Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-04
AFTER w'tOA GEESE
The Birds Are Not as Scarce as They
8 n
Used to Be.
ALONG TIE MASSACHUSETTS COAST
Rare Sport in the Early Gray of an
Autumn Morning.
HOW DECOYS ARE USED
ALONG TIE MASSACHUSETTS, COAST
HOW DECOYS ARE USED


During a visit to nv old home in Mas
sachusetts, after an absence of several
years, 1 was treated to a genuine sur
prise. 1t was an agreeable one, toe, for
1t was caused by nothing less than the
| great abundance of game birds in region
| Whefe In the olden days they were never
| numerous To an old hunter, the leisure
| OF whose youth was passed in "toting'' q
gum nothing imaginable could thrill with
greater JOY than to find that his ancient
hunting grounds had become repopulated.
| Since my departure since the time I
| used to CLEAN the woods and fields for
| birds, great charge had come about 1t
| proved to me that one might do better by
| staying at home and watching the we'll
known haunts Of native game than by go
| ing far af1eld in search of something pre-
sumably better worth shooting. For, while
l had been seeking strange birds in the
tropics, tramping through the tangled wilds
of Mexico, West Indies, etc, some of the
best and rarest game birds had been ac-
clfmated within the confines of my
state. The very day of my return, in fact,
my neighbor opposite said that he had
seen fine Monaghan pheasant on his
lawn, showing that this magnificent bird,
which was introduced here a few years
ago. had become abundant. And that same
week, while 1 was out in my garden, there
was great hullabaloo In the street that
passes the house, caused by a wild deer
running ahead of mob of unarmed men
and boys.
Becoming More Plentiful.
One of the birds that used to bother me
| most-that is. used to make me hunt hard
| er and more vainly than any other-was
| the ruffed grouse, locally called the par
fridge. If 1 could find one in an after
| moons hunt, kill one in week, 1 used
! TO consider myself In l1,ol- not
| let US sey, about twenty years ago, but
| how astonished l was last week to be told
| by our grocer,s boy that he often got a
brace up in Pickmans woods (Where [
| used to hunt long and earnestly without
| avaiD and that he had flushed one that
| very morning as he rode along on his
| wagon, right within sight of my house.
| All this caused me to rub my eyes in a
| Rip Van Wrinkle fashion, and to ask my
self where l had been all this time. Twen
| ty years ago it seemed to me that q score
of years in the future all the game would
he extinct, or so scarce as to afford but
little sport, while actually l found the
converse to be true. 1t had probably come
about through strict enforcem mt Of the
| beng paid to the habits of bird and beast.
To whatever cause 1t was due, the effect
was manifest, and 1 could not but rejoice.
Not Easy Shooting.
One Of the birds that used to harrow my
soul with its cries as 1t flew along high in
air, going north in springtime and return
ing in the autumn, was the wild goose
"Bernicla Canadensis." 1 was then making
a collection of our native birds. shooting
and stuffing them myself, and had obtained
most of the common varieties, as well
some Of the rarer kinds: but some of The
migratory birds, among which was The wild
goose, persfstently avoided my gun. | do
not recall that | even got 4 shot at one,
| though thousands flew across the promon-
| tf,,-i.t + H..
arose far out of range ahead of the boat
when l pursued them in the bay. There
was a tradition that they often stopped
over to feed by night along the margin of
Bass river about two miles from my home:
and many a frosty night have 7 lain out
on the ground from midnight till morning,
| without even getting a glimpse of them.
From Britishers to Birds.
The weapon I used those days was an old
Queen Ann musket" altered from flint
lock to percussion, and which l had found
In the attic slowed away under the raf-
tiers. It had been carried by my great
grandfather in the revolutionary war, and
by my grandfather in the war of 1872 when
he helped to guard the harbor and had sur
vved both these worthy men by many
years.
If my father had known of my discovery
he would promptly have stopped further
proceedings; and that is one reason, I sup
pose. why I did not inform him of 1t, but
"sneaked'' the old gun over to a neighbours,
where another boy and myself put it in
condition to be used. 1t was all of two
feet taller than we were when stood on
end, and so heavy that we could only fire
1t off by resting 1t on fence rail, stump
or a wall That may have been the reason
l did not get more game; because after |
had discovered a bird a rabbit or a wood
chuck l had to hunt a rest for the old
Queen Ann before 1 could aim and fire.
l don't believe that either of my re-
a1 tod
ishers with that gun at close range for if
they had tried 1t they would have been cap
tured. sure For there was sort of back
action movement at the instant of firing
which always laid me low, and If an enemy
had been near he could have rushed in and
taken me alive. while 1 lay on my back
| rubbing my shoulder, which was often col
ored black and blue. To this day, in fact
the middle finger of my right hand shows
traces of a scar where it used to come In
contact with the trigger-guard of that dis
reputable Queen Ann musket.
She was very dear to me, and, 1 believe.
my very first love: yet l abandoned her al
| last for a breech-loading "Greener" with
| which 1 used to take more comfort, even if
did not make better shots.
Gunners and Fishermen,
| 1t may seem, perhaps that all this has
| little to do with wild goose shooting at the
present day, but 1t has. If 1t had not been
| for the old gun 1 found under the rafters
| the chase, and shouldn't have looked m
my friends of former years similarly in
clined, when l returned home, after long
| absence. A mans known by the company
| he keeps. Well, like the company of gun
| hers and fishermen. They are hearty and
healthy, if not always wealthy. and it mat
| tiers not whether You have been gone ten
years or twenty, when you come back a
! welcome awaits you. p1our sweetheart NAV
| become discouraged and take up with the
| other fellow; your wife may give you up
| for dead and marry again; but your old
| friend of the rod and gun, if he still lives
| will never go back on youi
| So it was that when had found one of
| my quondam companions, about the first
| thing he said was: "You must come with
| US down to the shanty and have a try at
| the geese
with pleasure" answered, but whose
barnyard is it?'
"Barnyard, nothing! It's wild geese
| mean" ri
"What2 Are Their" any left? I thought
| they were extinct"
mot by a long chalk. Why, we got 100
last season, and. from the indications. will
| do as well this year"
| Now. 100 wild geese was more than
| ba5 o,,ar eaap in that locality av,o-t