side of Shinne- 
cock Bay opposite Shinnecock Hills. 
We were in a good location for black 
duck of which there were many in the 
neighboring ocean, but the wind this 
day was too straight on the shore— 
nearly at right angles—and our birds 
could not decoy. About midday a lone 
goose came in sight, traveling south- 
westerly across Shinnecock Hills and, 
with the strong quartering wind, was 
moving rapidly. It seemed as though 
it would pass by, but just as it ar- 
rived directly over our stand and 
about one hundred yards in the air, it 
broke its line of flight suddenly, com- 
ing down rapidly almost as if its wings 
were broken. It turned in the air 
twice, in a circle that could be included 
within the confines of the foundation 
of a small country cottage and skimmed 
over the grass top to the decoys less than 
two rods to our right. The most not- 
able feature was the manner in which 
the bird decoyed. Smaller water fowl 
rarely, if ever, would decoy under the 
same conditions, and if they did, would 
take a wide sweep before settling to 
the decoys. The smaller birds, and 
black duck in particular, are wary 
about decoying. In order to do so, they 
have to whirl over marsh or sandy 
beach. Geese, however, will do so and 
often in large flocks light on marshes 
looking for food, or even in fields in 
some section of the country to feed on 
grain and the like. 
GS MALLER birds than ducks in this 
and other Long Island bays are 
the greater Yellow leg and Jacksnipe. 
The former are the most numerous 
and are often hunted in conjunction 
with ducks, though the season actually 
These 
birds, when fried, are sweet and choice 
morsels. The hunting activities in 
these bays are, however, mainly di- 
rected toward ducks and geese. 
I note considerable comment in out- 
door magazines regarding superiority 
of loads, patterns of different charges, 
the size, weight and bores of guns, ete. 
The twelve and ten have always, in my 
(Continued on nage 39) 
