Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-14

single shot. Softly 1t pushes through the
wild rice, going 80 tenderly and lightly into
| the wilderness of matted stems that the
| sixteen-foot boat laden with its two men
makes less rustling than the breeze itself
Now. somewhere, anywhere, In the dense
| jungle ahead are duck, feeding themselves
| fat and full on the greatest tidbit that a
duck can ever get. In a moment they may
get up with a whirr of pinions like an au-
tomobile.
1t may he dead ahead, or far to either
side. or even behind. Two ducks may get up
simultaneously but hundred feet apart.
each going at railroad speed; 1t is the
bounden duty of the gunner to bring one
down and then swing his gun around and
somehow reach the second one. Or two
birds may cross, and If the gunner does not
| catch the psychological moment necessary
to get them both with the one shot he will
hear things from his mate when they are
back at camp. The man with the gun has
stern critic behind him and he knows
that the critic has earned the right.
In Narrow Places.
Once through the rice the slough narrows
and presently the canoe, which has been
pointed straight at what seems like a solid
bank. shoots accurately into a tiny opening
of creek, narrow that a boat with oars
could not find room in It, so shoal that only
a bubble of canoe could float In 1t. and
SO full of sudden windings that no ordinary
boatman could ever get around the bends
with anything except disastrous spiashing
and showing.
Here is log jutting into the stream and
| the gunner points silently into the water
| alongside. Three soft feathers floating
| on the black pool, and they have been drop
| ped within very few seconds. There has
| been no sound of fleeing duck; the chances
| are that the birds have swum around the
| point and are unSuSpicouS.
Immediately the canoe lessons It's speed
! and moves so slowly that It might well be
the chin that floats along twill
| of the silent paddle and 1t heads inshore
| so close that 1t all but touches the over
| hanging bushes. Another unheard twirl
| and Its nose just peeks out from under the
cover, so that the gunner can look around
| the bend and-boom boom,
High overhead, outlined against the sky
fee black shapes, like crosses flying, and
in an instant are gone, not to settle again
till they drop with indignant duck-talk In
some slough or hidden creek perhaps ten
| miles away or even twenty, for twenty
miles mean only ten minutes flight for a
black duck or blue bill in haste to go
somewhere.
In the suIlen black water ahead there are
two CLEANS of purest white and dlngy
black, with metallic sheen of green where
one great wing is outspread. They are two
black ducks.
Getting in Four Shots.
Didn't think I'd get this fellow" says
the gunner Struck me just as 1 pulled
ahead on him. He was going like the wind
and don't think that 1 aimed more than
half a foot ahead Of him. Can't imagine
how I hit him
The canoe Is showed into the bank and
the two exchange places, the paddier TAX
ing his turn at the gun
Again begins the slow progress. Sudden
ly, as the boat slips around point OF
drowned land, along the other side of the
creek comes a long line skimming close to
the surface. To the man who has never
seen skein of duck going straight ahead
at top speed, the line would look like some
monstrouS creature skimming the water
with a dozen paddle-like fins beating fierce
ly. The gunner swings his barrels till they
point good four feet ahead of the leader,
and fires. Instantly, even before the
stricken bird has finished tumbling into the
water, the line is broken and the birds
| scatter wildly, giving the second barrel
| chance to reach its victim.
| Out go the shells and in go two fresh
ones Just in time to blaze two more mes
sages at the survivors, who have reformed
| and wheeled into gunshot again. One bird
| drops. In another instant the rest are only
| specks beyond the tree tops.
Rarely does the snap-shooter get oppor-
| tunfty to choose the time and condition OF
| fire as does the man who shoots from
| blind over decoys; and this opportunity TO
| pick shots is great part OF the pleasure
| to many hunters who pride themselves on
| the difficult birds that they select, and who
| will let the nearest and slowest duck go IN
order to swing on some extremely speedy
one that is fast getting out of range.
Shooting Over Decoys.
The day of the man behind decoys is less
arduous than that of the snap-shooter,
| whose canoe often covers twenty miles in
a day. But the day of the other man be-
gins earlier.
His decoys must be out and he must have
hidden himself silently in his blind before
the ducks begin to fly, and that means that
he must be out on the water in the star
light for the wild duck is an early bird In
deed.
Long before there comes that mysterious
change that proclaims that dawn, though
still unseen, Is coming to replace night that
lies so black upon the world just then- tAe
brave pinions of Inallard black, teal, blue
bill, redhead and widgeon are beating the
air with strong, tireless pulsations OF
eager life. Before the eye can distinguish
between land and water, the canoes are
fitting along the shores, sinister gloomy
shapes dipping into the still deeper gloom
of the overhanging trees, or siding by the
shivering reeds that stand knee-deep in the
/, cold dark water. dragged at by the hungry
| tide that hurries to the open sea, whose
| muttering growl steals necessarily across
| the wide Sea-meadoWs.
| Wind and wave, grayness and mistlness
are the delight Of the man in the blind. On
a clear day the birds are prone to mistrust
| his decoys and mark some suspicious Cir
cumstances about any except the most
| carefully made blind. But in storm they
| swing in close and are ever ready to drop
among the wooden duck with friendly cries.
To any except lover of the open there
| is nothing more monotonous than sitting In
a sea blind, with gray and vapory horizon
that marks the distant line of sea and sky,
and otherwise nothing to interest the eye
except miles on miles of waving brown
sea. grass. But there Is a subtle fascina-
ton In this very monotony that charms
men so that they will prefer 1t TO the finest
scenery that forests and lakes ever set for
human sight.
The Charm Of Wild Places.
The hunter over decoys in the fresh wa
ter country where the birds lie UP IN
wooded lakes finds no such monotony. The
wilderness is alive with furtive things that
come forth to open sight after the duck
shooter has sat as silent and motionless as
tree-stunp for a space.
A marten or mink will come out with
mincing steps,. running along log that
juts into the water. A splash alongside of
the canoe may disclose an otter swimming
unsuspectingly along bent a-fishing. Hawks
and eagles come soaring over, looking down
into the cover with keen gray eyes. Great