The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-02-23
DUCK SHOOTING ON TEXAS COAST.
TEXAS
Hunters Bag Rsdheads in open water

AA1S NNIAl Ae@t bAAA NlAll liebAA PCNhAANAo weight, and working as the northern sportsman seldom sees them work in the fresh waters of the Middle West, make days sport in the bays between Rockport and Corpus Christi some thing to be remembered. Anywhere and everywhere along this coast, writes a Texas correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, the flat islands of sand, with passes between, form these shallow bays into which the tides flow and ebb, and in which the redhead dunk, the pintail, the canvasback, malard and green wing teal come in thousands, But of them all the redhead is the bird for the sportsman.
 The shooting is in the open water, perhaps seventy five yards from the nearest shore. The blind is built of branches of the bay tree, and may last from season to season with little re- pair. A flat bottom boat about nine feet long and three and half feet wide is pushed into the blind and hides the shooter in the stem of the little craft. Sixty decoys, placed with refer ence to the prevailing wind, is an aver age working number The redhead, finding it's food in the salt waters of the bays, may be lured to within thirty or thirty-fye yards of the shooters, at which range a clean kill of a bird must be the measure of workmanship.
 The redhead is one of the swiftest of the duck family, estimates of his speed going down with moderate breeze having been placed at 120 miles an hour, as compared with the sixty or seventy miles of the mallard While careful bird, the redhead does not ap- proach the elaborate caution of the mallard or show trace of the silly flightiness of the pintail
 As Illustrating this distinction be- tween the redhead and these two eau tions and scary members of the duck family, a peculiar ruse of the coast guide in attracting the attentions of a flock of distinct red'heads may be cited, The flock may be half mile to a mile away, flying oblivious of the decoys. Suddenly the guide rises until his fore arm is above the fringe of the bay leaf blind when with his cap in hand he be- gins waving a long regular arc back and forth like an inverted pendulum
 Not infrequently the first move of the cap turns a flock. But the guide main tains the regular motion of the cap un- til the birds are within 300 yards or less, Then as suddenly he dips out of sight and begins to call This call is suggestive of the long caterwaul of the alley cat and is made with the mouth, beginning high in the scale and ap- preached in spelling by "E-e-eeee- you! E-e-e-ee-you" accented on the last syllable.
 Occasionally, as everywhere, the red head will not detoy, but under ordinary conditions the birds swing down with the wind outside the decoys circle and come in against the breeze without the slightest regard for the blind in which the shooter crouches. Coming in and dropping near the water the red head spreads the webs of his feet to the limit and with his legs in the awk- wardest possible position at his sides he seeks to break the force of his impact with the water. Even after his wings and feet are set for lighting his weight seems little impeachment if for reason of fright he starts climbing again.
 Fylocks of redheads such as would ! give the average shooter set of shaky nerves drop down into a bunch of de- coys in such close formation and in such easy range that bird murder would be easy excpt for the provisions of the Texas law Early in the first days shooting off Rockport some time ago a Chicago sportsman lost his head for a second and took a flock of these great birds with right and left barrels In quick succession. Twelve birds were dropped at the two shots, half the limit allowed by the law-and of these birds ten were dead.
 I The Texas law is more encouraging to true sport than is the law in almost any of the other States in the Union
 
 Absolutely no game may be sold in Texas and hunting for the market is a buried industry The nonresident sportsman is not required to take out a license; simply he must obey the law relating to the killing and disposition of his birds. He may kill only twenty five birds in one day. Under no con ditions may he take away from his transient residence, Even the Texas citizen before getting a certificate all lowing him to take twenty five birds tc his home, must make affidavit that or no day he has killed more than the le- gal limit of twenty
 Of the game law in Texas, too, il may be observed that it pretty gener- ally is observed everywhere. If tht statutory penalties are not enough tc force unwilling acceptance of the laws provisions public opinion may be de- i ipended upon; and public opinion ir Texas is a law unto itself if need be As in the case of the tarpon fisherman for instance, who in order to break a record of twenty-five of these great l fishes in a day was discovered shoot
 ing them with rifle long before they
 had been reeled into the gaff, This particular gentleman left Texas in 8
 hurry and will not return.-