St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-11-21
MISTAKE OF THE PLOVER.
Wary of the Gunner Who IL Afoot'
zsss- Hut Careless II He Comes Along
In q Wagon.

The shooting of upland plover, wheth-
er the birds be the slender acknowledged
variety, the great golden plover or the
dowitcher, lis sport In itself different
from all other forms of field shooting,
says the New York Sun.
It is characteristic of all members OF
the plover family to be desperately
afraid Of a man On foot and not at all
afraid of a man on horseback or IN
vehicle Consequently the gunner who
pursues hem on foot will have an ardu-
Gus chase of it. He who hunts them
from 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 per-
nit horse between shafts to approach
within. 20, feet, sometimes. within ten
feet. II hunted on foot it becomes one
of the wariest and hardest sorts OF game.
+ A man will need then 12-gauge OF
good weight and both barrels closely
choked. His shot should be No. o
chilled on top Of three stin wads over
three and a half drains of powder. What
he wants is reaching capacity and snocK-
ing capacity when 1t reaches. HIS bros
will flush at an average of 40 yards away.
While the plover is of broad wing and
slow pinion movement, 1t PUSHES or
slides through the air q great deal faster
than it seems to be going, and when 1t
has 20 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
well inside of two seconds or he will
not bag anything. f.th.
It is another characteristic of the
plover to decoy we'll. A flock at an
elevation Of 300 feet will see a band Of
decoys on the pasture land when they
would be invisible to man using
strong glass, and If other conditions be
favorable will come sweeping In. The
man will be sheltered behind hastily
constructed blind, low and inconspicu-
GUS, or else will belying fiat on the earth,
rising and shooting as the birds go by.
| The sport will be improved II he has
q plover call and works It occasionally,
giving the soft plaintive note which the
bird uses so much in its night flights.
Apparently it has no other, unless the
peculiar, sad barytone moan It makes
when hiding in the grass with broken
wing can be called q note. @
The plover is not often seen sfngly, and
when it comes to the decoys is apt to
| come in bands of from four to ten. II
the man will wait until this bunch sweeps
by. flying close together, and hold q
couple of feet ahead of them at 30 yards
he may get nearly all Of them with a
single barrel. IA
The plover are now on their south
ern migration and will not remain great
while in the north. Nearly all of the
dowitchers have gone down already and
the golden plover will follow soon. II
is a popularity of them that they pick
up an immense amount of flesh on the
autumn trip southwark and when they
lreach their. winter home are SO heavy
that they burst on striking the ground
\ from q height of so feet. The fat then
covers their flesh with an inch thick
layer and must be pared before they are
1T for table.
| After living all winter in mild eli
mate and eating for ten hours day
they are mere skeletons held together
by skin and feathers and on their north.
ward trip In the spring are not worth
shooting.
A Mighty Hunter.