Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-12-21

trio buttons governing signal wires
that run to a hut behind the bank
where the sportsmen await informa-
ton as to which channel the birds are
entering. The attendants in the watch
houses also can telegraph signal
when the decoy ducks have brought the
wild fowl into their trenches.
Meanwhile. warming themselves in
the early morning around glowing
brazier of Goals, and their pipes alight,
the sportsmen sit with their eyes on
the annunciator. At the door are stand
ing n number of nets, with eight foot
handles. each Il deep bag of large mesh
suspended i'll an open fork, giving an
opening of two feet or SO across. Close
beside them crouches one or more
servants, each holding ON his gloved
hand hawk. alert and perfectly aware
that 1t will have share in the fun.
How this fun begins is brightly told
by n correspondent of the London
Field:
For some moments past we had
noticed gamekeeper stopping down
with his eye to the loophole in one of
the butt banks, when suddenly sharp
click was heard, and tie number of
the watchhouse where he was standing
dropped into view on the signal board,
and II that had not been sufficient we
should have known where the wild fowl
were from the frantic way In which
the man was waving his arms and
dancing about with excitement. There
was only room for three people on each
side of the trench, so six of u:s, hurry
ing down the path, got into position as
silently as possible behind the banks
at the edge of the channel and stood
with our nets ready for action.
"The man who had signaled ran
quickly round to the thicket end of the
cutting and dropped Il net across the
water. AS lie did so there We're II flutter
and splashins in the trench, and with
sudden rush and a confused whirring
of wings the wild fowl rose toward the
bank from the water. Now was the
moment when n quick eye and steady
hand We're necessary and with circu-
lar swing of the nets three of us had
caught duck apiece before it had
gone the length of the net handles.
One Of the birds managed to run tue
gantlet by lodging between two nets
and got away over the mound Mt the
end of the channel; but, like an arrow
from a bow, the hawk was slipped
from the falconer's finger and. rising
over the mallard, struck it and brought
it to the ground. The dcoy ducks re-
NAMED floating on the water
The use of the little dog to assist
the decoy man reminds one of an old
fashioned method of procuring canvas
back ducks in Chesapeake bay, known
Us "tolling" them inshore by means of
dog. Wilson gave description OF
1t, as he saw it done about 1910, which
can scarcely be improved upon. "The
dog If properly trained" he says,
"plays backward and forward along
the margin Of the water, and the
ducks, observing his maneuvers, en-
ticed perhaps by curiosity. gradually
approach the shore until they are
sometimes within twenty or thirty
yards Of the spot where the gunner
lies concealed and from which he rakes
them, first on the water and then as
they rise. If the ducks seem difficult
to decoy, any glaring object, such as
red handkerchief, is fixed round the
dogs middle or to his tail, and this
rarely fails to attract them."-New
York Post.