The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-03-01
PASSES OF THE JACKSNIPE.
Good shooting for the Gunner VINO Ii Able
to Find One Of Them.

There are times when jacksnipe pass
regularly from one marsh to another. and
in these little journeyines they often estsb-
lish a pass as definite as one made by ducks.
The hours for flight are between noon
and o'clock and between Z and 6. II a
man can find one Of these routes he Will
have queer form of snipe shooting.
The jacksnipe IL swift in the upper air.
flying much more steadily than when 1t
first Jumps, and It's small size makes 1t q
difficult target. It flies generally some
thirty yards up and pays little attention
TO objects below II, unless the object be
too big or active.
A man only half concealed, who keeps
reasonably still, will not disturb the snipe
at all. He will find that the birds in passa go
will test all his skill, not that they are wary.
but that they are little and well up and
going like bullets. Snipe will fly from
one marsh to another five miles away in less
than five minutes.
The birds do not rise all at once. First o
couple Of them. growing impatient, Will
start, to be followed by four or five. then
by q few flying singly. then by possibly q
dozen keeping fairly we'll together. In
this manner the marsh will be I'm hour
in being emptied and the flight to the man
on the pass will last as long. He may get
as many a. hfty shots In that hour and may
bag q couple Of dozen birds.
The snipe will frequent the pass until
they have been shot at two or three times
Then they will desert II altogether, either
finding another 70 the same marshes or else
seeking new Marches.
The snipe mics with its bill against its
breast and It's wings sharply elbowed. It
has q powerful stroke and each stroke sends
its light body out OF line TO the left or right.
The zig rag IL not 30 pronounced as when
It has been hrst flushed from the sod and
is speeding away at a height Of six feet, but
Il Ia still there and must be allowed for by the
gunner. The birds are 90 fast that when
they are going down wind and thirty yards
up they must be led considerably. say by
q yard at least, when smokeless powder
ia used, and much further with the old
There are few harder forms of shooting
and none prettier. When hit the birds fall
describing many somersaults and invariably
land upon their backs. their legs sticking up
and crossed.
A snipe going rapidly across a blue sky
doee not seem 70 be much larger than
silver dollar, and gun with a close choke
ia better than ono which scatters widely.
In this shooting No. shot Ia used. as the
smaller sizes fail to carry at the height,
particularly II there be a strong wind,
Sitting upon q point which runs out into
the marshes or ensconced In low bushes on
the level, the man will not need TO move
until the Eight has passed. He must do his
beat to mark the fallen birds and remember
the places.
II he stirs out TO retrieve each time that
a iaok falls he will spoil much Of his shooting
and he will need 10 keep his eyes open at
ali times for the birds are not so readily
sen as a duck They come and 60 fast and
often are not visible until within a few
Yards Of the shooter
There Is no discoverable reason for this
passage Of the snipe, for the marsh that they
10 10 IL Identical In soil and moisture with
the one they leave. 1t is possible that they
exhaust food near the surface and migrate
for some hours 10 give the worms deeper
down q chance to come up and be swallowed.