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The evening flight. 
$6 OGGONE these shells, they 
don’t all shoot alike. Did you 
see that last miss? I led him 
just the same as the last one that 
came over at just the same distance 
and speed, and I placed him right in 
the centre. I don’t think sixes will 
give a pattern that will cover teal at 
forty yards with any certainty.” 
“No, of course not. It must be the 
shells.” This sarcastic comment was 
from one of the party who had heard 
my tirade against the sixes. 
“Well, anyway, I am going to bring 
trap loads next time,” I replied. 
That incident took place two weeks 
before, so on this nice day in October 
we headed our car back toward the 
same marsh on the farm of my friend, 
‘Mr. J. D. Barclay, in Griggs County, 
North Dakota. We had always had 
good shooting at this particular place, 
and were sure to meet with a hearty 
welcome from the owner. There is 
nothing that tends to insure my plea- 
sure on a shooting trip quite so much 
_as the knowledge that my presence in 
the duck blind will meet with the ap- 
-proval of the owner. That was one 
reason we headed for the Barclay 
marsh. 
| HAT marsh is really a small lake, 
| being almost a mile in length and 
extending north from where it touches 
the highway. The highway itself, with 
its deep ditches filled with heavy 
Marsh grass, made excellent blinds. 
Several miles southwest of this marsh 
there is a lake of considerable size. 
_A portion of the ducks flushed from 
our marsh would head straight for 
this lake, and the shooter who was con- 
tent to use the highway for a blind 
| very often found himself in line of a 
good flight of ducks. And when there 
“were a good number of hunters around 

| 
) 
the country, the shooter would have 
game coming from both directions. 
Right here is where I got my chance 
to work out my test of trap loads on 
blue-wing teal. There were a great 
number of blue-wings on this marsh, 
with a good sprinkling of gadwall and 
redhead. 
LaBine waded over to an island lo- 
cated in the centre of the marsh. Doc 
Murray took a position near the north 
end of the marsh, while Hank Glass 
and I decided to take our chances from 
the highway and use the ditches for 
our blinds in hopes of getting some 
pass shooting. 
If you would learn to shoot ducks 
by getting a continual variety of 
shots, just park yourself in good cover 
where blue-wing teal are nosing around, 
preferably in singles. I think they 
will give you more angles, speeds and 
altitudes than any duck that flies. 
ROM the highway we had a clear 
view in either direction. There 
was a strong south wind and the ducks 
that came to us from the north came 
lo down over the water, rather too 
low. More than one warning “look 
out” escaped our lips as one of those 
blue-wings would suddenly appear di- 
rectly in front, and with a slight raise 
pass over our position like a rocket. 
This shooting required quickness in 
twisting around to get a rear or quar- 
tering shot as those fast little sports 
sped away. There was no such thing 
as a straight overshot, and to get them 
coming straight at me was something 
out of my line. 
My friends were somewhat skepti- 
cal of trap loads for real live game, 
and I was the target for many a jest 
on the trip from home, and was begin- 
ning to doubt a little myself. 
Hank called my attention to a high 
Blue-wing 
Teal and 
Trap Loads 
The Story of a Successful 
Experiment 
By FRANK E. RORKE 
one headed our way and when he was 
straight over I gave him a long lead 
and he came down end over end. I 
called to Hank, “How was that for a 
trap load?” He admitted that they 
were bad medicine for teal. 
E had just retrieved this one 
when another started past off to 
my right. I led him about twelve 
feet, and just as he was directly over 
the road I pulled. His wings ceased 
functioning and he sailed on through 
the air, finally striking the ground 
and bouncing several times before com- 
ing to a stop. I marked him down but 
did not retrieve him at once as I knew 
he would be there when I wanted him. 
By this time the other fellows far- 
ther north were settled in their posi- 
tions and had begun to do some shoot- 
ing. This stirred up quite a number 
of birds and sent some our way. The 
chap on the island was getting some 
shooting and we could see his birds 
drop, so we were glad to know that 
we would not be called upon to fur- 
nish the entire bag. We could also 
hear Murray farther north, and he al- 
ways gets his “percentage.” 
“E ANK, get that redhead,” I called 
as one suddenly appeared 
straight over, and Hank got him. He 
came over a little to the left and quite 
high, but he turned over at the first 
shot, dead in the air. Hank kind of 
mumbled to himself, ‘‘you don’t need 
trap loads for redheads.” But I heard 
it. And there was no room for argu- 
ment. Hank had given a demon- 
stration that was better than a dozen 
technical arguments. But nevertheless, 
sometime when you are after teal, try 
trap loads. You will be agreeably sur- 
prised. 
(Continued on page 562) 
531 
