The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-08
HUNTING THE WILD GEESE
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF THE
 BIRDS IN CALIFORNIA.
Fields of the San Joaquin Valley-Great Sport for the Hunters,

Aiatithh5 .hiiQ 5teSt LII llC pietiiio otiN along the Missouri and Mississippi river bottom lands is great sport, but there are scores of hunters in southern Cali fornia, and especially in the San Joa- quin valley, who say that nowhere else in the United States are there better opportunities to hunt geese and ducks than in this region. Out here 1t is a sport replete with incident and recre- ation that one must experience to thor oughly appreciate. In the months of October and November there are scores of armies of wild geese, numbering two thousand and three thousand each, that pass over this section in their migration from British America to the Mexican and Central American lagoons. On some days at this season there are to be seen in the little coves and marshy bays that indent the coast of southern California thousands of wild geese squaWking, diving and "honk- -honking' on the surface of the water. They feed upon the wheat and barley left on the ground by the careless thrashers in the great grain fields of this region. Hun dreds of men and boys who can shoot turn out annually at this season to have day or two of sport in shooting wild geese. There have been days when as many as thousand wild geese have been i'tumbled over' in single locality, and it is estimated that there nave been many days when several thou sands of the birds have been slain by hunters here and there in southern Cal ifornia. Still there is no diminution in the number of geese, And each year the fiocks are just as frequent and as large.
 At about the middle of october each year the professional goose hunter of California fixes a station among the rank grasses and jules about the shores of the marshy bays, and especially the muddy alkali lakes, in preparation for the coming of the migra ting birds from the north As surely as November rolls around the birds begin to come. and the hunter begins his campaign of shooting. There is no game quite so wary as the Pacific coast geese, and it requires rare patience, much exposure and unusual knowledge of the habits of the birds to be able to get them in great quantities to supply the markets | When the hunter considers that he is much bigger than the goose, and that | the range of vision of this tireless nav | igator of the air is greatly enhanced | from his exalted position among the | clouds, and that the game he seeks is always on the alert for danger, he will l then appreciate the necessity of lying very low when he seeks to get within gunshot of wild geese. They cannot be fooled like ducks. They are entirely de- void of curiosity, and take many things for granted without stopping to inves- l tigate, especially if the things look like men. When migrating the goose sell | dom alights in the water in the day. time, although 1t keeps close to it, and | generally follows watercourse during most of its flight. When it settles for nights rest it generally seeks open water, but Is up at dawn and away. l The best locality in southern California | to bag seventy-fve to a hundred wild | geese a day by man who makes a kbusiness of hunting Is about the alkali lake and the immense reservoirs of mud in Kern county, where over ten thou | sand acres of wheat fields lie adjacent. When the day is misty and the clouds come low down towards the earth is considered by experienced hunters ta be the best time to get shots that tell, for the geese will not attempt to make long flights unless the lookout can see the surroundings perfectly, and thut they are compelled to fly low or stoI | 4lx h following the river in stormy weather they will often alight upon gravel and sandbars, where no willows or vegeta. tion of any kind grow. Sometimes they | drop down in the center of a big grain field and put in their waiting moments in filling up.
 The hunter for wild geese in Kerr county or anywhere in the San Joaquin valley who goes into the sport to make a business of it for a day or two, or 8
 week or two at a time must locate him. self on a mud bar in the lake an houi or two before the first streaks of dawn
 The boatman who lands him must take
 his craft away again after he assists in the preparations for the mornings
 shoot A shovel will be handy to make a slight depression in the sand or gray,
 el-say eighteen inches deep and sever
 feet long. Throw an old quilt in tho
 bottom so that when you lie down yor
 will not be exposed to the dampness
 Then you want a piece of canvass az
 near the color of the sand or ravel as
 possible. This canvas should be large
 enough to cover a space eight fee
 square If possible have about half {
 dozen tame geese, as dark in color al
 can be got These should be tied tt
 stakes at about thirty yards distance
 from your blind. Be sure to have on,
 old gander' among these decoys. A .S2
 caliber Winchester and a good shotgun
 will both come in play. The shotgun
 shells should contain five drams of pow
 der and an ounce and quarter of No
 2 shot. With this paraphernalia all il
 your blind and your decoys securel.
 fastened dawn can come as soon as 1 likes, and if geese come with it you ar, !, ready for them.
 Take your seat In the blind so you cal
 command good view of the direction
 from which the geese are migrating
 Have the canvas spread over your fee and legs, and as soon as you sight i, flock of geese or hear them cawin.
 drop down on your back pulling tn
 canvas over your head, having lookou
 holes in it; then watch and wait. You
 guns must be where you can get then
 easily The geese will never pass tn deceys without first coming down an
 taking a look at them, unless fright ened by something When your gam