The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-12-03
TRAINING DUCK DEcoYs
And Hunting With Them Down OF
Cape Cod

Iduhly speaking lHC OIiy SpOLlSIlldil~
like conduct in hunting shore birds, as
in hunting other game, is to crawl up
on them by sheer sporting skill, and
kill them in their own country, so to
speak, with every chance on their side.
Shooting over wooden decoys, however,
has come to be acknowledged as allow
able to sportsmen. The wooden 'coys
are set out on a point; the flying birds
see them, swing above them for a first
lCok and are shot with one barrel as
they light, with the other just as they
start to fly away Shooting over
tame ducks is simply much more eX-
citing, vastly more skillful piece of
work of the same kind. For a spot
where ducks fly constantly these tame
birds are not necessary, but on suck
shot out ground as Cape Cod they add
greatly to the science of the sport
Henry had carefully regulated plan
for training his decoys, and it was a
constant source Of surprise and inter
est to me to watch the workings of this
peculiar system. When carefully nur-
tured the intelligence of such a stupid
extraordinary. But the training must
be constant and daily and before bird
is fit for decoy work practically two
seasons have been consumed. The les
sons begin and turn on the question of
food Henry made it his first study to
compel his friends to trust him so thor
oughly that he could pick them up and
put them in his pocket head down
ward at any time, with the certainty
that on being returned to the ground
they would simply rustic their feathers
and shrewdly cock one eye up at him
to await the never-failing handful of
corn. 1t has always been question
with me whether he himself had not
man being, for he could initiate duck
calls of all kinds in a manner that
would not only attract wild game, but
would bring the gun to your shoulder
as you walked along the shore in his
vicinity. One good sportsman who
used to call himself my friend not only
shot (and afterWard paid for) one of
Henry's decoys as she stood tied to a
rock, but actually lay among the stones
of the beach half an hour one early
morning under the impression that
Henry'S constant calls came from
flock of birds just behind the stand,
After bringing these strange wad-
ding pets of his to maudlin state of
tameness, he never failed to set up a
most complicated and continuous series
of duck quacks and calls whenever he
threw out their food 1t was not long,
therefore, before the birds associated
corn with Henry's extraordinary imita-
tons of duck Bedlam, and as any self
respecting bird is bound to quack vocif-
erously Immediately upon seeing food
it became consequep" quite within
the compass of the duck mind to infer
that whenever Henry quacked, corn
was near at hand and shortly to be
Forthcoming. The result was an in
Simultaneous symphony. Consequently
by the end of the summer duck of
reasonably high birth was sure to set
up a hysterical song the moment he or
she caught the sounds of Henry's voice.
Whether Henry actually understood
duck language and discussed points of
interest with the birds l do not know.
AT all events, he understood system
which brought forth calls and shrieks
from every one of his thirty pets when
ever he saw fit to put it in operation.
Having proceeded thus far, it became
his next duty to teach the birds to fly
a sufficiently original occupation to IL
lustrate the extensive scope, the many
sided character of Henry's genius.
This he practiced gradually with each
bird in his barn yard, always appealing
to the ducks appetite. He would
grasp one of them around the body
with both hands, her head meantime
pointing outward Then bending his
knees and lowering the neophyte close
to the ground, he would rise steadily
| but swiftly and hurl the bird into the
air. Instinctively she put out her
| wings and circled around the barn
yard descending gradually, and at the
same time setting up most hopeless
racket, naturally starting the other
| twenty-nine, who fancied this was
Henry calling them to dinner.
| After months of trial and tribula-
ton, with sometimes a broken back
and a consequent duck funeral the
birds grasped the meaning of this pc
culiar fight; and Henry could then
| stand behind his barn-yard fence and
by throwing up one bird after another
give you and any stray wild ducks fly
ing past the impression that there was
a duck Valhalla in the vicinity.
| This stand was of the usual pond or
! lake type. The hut had been set back
among the pines and cedars, and as
they had no leaves to shed in winter
they completely covered the little house
| from top to bottom. The yard, OF
| stand proper, was surrounded by a
| five-foot board fence, banked up out
side with small frs and pines to imi-
tate an enormous pile of brush. AND
Henry had brought his architecture
gray matter into requisition to con-
struct gates leading out to the beach al
| either side, with small openings ir
them through which the ducks coult
enter or leave the stand. At the end OF
the yard which abutted on the waters
! edge, he had drawn on the military
portion of his ineXhaustible store Of
! knowledge and constructed two bias.
tion-like wings, one of which permitted
the gunners to fire eastward, and the
| other westward, while the stand itsel1
faced to the north. BY running a low
bench along this lower end he haG
made it possible for those inside tC
! kneeI and fire one barrel through the
lCop-holes, and then jump up and take
the second barrel on the wing over the
| TON of the stand