The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-09-13
MISTAKE or THE PLOIER.
Wary OF the Gunner AfoOt. but Careless
II He Is in a Wagon.

The shooting Of upland plo>er, whether
the birds te the slender yellow legged
variety. the great golden plover or the
dowtcher, Ia a sport in itself different
from all other forms Of field shooting
II is characteristic Of all me- mbers Of
the plover family TO be desperately afraid
OF a man on foot and not at all efraid of
a man on horseback or in vehicle. Con-
sequently the gunner who pursues them
on foot will have an arduous chase Of II.
He who hunts them from a light cart or
buggy will have all the shooting he can
attend to, and will be put to very little
trouble.
Plover feeding upon pasture will permit
horse between shafts to approach within
twenty feet, sometimes within ten feet.
II hunted on foot it becomes one of the
warest and hardest sorts OF game.
man will need then a twelve gauge
of good weight and both barrels closely
choked His shot should be No. chilled
on top Of three stiff wacis over three and a
half drains of powder. What he wants ia
reaching capacity and shocking capacity
when it reaches. His birds will flush at an
average Of forty yards away.
While the plover is Of broad wing and
slow pinion movement. it PUSHES or slides
through the air n great deal faster than II
seems to be going, and when il has forty
yards the start a quick and sure shot is
needed to bring it down. With the bird
flushing at that distance the man must
get his muzzle on the target we'll inside of
two seconds or he will not bag anything.
II il another characteristic Of the plover
to decoy well. A flock at an elevation OF
800 feet will see a band of decoys on the
pasture land when they would be invisible
20 a man using strong glass and if other
conditions he favorable will come sweeping
in. The man will be sheltered behind
hastily constructed blind, low and in
conspicuous, or else will be lying fiat on
the earth, rising and shooting as the birds
go by.
The sport will be improved if he has a
giving the soft plaintive note which the
bird uses so much in its night flights APP
parantly it has no other, unless the peculiar,
sad barytonc moan il makes when hiding
in the grass with broken wing can he
called a note.
when it comes to the decoys is apt to come
in bands of from four TO ten. IF the man
viii wait until this bunch sweeps by. flying
close together, and hold a couple Of feet
ahead of them at thirty yards he may get
nearly all of them with a single barrel.
The ployer are now on their southern
migration and will not remain a great while
in the North Nearly all Of the dowitchers
have gon" down already and the golden
,over will follow soon. II is popularity Of
them that they pick up an imne nse amount
Of flesh on the autumn trip southwark and
when they reach their winter home arc
80 heavy that they burst on striking the
ground from a height of fifty feet. The
fat then covers their flesh with an inch thick
layer and must be pared befor" they are
fiji for table
After living all winter in mild climate
and eating for ten hours IL day they are
mere skeletons held together by skin aud
feathers and on their northward trip in the
spring are not worth shooting.