The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-03
LOCAL HUNTERS
 KILL 200 DUCKS
w. H. Kettig and Harry Mat
 thews Deliver the Goods"
HAVE BEEN TO BIG LAKE
That Great Marsh In Arkansas Is Considered the Greatest Nal lard Duck Spot in the
 United States.

w. H. Kettlg and Harry s. Matthews have Just returned from a duck hunt on Big lake, Arkansas, which is the property of the Big Lake Shooting club. and report that within three days they laid low not less than 200 of the pret- tiest Mallard ducks ever brought to the Birmingham market.
 The statement of MT. Kettig and MT. Matthews sounded reasonable, especially so In view of the fact that several prom inent citizens of Birmingham received one or two of the said ducks, but for fear of a possible mistake the sporting editor of The Age-Herald called on sew eral of the bank cashiers for veriflea- tion.
 Mr. Crawford of the First National ad- mitted that he knew the two men per- sonally, but he was free to confess that it was with doubt he heard tales of fish ing, hunting and listened to claims of what a man held on misdeals In a poker game. Tn financial circles 1t developed eraliy credited.
 Mir. McClary, formerly manager of the street railway department of the Bir- mingham Railway. Light and Power l company, said that he knew the two men, but as to-the detailed correctness of their 2OO-duck statement he refused to be interviewed.
 Captain Frank P, oBrien said that he would believe either one of them; and as he was the only man who would verify the statement 1t was decided wise to stop at that.
 At Big Lake, Ark.
 The hunting trip of MT. Kettig and MT. Matthews was confined to the pri- vate preserves of the Big Lake Shooting club, and according to their own state ment they killed 200 Mallard ducks in three days, and could have killed more if they had so desired.
 By the way" said MT. Kettig, T want to say that MT. Matthews is the best duck shot ever saw. He never tires and goes right after his game like vet eran. The beauty of MT. Matthew's shooting is that he loses very few wounded ducks. He seems to know when a duck Is wounded and when he Is killed. For instance, if duck scars to the water MT. Matthews knows that he is shot through the body. If the duck folds his wings and drops MT. Matthews knows that he is only winged and promptly fires another shot from his pump gun and Kills him.
 After finishing his praise of MT. Mat thews as a crack shot MT. Kettig ad- mitted that MT. Matthews killed about 125 of the 200 ducks.
 Greatest Preserve in the Country.
 'The Big Lake Shooting club owns the finest preserve in the United States, ' continued MT. Kettig, "and when all their lawsuits are dispensed with I ex- pect that our property will be doubled in value. Big lake covers an area oi about 5000 acres. It is nearly thirty miles long and about ten miles wide The lake is only about ten feet deer and in most places Is covered with will low and cane. In some places paths have been cut through this marsh foi the passage of boats, and in these paths . | ducks are killed.
 Tn Big lake, continued MT. Kettig there are many varieties of game There are probably more Mallard duck in the marshes than in any other lake in the United States. On the dry spots there are many droves of wild turkeys ; and deers abound in abundance Las- week while waiting in my blind for wilc ducks, my guide had gone out to catcf | wounded duck, and I saw a bis antlered buck come into view I coulc have shot him easily, but as my sho , were so small I did not care to wount the deer and let him die by slow de grees.
 "We could have shot ducks all day, said Mir Kettig, "but the rules of tn
 club limit each man to fifty, and realI. we did not care to shoot more" , Live Duck Decoys Used. , Speaking of the manner in which duck are shot MT. Kettig tells a very inter esting story. "As you probably know, , said MT. Kettig, "the lake, or marsh in some places is almost impossible Th' i paths are cut through the willows fo 3 the passage of boats and in many piacei 5 there are pools. The club owns severa s well trained live decoys. or tame ducks ] These ducks are attached to the boat
 by small springs and are allowed to swin : around in the pools Their continua - -