The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-10-17
WILD DUCKS.
EXPERIENCE OF AN OLD WEST.
ERN HUNTER.
Nothing In Wild Fowling to Equal
the Charm Of Chasing the Teal
and the Mallard - Various
Ways of Hunting Them.

Y v with fondest ant1clpatlons
to the open season when
he can pursue his favorite game, the
pleasures he finds are not to be COM
pared to those enjoyed by the hardy
duck shooter. The latter is like the
war horse which shifts the battle from
afar, for the leaden sky, the cool
nights and the north winds are mes
sengers to him telling him that the
ducks will soon come. The discom-
forts and inconvenience he has to en-
dure are among the sweetest of his
recollections when he recalls the time
he had among wild fowl. There is q
rare charm about duck shooting which
lessons all other shooting in the mind
of the wild fowler. Tell to him the
delights Of woodcock shooting and he
will say: "Bosh who wants to tramp
in the island underbrush, where the
mosquitoes are claiming possession Of
the land, and are singing the war cry
of their tribes in your ears, or worse
still, thrusting o bill into your faces
and boring you outrageously?" But
ask him to go duck shooting and his
soul responds to your invitation, and
he will tell you he has patched his
rubber boots, has hidden his corduroy
suit lest his wife should have the dirt
and stains washed from it, has had
shells loaded weeks before, and is
ready to 60 on the shortest notice.
The season for duck shooting be-
gins September in the Northern and
Western States, and when the day
begins to break on that eventful date
the marshes are disturbed here and
there with splashing oars and creak-
ing reeds which tell of the presence Of
many hunters.
The teal are among the first water
fowl to afford good shooting. They
are distinguishes the blue and green
wing. The former are the larger
and usually the more scarce. They
are dainty little ones and love to bask
in the sunshine of the marshes, or sit
on some round bar, which one often
sees in the winding creeks and sloug CHS.
They seldom fly in pairs during the
fall, but feed in large aocks, and, as
they swoop past the hunters blind,
single discharge of the gun often re-
suits in the killing of from three to
half dozen birds. They love to drop
into the little open place, which, from
an elevation, CLEAN like silver in3 the
punches of rushes, and as the birds
swoop along they will suddenly Airt
and dart, dropping into their watery
oases with gentle splash, CT as softly
as feathers drifting into the sea.
Teal shooting can only be enjoyed
when one has good retriever in the
marsh. Of course if the flight is such
that the birds fly over the open water,
then boat answers as well or better
than dog. But generally the birds
dart over the rush tops, and as they
go with great velocity they are fre-
quently killed so they drop into the
rushes and wild rice, where it is ut
terly impossible to recover them with
out retriever. While the teal are
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speed with which they fly, they are
not tenacious of life and succumb to
slight blows. The skillful hunter un-
derstands the necessity of holding his
gun well ahead Of the birds, for, while
he knows the velocity of shot is much
greater than the speed of the birds,
he also knows it takes time to decide
to shoot, to PULL the trigger, for the
cap to explode, for the shot to issue
from the barrel, and then to reach the
bird; all that time, slight though tits,
the swift flying bird has flown from
eight to ten feet, and, unless the
shooter has aimed those distances
ahead of the bird, depending on the
distance the bird is from him, the pei
lets of shot will 90 behind the bird
and the shooter will score miss. Nos.
7 and shot are the favorite size when
shooting teal.
There is another buck, very similar
to the teal, and yet more like the female
mallard, which frequents the marshes
and pays tribute to the hunters skill.
This is the gray duck, and known
locally throughout the United States
as CALDWELL, speckle belly and gray
widgeon. 1t is very similar in appear