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

Written fer The Star
OF all bird shooting, by far the most Keen
ly exciting is duck hunting. Upland shoot
ing frequently may call for more art, but
there is no other bird, not even the grouse.
that can bring hunters heart into his
mouth does a mallard or a teal when it
comes cleavng it's way through the air
with burst of speed SO amazing that
shooting at it is like shooting at winged
express.
Whoever wants to know the problem that
confronts the duck hunter need only mag
Inc himself watching for railroad train to
flash suddenly past him at fifty miles an
hour. while he must pick out and hit
mark on 1t about as big as a mans head
in the brief moment of it's passing.
That would be difficult enough, even
though the shooter is warned by the noise
of the train and knows just where to look
for it. The duck gives no warning of it's
approach. Except when it wants to make
a noise, 1t is silent a creature as there
is in all the world-as silent as snake as
wise a fox, and as keen of hearing as a
deer. 1t may appear from any quarter, and
at fifty miles an hour It is in and out OF
sight within the one moment.
1t is this that makes duck shooting one
of the finest forms of hunting. The duck
has far more chances than the man. The
most silent hunter that ever was moves
through the wilderness like an elephant
compared with the absolute silence of the
wild ducks motions. The mere rustic of a
blade of wild rice or bunch of wild celery
as the boat giides past 1t may starte all
the ducks in the vicinity and send them
away in flight far out of gunshot. The
very click of the hammer in cooking a gun
may spoil the shooting in a hole where the
birds ''lie up A momentary flash of sun
Il II II do ha
Great Skill Demanded.
Thus the duck hunter has to become a
perfect miracle of skill. There is he him
self, fifty times bigger than duck. There
is his boat, bigger than himself. 1t is as II
mastodon and a whale were to try to
creep silently and unseen on a man who Is
watching every point of the horizon with
keen suspicion.
The mans qualities of skill and sagacity
are called into play in every one OF the
many forms of duck hunting, from the
western shooting in wheat fields near
sloughs to the simplest form of shooting
from anchored batteries as practiced on the
Atlantic coast; but in none are the condl-
lions more interesting and eXact1ng than IN
the form known as snap-shootlng, Whlch Is
done by a man who sits in the bow OF a
canoe with his gun while his mate paddles
silently through waterways Ihe shooter
must be ready to fire instantly. and MS
duck appear most suddenly ana without
warning.
Snap-shooting Is done in all parts of North
America. It can be carried on equally well
in inland streams and in the marshy salt
water regions; but It's finest degree is
reached In wild rice country, where water
ways wind through thick woods and
drowned lands
There the ducks not only lie hidden till
the last desperate moment, but they have
barely risen before they have flashed away
again behind the dense cover, leaving only
the mocking thunder of their wings In the
disappointed hunters ears unless he Is as
quick as they, and can shoot almost with
out lookng-and shoot to hit.
A beauty of snap-shooting Is that the man
who does the padding enjoys some of the
best fun of the hunt equally with the man
who shoots. The man who can paddle his his
mate on ducks steadily and continually,
giving him a fair shot each time, may well
assert that he is a paddler of parts; for his
muscles and skill must be perfectly attuned,
and one must be as competent and reliable
as the other.
He must push the canoe slowly that 1t
hardly has way enough to steer, and yet
his wrist must be so deft that he can twist
the boat here and there instantly, and all
without making a sound.
A splash of the paddle blade, a touch of
the implement against the side Of the canoe,
a scrape of 1t along the bottom, will be
enough in the stiffness of the wilderness to
frighten all the ducks in the place and send
them away in long black lines of flight, to
drop again in less uncanny place many
miles away.
A Silent Hunting.
Shod In soft moccasins, that there may be
no scraping of feet along the bottom at a
critical moment; clad in garments colored
to initiate the dead grasses of the water
side; the gunner in the bow, braced ready
for a steady shot, with his shells between
his feet and his gun held in position; the
eff
stern: so the snap-shooters steal along
with never a ripple to whisper at the bow
of the graceful boat and never a drop of
water permitted to tinkle from the broad
blade that urges 1T on.
Where the black shadows of the tall trees
make midnight reflections the CLASSY
water the canoe glides, turning silently
and as readily as water snake twists in
its furtive hunting, pointing into every hid
den cove. creeping close to every hiding
place of reeds and bushes, passing near
every log where duck may have been preen-
ing themselves to leave their tell-tale feath-
erS behind them
So softly does 1t go that the bead-eyed
mink, running along a log al the waters
edge most alert of the wild creatures
though he be. does not know it's approa CHI
till 1t has passed him and gets into his line
of sight So gently does 1t float that a
young family of grebes, swift as they are
to dive, swims placidIy and unafraid till
the bow pokes its sleek nose among them.
The very water snake himself, making his
beautiful, unduiating way along with his
sinister head upreared above the surface,
swims unsuspectingly till the canoe actually
runs on top of him, when he spiashes his
way into the crevices OF the shore in head
long panic.
Wonderful Canoemen.
There is no boat in the world except the
Indian canoe (and that includes all modern
forms of it. for the finest specimen OF ma
hogany and cedar, with brass trimmings, is
only a development of the Indians wilder
ness craft that can do this; and there is no
canoeman except the American
Nowhere else in the world can men move
beats SO silently that the sly creatures OF
the woods do not dream of their presence
In the Adirondacks and the Maine woods
and in the Canadian wilderness the guides
love to paddle tourist or camper so close
to shy moose or deer that paddle would
almost reach their heaving sides. More
than one angler has been padded SO close
to deer by the woodsmen that he was able
to touch the creature with his rod
In padding on duck it happens again and
again that the canoe almost runs on top
OF even SO shy bird as the crane and
twice In his experience the writer has been
I