The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-11-22

except wh ere 8 fish or muskrat or coo created a commotion So still 1t wa. that could distinctly hear the barkinI
 of squir@el at the farther side of in
 lake, morIe than a quarter of a mil away.
 My starsd was built out in the lak, some hundred yards or more from the tree line, tt the foot of a big cypres. tree whichk grew out of the water an6 marked tie extreme low water mark before the building of the levees alons the MisslsEsippi river had closed the outlet of the lake and damned the wa. ter up to isome five feet or more in depth. Thd stand was platform three or four feelt square, built against the tree itself ;ht one side and supported on posts driyten in the mud It was screened about with willow twigs and switch can4 aud made most effectual protection Ifrom the sharp eyes of the ducks. Th9 air was uncomfortable chilly and the heavy corduroy coat and wool sweater which I wore were not in the least unreasonable.
 The calm didn't last long, for just as l was beginning to get a bit discour- aged a gentle breeze sprang up, which set the decoys to bobbing and dancing and swimming first in one direction and then in ano ther, punching and floating apart in a manner which made them seem to be- alive. l brought forth my duck caller and gave a few lusty quacks which were instantly answered from the woods across the lake and soon, through the screen of switch cnae and willows, I could see a Mallard drake swiftly winging his way directly for my stand and the floating decoys As straight as an arrow he came, and when he WIS directly over the decoys and had set his wings to light, I let him have the right barrel, dropping him stone dead.
 It was not long until good, big waves were running and the crest of them sloshed against the plank floor of my stand, some six or eight inches above the surface of the lake. Then the ex- pected flight set in and it was as fast and heavy as any that I have ever seen.
 From every direction focks of from ten to fifty ducks swept over the straight edge of the cypress tree line into the lake and flashed from end to end and from side to side with little apparent intention of lighting They would sweep from one end of the lake to the other, passing close to my stand and back again, regardless of my hots at them, and the fact that some of them frequet tly dropped behind at this point. Singles and doubles and threes, and fours dashed in among the decoys, offering the fairest possible shots that heart could wish for, some of them even lighting right among the decoys, catching me with my gun open and my numb fingers tugging at a stubborn shell. I was using a double-barreled gun, preferring this type to any of the repeating or automatic guns.
 l shot and shot and shot again as fast as I could load until the outside of the barrel smoked with the heat like bar of iron fresh from a blacksmiths forge. The big ffocks didn't seem in- clined to light, but the singles and small flocks were different, and if they didn't pile in among my decoys they dropped into the still water next to the trees on the leeward side of the lake each fresh arrival being greeted with clamorous quacking, until the number banked up there was fully three hun dred, and I was tempted to send my paddler over to rout them out, all though this is against the rules of the club.
 The ducks were trading" to use the vernacular of the old market hunters, who say that in windy wea ther ducks trade feeding grounds or visit. What ever they were doing they were giving me the time of my life that morning. It wasn't long until l forgot the keen air and the frosty breath of the breeze ceased to obtrude itself. I needed noth- ing but the whirrlng wings and the gutteral quacks, the swiftly moving bodies, darting In every direction about my stand, and making the air sing with the swish, swish of their wings
 Once a flock of geese came into sight, circllng over the further end of the lake as if they intended to light, then changing their minds and heading in my direction, setting my nerves on edge with the hope of securing a shot. Then they swerved aside, and, after making a wide detour, swept squarely towards me, passing within extreme range, | had exchanged the number six shot which 1 was using for the ducks for two hels of number four when the geese first appeared, and 1t | was lucky that did, for they were a good eighty yards distant, and the l lighter shot would have stood a poor chance of proving effective I let them have both barrels, and had the satis- faction of bringing down one of them | a large gander, winged but still very | much alve.
 The paddler had headed for my stand as soon as the geese fell, and I cram | bled into the boat and we put after the swimming bird with will. It was a great feat of padding he did, and it was most exciting race over course of four hundred yards with the goose in the lead by ninety yards at the start. The negro won, however, bringing me within range when the goose was still some fifty or sixty yards from the edge of the open water, where he would