
A raft of bluebills 
**Tce—and Bluebills”’ 
By FRANK RORKE 
N North Dakota the bluebill, as a 
table duck, stands ace high. I have 
read that in some parts of the coun- 
try he is an outcast, Florida for in- 
stance, where he uses snails as part of 
his diet. This diet imparts a decidedly 
rank flavor to his flesh. 
In North Dakota the bluebill is to be 
found feeding in the wheat fields to- 
gether with the mallard and other field 
feeders, and as a result he is a fine 
table duck, in fact, some prefer him to 
any other. 
In the fall of 1922 we were making 
preparations for a lot of good duck 
shooting, as every marsh furnished a 
resting place for its quota of home- 
grown birds, and North Dakota shoot- 
ers also find themselves in direct line 
of a good flight of the various northern 
grown species. 
About October 12th a slow rain 
started and kept the roads in fearful 
condition. It rained nearly every day 
until about November 2nd and then 
froze quite hard. You who have lived 
in the north where there are no paved 
roads, can imagine the condition of 
those highways with their deep ruts, 
all cut to pieces, and freezing while wet 
as they did, the auto driver received 
about the same sensations as he would 
driving over a continuous rock pile. 
But we knew that some of the lakes 
still offered some open water, and that 
there should be a greater number of 
ducks around these open places. We 
104 
decided to try out some small lakes 
south of Niagara, North Dakota, which 
we knew to be quite deep, and would 
probably keep open longer than some of 
the marshes. I shall not forget that 
trip of forty-two miles for some time. 
The wheels of the car would go down 
into those ruts and then we would be 
unable to get out again for some dis- 
tance, and every few yards the running 
gear would scrape on that solidly frozen 
road bed. I had visions more than once 
of a punctured crank case; but should 
that keep a party of duck shooters 
away from where the ducks are? 
LL the small marshes that we 
passed were frozen over and we be- 
gan to worry a little about the lakes 
at our destination. Smith Lakes are 
about ten feet deep in the center and 
probably one mile in length and are 
separated by a strip of land not over 
one hundred. feet wide and covered with. 
stone, furnishing good blinds. This 
place was just made to order for pass 
shooting when there were ducks in the 
country. 
Upon our arrival at the top of a hill 
overlooking these lakes we had our first 
glimpse of what appeared to be a 
couple of first class skating rinks. But 
no, out. there near the center of each 
lake there was a very small open space, 
probably not over thirty yards in di- 
ameter. And ducks? Well, the water 
was black with them, and there were 
How Three 
Intrepid 
Wildfowlers 
Enjoyed a 
Rare Bit 
of Pass 
Shooting 
others on the ice around the open water, 
running races to determine who would 
have next turn to go in for a swim. 
There were a few ducks in the air also 
and we decided that we were due for 
some pass shooting that we would re- 
member. And they were all bluebills, 
of course. 
ND right here was the problem. 
Bluebills are great sports, fly like 
bullets, not too high, and act nice on 
the table. But, when they find them- 
selves in the water at a reasonable dis- 
tance from the shooter, they sometimes 
refuse to mill around and offer them- 
selves as targets, regardless of long 
distance shots placed in their direction, 
and other efforts to get them started. 
But we three had not made such an 
unpleasant trip to these lakes without 
a firm resolve to exhaust every means 
of providing plenty of reasons for a 
flight. Leaving the car at the top of 
the hill, we hurried with guns and shell 
boxes to a point directly between the 
lakes, picking out some good piles of 
stone for blinds. When we were well 
located one of the party fired a shot 
at the nearest ducks in the lake north: 
of our pass... Some of them took wing 
and we settled down to await results. 
They sailed away to the north of us and 
we began to think they were going to 
leave the lake for another locality, when 
we noticed them turn and start back. 
On they came. 
Would they settle down 
A al aa 
ae se 
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ee 
