Los Angeles herald., 1892-10-23
AUTUMN W|LDFOWL SHOOTING,
Sport That Catches Us in the
Twilight Days.
By Marsh and Shore, With Gun We
Hunt the Flying Fowl.
The Sport Which Attracts Both Sailors
and Landsmen-How Old Jim Pray
of Olympia, Thought 1t "Jest
Rained Ducks"

| "They come-they tear the clearing air.
With pennons fierce and strong;
| Ger clouds thev leap, thro' the vastly deep,
The vaulted dome along"
Well, here's another autumn season
already half gone and not a cartridge
have burst, up to the present writing.
OF the days and nights have spent in
camps, extending all the way from Sau-
salito to Fort Wrangel, I still love to
speak and write for the joys that come
to you in the trackless woods, are not
those of which the house-dwellers pirate
but are synonymous with vigorous
health and sound sleep. My belief is
that the camp should be made at all
times, self.supporting institution.
AT TILJAMooK IN 1883.
Oh, but that was camp for you to 90
to, with your shattered nerves and your
impaired stomach. Six of us lived there
for five long weeks, and ate every day
like wolves; and when we quit that
blessed old cedar grove our butcher bill
was just So 30. How was it that low =?
just because the party had never caught
less than 100 trout per diem, with wild
pigeons, grouse, and "fapper" ducks
till you couldn't rest. Then there was
generally carcass of venison in the tree
above the tent; and about twice week
two of the sextette would make raid
down to the beach at Cape Meares, and
come home with couple of sacks of
crabs. razor clans and mussels. On
those occasions Twas as devout museel-
man as any of Mr.. Haggin's ancestors, I
can assure you. But to come back to
the wildfowl shooting of our ember days.
My first shooting of this sort was on
snscol creek, near Napa City, in the
winter OF 1886. in company with
man named Harry Janeway. In those
days it was nothing unusual to kill $50
worth of game of morning before
| breakfast.
| THE CANADA GOOSE
is the finest Of all our Pacific coast birds
for the table, and goes in great focks Of
| 10 to 200, with his hoarse cry of
"hawnk-e- hawnk," which is the first
warning that one gets of the approach OF
the long winter rains. Between this
bird and the gray goose, which has
black breast and yellow beak and legs,
the wheat fields of the great basin lying
between Red Bluff and Bakersfield be-
come pretty we'll devastated. If the
geese would only eat the young grain
down close to the ground and leave the
kernel to grow in the earth, there would
be no trouble. But they uproot the
grain and impoverish the farmer, go
that he is glad to hire men to shoot
them. The customary bargain is that
the farmer furnishes powder, shot and
board, and the hunter furnishes his own
gun, boots and clothing. Almost any
good shot can earn $50 per month over
his board, especially if he be located
anywhere near a large town, where he
can sell his game.
THE WHITE TRUMPETER SWANS
were formerly quite abundant about the
head of Suisun bay, but OF late years the
settlement of the country has materially
interfered with their feeding, and they
have confined themselves to the estu-
aries about Puget sound, while few
are still to be found about the Msrais
du Cygne, near Fort Vancouver. Some
times vast focks of these gigantic birds
are to be found at tho klamath lakes,
but in nowise regular supply. For sport
in shooting they afford little or none, as
their fight ia slower than that of a
crane, and as for their flesh, will never
eat it as long as l can get good bit of
country-fed pork. The swansdown OF
the fur trade is not gotten from these
birds. as many suppose, but from the
elder duck, which is to be shot between
October and March in and about the
Aleutian islands. Good elder skins COM
mand from 81 to $6 in London, although
swansdown has long ceased to be fash.
ionable.
THE CANvAs-BACK DUCK
is the king of all the anas tribe on
either hemisphere, and is noted for his
credulity in being 'toled." The bay
men living along the shores of Chesa
peake bay have species of dog which
they train to this work. The shooter
lies behind screen made of brush and
reeds, while the dog plays up and down
the beach in front of where his master il
concealed. The ducks feeding on the
wild celery, off at a respectful distance
out of gunshot, suddenly notice the re-
triever's antics and unconsciously swim
insshore. When they get within Al
Yards of the beach, the hunter gives
| tucLu OOtn bhiiCio u5 bhCy Li6O, 0AO IL
this way his large No. gun is apt te
NOW down 10 or IL Of them at shot
Sneak boxes were formerly used or
these grounds and so were swivel guns
but the Legislatures of Maryland and
: Virginia have long since prohibited both
and, as natural consequence, the can.
vas back duck is not 80 plentiful anC
brings bigger price.
THE MALLARD OR CRoAKER
is duck found both in England anc
America but not in India, China Of
Australia. His green head and neck
, his curly tail and blue-tipped wings
, have made him familiar object to the
sportsman all over America. The NAL
, lard does not breed wholly in Alaska ant
{ Labrador, as do the canvass backs ant
} widgeons, but often rears its infaD'
: brood in the vast fresh water swamp
{ that are to be found about the base o
j Mount Shasta and Lassen's buttes
You see him mating with his sober gray
: clad bride early in March, just as th
! willows begin to turn yellow and thel
: be builds his nest in some sedgy brinl
of spring-fed brook where he can cate
I, tadpoles and frogs for his spouse an,
q himself. At the Klamath lakes grows