Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-07-12
HUNTING IN INDIA.
GREAT SPORT WITH GEESE, DUCKS
AND OTHER GAME.

|
Are Bagged-Ingenious Way the Natives
Catch Ducks and Geese.
In India ducks, teal and geese abound
| in all the numerous jhcels, as do also coots,
or water fowl. These jheels are large wa
ter storages for irrigating purposes and
are kept filled by the heavy fall in the
rainy seasons. They afford most excellent
| sport.
| Sometimes, for company's sake, several
form party and go out for the day, but
thorough, keen sportsman meaning bust
ness generally prefers going out alone. OF
course with jolly party it is more enjoy
able in one way, but the difficulty is that
each interferes with the others sport,
more especially when careful stalking is
necessary no matter how well or carefully
organized the plan is, and for this reason
l generally preferred going out alone.
| The jheel to be first visited having been
determined upon, ones syce and coolies
are sent on by daybreak. After an early
breakfast an hour or SOS gallop lands one
among the haunts of the feathered tribe.
This kind of shooting is all the more en-
| joyable because of the variety it affords,
a double shot at the ducks and teal and
| then quiet hunt after snipe around the
marshy parts of the jheel. Then, if vii
lage is near which is generally the case,
sport in tho shape of black partridge, quail
and peafowl and an occasional shot at q
deer can be had before remounting and
| following up the ducks, etc, to other
| jheels in the vicinity. In this way an eX-
citing days sport is obtained, and thor
oughly good mixed bag is the result As
these jheels arc mostly coverless and well
in the open every precautiOn has to be tax
en- to enable n near approach to the ducks,
not forgetting the direction of the wind,
for in this respect ducks are as keen as an
telopes and any carelessness in detail
would soon sec the black and living mass
on the wing and away well out of range.
Often have had to creep fiat on the ground
for very long distances, placing my gun
several feet in advance of me and wrig-
Cling up to it, and so on. This is a slow
means Of progression, but it is sure when
against the wind. A further precautions
to take off your helmet and place n veil
the color of the ground over your face, for
nothing shows out palmer or so scares
birds or animals us n white face
Once the edge of the water is reached,
perchance the duck and teal have moved
far out, in which case there is nothing for
it but to continue crawling, in spite of the
slush and dirA keeping as low as possible
until the depth of the water admits of u
more comfortable attitude, enabling one
to wade, still lowering ones self, keeping
the gun above water. Now the greatest
care has to be taken for fear of slipping
out of ones depth. The plan l always
adopted was to advance the left foot,
shuttle along to the front with it and bring
up the right foot, and so on until l had
approached sufficiently near to insure a
successful shot. Well do l remember one
most excellent days stalking some 90
miles from Lucknow, when, with right
and left, 1 actually bagged 90 ducks and
teal, after which, being in the vicinity of
village where pcafowl were said to
abound, determined to try my hand at
them, and with the aid of my cody beat
ers secured 80 in one hour, all in fine con-
dition, and the pcacocks particularly hand
some. The mixed bag Of duck, teal, geese,
partridges quail and peafowl which was
enabled to send in to the men mess at the
close of the days proceedings was greatly
appreciated by the recipients, and my 60
ing out shikarwa always hailed with de-
light by the men, who knew never forgot
them
Geese arc also to be found in very large
focks, but only in the larger jheels, and
they generally keep well out in the middle,
In the open deep water during the day,
coming into the shallow parts to feed late
in the afternoon. l sometimes went out
after them in n canoe when such could be
got. If not l manufactured a raft made
out of bamboo, which l made my coolies
cut from the adjacent junglGs, with earth
enware pots at the corners to give the re-
quired buoyancy. With such an arrange
ment and with bushes and grass fixed
round the Sides have often padded out
and had the most enjoyable days sport
with the geese. 1t is, however, next to
impossible to approach nearer than so or
80 yards, which. even with wire cartridges,
prccludes all possibility of murderous
fire, such as one is able to get among the
ducks and teal. The most l ever bagged
in a double shot was five. They are inyari-
ably in good condition and have not the
fishy flavor generally SO prevalent with
them. Sometimes jheels are connected by
means of bitches, which enable the gun
ner to continue the sport from one water
way to another all day, following up the
birds.
the ducks and geese, and a most ingenious
way it is. Deep shelter trenches are cut
at the different points Of attack from the
mainland we'll out into the open, so as 30
admit of the trappers moving backward
and forward nOiselessly and unobseryed by
the birds. Large earthenware pots called
"chatties" are procured, in which eye
holes are cut. These are placed over the
heads Of tho trappers, who have nets Sc
cured around their waists in which to place
the birds. Thus equipped those selected
wade in along the shelter trench, suddenly
bobbing up in and among the flocks of
geese or ducks and teal as the case may
he. AS only the "chattie" is seen by the
birds, as if drifting on the surface Of the
water, no notice is taken, and they go on
feeding contentedly, until one by one they
are seized by the legs and dragged down
and placed in the nets. Their comrades
take no heed to this strange performance,
imagining that their friends have mere
ly gone down for divers reasons, it never
occurring to them that they did not rise
again for sundry purposes. BY this in
genuity vast quantity of geese, ducks and
teal are secured and brought into the mar
ket or sold among the men of the differ
ent regiments in garrison.-Philadelph
Times