New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-09
AMONG THE CANVAS-BACKS'
WILD FOWL SHOOTING ON THE SHORES OF
THE CHESAPEAKE.
Havre de Grace: Nd. Nov. 8.

Havre de Grace; Nd. Now D.
II Is little before o'clock in the morning. On
early winter morning, At the mouth Of the Susque-
hanna. Peace and quiet reign on land ard wa'e,'
save for the rustic and chatter Of the wild fowl
And what host Of wild fowl, TO be sure! ked-
heads and broad-bills and teal marsh-fowl ana
brant and canvas-backs. Some swim in well-or-
dered fotias on the open water. Some are diV-
ing and dredging in the mud near the shore
Some are flying overhead in marshalled lines
Some are busy amid the grasses and setges tha'
fringe the banks. Some are seeking the aromauio
wild celery beds and gorging themselves upon the
succulent heritage These last are the canvas
backs, the epcures among birds and the favori'e
prey of epicures among beings of higher order
There is little to he heard but the multltudinous
clamor Of the birds and the faint spashing OF the
waves sounding eerie enough in the half-light OF
early morning. But now and then there is the
faintest dip Of muficd paddle, or the splash OF
an unwary foot For the last half-hour gray
figures have been gliding hitherward through
dusk and mist, booted to the hips and grit about
with cartridge belts and crowned with caps or
helmets; bearing long double-barreled guns and
stealing across the meadows and through the tall
grasses to the waterside though preparing an
ambush for a deadly foe. One by one they sink
into places of safe hiding, and as the hour Of
draws near all have vanished from sight, behind
the grass and sedge, plated wattles, painted
screens.
Crack! goes gun away of yonder, on that
grassy point that juts Ato the stream. 1t is
fired by some one whose watch is trifie fast,
for it still lacks minute of the hour OF 5. But
while the faint smoke wreaths are yet curling
upward, crack! crack from a hundred neigh
boring ambuscades, like prodigiously multiplied
echoes of the first shot. The grasses seem splitting
jets of flame, and the retreating mists Of morning
are chased slxyward by spirals Of pale blue smoke,
and thousand startled wings flap in mid-air, and
many fowl falls wbirling from the flight amid
scattering feathers and drifting down, and there
are tramplings of feet in the shallow water and
the spashing of mufHed oars, and sea and shore
are echoing to thousand deadly shots, and the
days great slaughter has begun
This is the daily scene during the season pre-
scribed by law from the first of November to the
first of April The early part of the season, No
vember and December, affords the best sport.
though the hunting grounds are not abandoned
until the very end of March, For obvious reasons
the early part of the day. also is the favorite
time for the gunners, although they keep at the
sport until evening. The law does not permit
shooting before o'clock in the morning! But
every true sportsman seeks to begin promptly at
that hour. &c. whether the night be fine or rain
or snow he falling, they turn out before daylight
and forsake their comfortable beds for the wet
and the cold Of the river and bay And when they
return home at the end of the day 1t is their
pride to bear upon their backs or piled high in
their boats huge masses of black and green and
brown and red, the feathered trophies Of the hunt
Not always, however, does the largest pile of
slaughtered fowls the greatest satisfaction.
l.. l.
here as elsewhere A brace of the shy and COM
paratively scarce canvas-backs will furnish better
cause for pride than half a dozen of the commoner
and coarser red-heads Those sportsmen who have
an eye to distinction; therefore, seek the wild
celery fields and let the grass-feeding hocks alone
Every year the wild celery becomes less abundant.
and in equal ratio the birds that feed upon it and
incorporate its spicy flavor into their own flesh
become less plentiful But the floclss Of plebeian
fowl know no diminution. 10 matter how great
the slaughter this year. next year will see the
cunning as profitable as ever
If one wishes to find wild fowl. and especially
canvas-back ducks, in their fullest perfection he
must seek them here. They may be as good
elsewhere, but 1t is heresy to say so. Immemorial
tradition places Chesapeake canvas back apart and
alone, on summit of excellence none other can
reach, like the baked beans of Boston and the
maple sugar Of Vermont the bluefsh of Barnegat
and the planked shad of the Delaware, the oranges
OF indian River and the possOm sop an 'taters"
OF the Georgia uplands So from the great cities
and from all parts of the Union sportsmen flock
thither, making the quaint old town of Havrc de
Grace their Mecca. 1t is within radius of half
dozen miles from Havre de Grace that the best
cunning is to be found, and the sport is an i'm
portant industry to the local residents There are
hundreds d men in aho Hovr do a.
who are professional duck-shooters and nothing
else. From the LIST of November to the 1st of
April they give themselves up to the labor and
exposure of the businesslkc sport. The rest of
the year they do nothing, except TO overhaul
every few days their guns and boats, and tell
great tales of last seasons achievements II is not
highly profitable trade On the average they do
not, perhaps, make more than $500 a year each
In the best seasons the best marksmen never reach
double that sum. But they live well, most Of
them owning pleasant cottages where their wives
and daughters aid the family exchequer by taking
to board the sportsmen who come from distant
places.
Duck-shooters are Of two classes-professionals
and bushwackers. The professional" has much
more expensive and elaborate paraphernalia than
the other. He has what is called a sink box"
This is q large scow, with outrtggers all around
it, supporting platform Of planks. The scow
is so ballasted that its gunwaes only n couple
of inches above water. In the bottom Of this scOw
the gunners lie, only their heads visible. Still
further to conceal them they have screens of grass
or wicker-work, or canvas painted green and
brown, surrounding them on the raft. This
strange craft is anchored, and in 1t the gunners
wait, in perfect ambush, until flock of ducks is
within good range Then they both-there are usu-
ally two gunners in each sink-box "-blaze away
with both barrels of their guns. The most scien-
tifc method is to fire one barrel at them the
water and the other as they rise in the air above
the smoke. II is not uncommon for as many as
fifty birds to be brought down by single volley
of four barrels. To lure the fowl within range the
snk-box" gunners use decoy ducks Formerly
these were all made Of wood, and the gunners used