The record-union., 1894-08-23
TARRYING In THE DISTANT NORTH.
About Time the Wild Geese Were
Coming Down.
Fun In Prospect for the Country Lad
His Eyes are Now on s.Pap's''
Old shotgun.

Nobody has yet reported the arrival of
wild geese from the north this season. 1t
is full early for them, but they have been
known to put in an appearance even ear
lier than this.
Last year geese supposed to be the
hrst arrivals) passed over the city on the
night of August 2lst; in 1892, on August
10th; in 1891, on September 9th, and in
1890 on September 10th.
1t will be seen, therefore, that our Arc
tic visitors are now due and that they are
liable to come honking along at any
time. After few weeks feeding in the
grain and s.ubble-f fields the young geese
become quite fat and are excellent for the
table. Later in the season, after the
young grass starts up. they feed on the
tender shoots and their flesh then is soft
and less edible.
AS a rule, sportsmen do not take much
interest in wild goose shooting, though
some of them shoot very wild on other
game. But goose shoe ooting-paradoxlcal
as it may SCENTS lust ducks for the
country boys. Bright and early in the
morning the farmer lad sneakS out OF the
house with "pap's" old muzzle-loader
and MES himself to the stubble-tield
where the gray-breasts are soon 20 come
for their morning meal.
Crouched behind an old fence, or
stretched flat in dry grass-covered ditch,
the country boy lies in wait for the geese.
Soon he spies tiny black line on the
horizon in the direction of the bay; then
another, and another, and finally the
geese come circling over the graln-tieLd
by the hundreds.
The country boy doesn't waste powder
and shot on one goose as they swing over
him in single file, but waits till they alight.
He knows just where they are going to
drop-about thirty yards from his blind
and he has no intention OF shooting
until there are several hundred of them
within range.
Then it is that the old muzzle-loader,
with its guessed-at charge, poured IN
by hand, is turned loose. The first barrel
probably lays out half dozen or more.
and as the birds rise in cloud from the
ground the little hunter gives them the
contents of the other, bringing down
maybe as many more.
That ends the lads shooting for the
morning, for the geese all leave for other
fields; but the young hunter doesn't care
for that. He is after meat, and that broad
side secures him all he is able to pack"
to the house..
AIL6T u16u pass W0lt D0yOuQ bn0 LueIIu-
ian OF life and can no longer pursue the
nimble quail over the steep hills, nor the
elusive jacksnipe through the soft and
mucky meadows, they do most of their
shooting with their mouths-or else go
a-fishing, where they can sit on the bank
of a stream or pond and pull out bull
heads. Some haunt the gunstores at
night and infiict upon younger men re-
citals of their own experiences by flood
and field.
A few go back to their first love-wild
goose shooting-and take as much pleas
ure in it as when they were boys. Ex-
President Harrison is a goose-shooting
enthusiast, and when he was in this State
last spring he and Judge McKenna went
up to Solano County and had great sport
shooting honkers.
Many an old man can look back over
the wide ocean of years that rolls between
him and his youth and recall pleasant
memories OF the days when he was
farmers lad on the prairies of the West
and learned his first lesson in cunning
while stalking the wild goose.