The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-03

!, succeeds, unless II has made lis s,oop from di
TANGO upon an unwary bird and has It's nature
velocity much Increased by momentum.
4 While the teal Is very active and requires littl
: time 10 get under way, II Ia al serious disac
= vantage under such circumstances To be see
b. at lis best a. a space devourer, the teal must
alone and conscious Of the fact that hurry is
snry. This often happens when one finds itsel
separated from its flock at sunset and twent.
miles from lis roos,inR place Tho other bird
having gono home Il suddenly awAkens 10 IN
fact that II Ia bclatcd. bounds thirty yards int
the air, draws In its small brain line as straigh
az a ruler and gets down 70 business Seen a
such times between the crouchine marksman anc
the dull evening sky II seems a black streak 81,
feet long, and tho habtual shr trcmor OF IL.
wings IL keen metallic whir or buzz With
mock stretched forward 10 fullest tension, It's Ell
bows arched In an angular curve, It's tail JUS
enough depressed 10 give Storage and its leg,
drawn hard against It's rump, II Ia putting 15C
miles an hour behind IL and II tho flight is down a
strong wind II will GO even faster.
There La nothing animate which can approach
the tremendous velocity Of this featherod projec-
tile, which hurls itself through spaoo reckless OF
| the conscquonces. When going It's best the teal
cannot seo any small object al oil II trusts 10
It's height 10 clear an ordinary obstacle, and wholly
10 its speed 70 baffle foes A using three full
| drains Of quick powder In a 10 gauge gun creased
| by such bird at a distance OF forty yards will
| need 10 hold ten yards al least In front He will
| In fact make moro kills II he leads his mark by
fifty feet This seems an exaggoration TO every
shooter who has tried IL yet the truth Of the
statement Is capable not only OF mathematical
demonstration, but OF practical demonstration
| whenever bclated teal Is encountered.
| The trouble with shooting high.hying ducks
Is that there Ia nothing the duck for the shot
to strike, and the tyro cannot tell that he Is shoot
| ing behind He will make miss after miss and,
unless an old hand be near to give him the reason
why. he will go TO camp with empty bag. In
general terms. twenty five crossing ducks are
missed by shooting behind 10 one that is missed
by shooting ahead, Just as II is OF the rarest
Of occurrences that suddenly flushed quail or
Jack snipe is shot These birds arc always
rising and the gun must be held we'll above them
in order u score kill.
II Is the habit OF the teal TO live and to travel in
larger locks than any other variety of ducks
For the most part mallards and widgoons keep
themselves TO themselves. Not often are more
than four or five families seen together unless
the feeding ground be rich and the only ono
within easy reach. The teal, however like the
blackbird. is not infrequently seen in thousands
When flushed they have fashion of bearing into
each other so that no daylight may be seen through
the mass of them. Practically II is a solid living
wall which uprears itself from the water and this
makes possible the killing Of enormous number,
Of them at a single discharge II tho gun be prop
ery loaded and the gunner be al tho proper dis
tance Of forty-fve yards.
James Paulson. of Milwaukee, shooting on
the Horizon marshes two years ago flushed a
flock OF teal in this manner There were possbly
three thousand in the flock With two barrels
OF a 10 gauge gun, loaded with four and one half
drains Of black powder and an ounce and A quarter
Of No shot In each barrel. he killed and bapred
l32 teal There were many winged birds which
got away In the tall grass. II has bannen.d
that teal, frightened from the water in this man
ncr and falling in scores from the shot noured |
into them, have become bewildered nv The nois. |
and death. have flown perhaps a mile c;rcl.d ord |
have come back 10 the place vhenoe tb.v Nov. |
startled. giving the waiting shooters a cbar,. a, |
renew the slaughter More than a5o teal b,v, |
been taken from ono flock In a case like this
On the marshes here in Septembe, then, 10 M |
limit TO the number OF birds A man NAV Lin In .
day other than tho limit set by the law NV IN,
club rules and by his own sense Of decencv When
the season has been a good one as the mast ae,son
has been, the birds plentiful and not too Wild |
from frequent alarms II would he enti,e,v nosshy.
for a sportsman TO expend thousand sbsIs IN
day, surprising that his shoulder could st,nd N.
recoil, which It could not The duck bunt.r
however who lays claim TO being a gentleman
sportsman, will consider twenty-five hind. in IN,
boat as a result of morning shoot n suf8c;encv
and he will always refuse 10 shoot into , socL
preferrins to obtain his BAG one AT . tim.
Taken by ones or twos the teal Ia one Of the nos,
difficult OF flying targets. both on account ~ hi.
swiftness and his small size In BODY the I'M,
flyer is not larger than a quail though bis wino
spread Is much greater. Asst is not often that q,
will pass a blind inside of forty wards IN. oun
which brings IL down with frequency must 10
held not only with correctness, but must he bored
TO throw its shot together and hard In otb.r
words II must be closely choked Tn. f..th.rs
Of the duck at this stage of tho war offer NO an,
probable resistance to shot but later Al. tai
dimininutiye as il ia will stand a lot n sboo,;n
particularly II IL be hit when coming h..a 20
The covering of its breast will mot ent,r.Iv s,ar
the pellets but they will check them 40 that thor
arc buried hArmlessly in the heavy a.sb ~ an.
breast For all the sportsman knows "a M. oon
trary the flyer buzzes ON untouched
There can be no better shooting Than ,..,v,