The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1873-01-04
From Turf, Field and Farm.
Duck Shooting at Currituck Sound.

est OF hunting waters, the Currituck Sound
Of North Carolina. My father was the
proprietor of a fine plantation, well stocked
with large number of healthy, happy ne
groes, and many day l have padded
my own canoe" in company with them,
shooting the feathery tribe or bringing the
denizens of the water to my home as troph-
les of my skill and prowess. Anon have
trayersed the marshes and wooded wiids,
in search of other game, and many wild
deer, bear, or smaller quadruped, has bit
the dust. 1t is now nearly twenty years
since | left those beautiful shores to dwell
in the "City by the Sea-" (NorEolk.)
In my boyhood Currituck was but little
known to the outside world. Then, as now.
it was but thinly populated, and game of
all sorts was most plentiful. OF late years
there has been a continually increasing
stream of the wealthy and pleasure seekers,
many of them seeking this locality for sani-
tary purposes. Although there is consider
able marsh and low ground, there is pro-
bably no section ofthe Union where people
afflicted with throat and lung diseases will
find surer and speedier cure. Bronchitis
and catarrh succumb at once to the genial
climate, ond consumption is seldom known
among the natives, than whom healthier,
harder set of people do not exist These
facts are known to but few, even now. and
were they better known they would be
better appreciated
But to the point. Currituck Sound is
about thirty miles long, and from three to
five miles wide, dotted here and there with
beautiful islands, and bordered with vast
quantities of marsh and meadow land, coy-
cred with tall grass and watered with nu-
merous creeks, ponds, and bays. 1t is one
Of the most beautiful sheets of water in the
United States, and no doubt intended for
the resort of myriads of the fowls of the
air, for which it is peculiarly adapted.
The water in many places, miles from the
shore, is not more than few inches deep
The channels are narrow and crooked. and
there is but little traffic or passing through
its waters, except by experienced pilots.
Protected as they are from wind and
storm, there is but little in nature to molest
the wild fowl while feeding in this locality.
Here grows the ''wild celery" in great
abundance, upon which, as you know, the
canvas-backs feed, and which give their
flesh that peculiar and most delicious favor
A grass, in many respects different from
any | have ever seen in any other waters,
springs up from the muddy bottom, runs
Immediately to the surface of the water,
blooms, and produces seed about the size
of a grain of rice. The stem is about as
thick as common vine, and from one to
ten feet long.
This grass covers tens of thousands of
acres of the surface, in many places SO
thick that 1t is difficult to get boat thro'
it. Game feed upon this seed until it is
all gone, and then feed upon the grass
itself, which remains green all winter.
The sand beach, which separates the
ocean from the sound, is one of the most
romantic and beautiful localities | have
ever seen. Hills and mountains Of pure,
glittering white sand, extended plains COW
cred with the odoriferous myrtle and occa-
sional groves of live oaks meet the eye.
Besides all these, there is the native wild
grass, upon which cattle, sheep, and the
celebrated Beach pony will Craze all Winter
The low fiat lands are inhabited by in
Vulnerable quantities of English snipe, and
all kinds of sea birds. For health and
natural scenery your Long Branch and
Cape May viii fall far in the rear. 1t is
worth a trip to Curituck, just to see the
country and game, if you do not shoot
gun. Wild fowl begin to make their ap-
pearance about the first of September and
remain until April and May; in fact, there
is scarcely a day during which you may
not have good shooting Of some kind. The
waters Of the sound, bays and creeks, are
filed with all kinds Of fish of choice va
rieties, whilst sold ocean has its blue fish,
Sleeps head, spotted trout, striped bass, &c,
Prior to the war | formed copartner-
ship with a gentleman from Long Island,
N. Y, for the purpose of shooting for pro-
ft He brought down with him in his
employ twelve of his best Long Island
duckers. We commenced shooting in
November as soon as it was cool enough TO
ship the birds. We closed our operations
the last Of February. He kept the ac-
count from day to day, and his report ad-
dcd up twenty thousand ducks, besides the
geese and swans that he and his twelve men
had killed during that time.
a few weeks since, paid visit to my
old native shores and hoyhood's hunting
ground, and ! could not see that the game
was any less numerous. Millions of fowl
.sfa