The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-12-08
AFTER WILD GEESE
Lower Potomac Now Excel
lent Shooting Grounds.
DECOYS ALWAYS NECESSARY
Writer Describes Various Methods
of Getting Within Range Of the
Wild BirdS-cOrnheIds Where the
shocks Can Be AvaiIed of Are Pre-
FerahIe-Marshes Also Utilized.

There is a very agreeable surprise in
store for the hunter who win visit the
Lower Potomac just At the present sea-
son, for he will find most excellent goose
shooting. provided he will go about it in
the right way.
As a general thing we in this part of
the country are prone TO think of wild
goose hunting as il sport relegated to the
/ Western region, where we read OF il as
being enjoyed at It's very best We hear
and read of flight shooting and of pit
/ shooting over decoys, ami Of the mar
velous bags that are made in that West
ern country that is out Of reach of most
of us-while ali the time the same sport
/ is TO be had almost at our very door.
1 True. we cannot find just such immense
numbers, but the writer holds that Il
he can get one. two. or at most half q
dozen geese for a days hunt, he has had
all the fun that any respectable sports
man ought to ask
Way down the river, from about Mary
land Point to Colonial Beach. there
stretches wide waste of waters. as
]
! Potomac can attest. Bordering il on
each side. both in Maryland and Vir-
ginia. are mary acres of wheat AID
corn felds-and the geese have found
that plenty of food is to be had in this
| locality, with comparative safety in the
wild stretch Of waters known as Mamie
moy Reach. Every season hundreds of
I geese winter in this locality and draw
their sustenance from tie neighboring
grain fields.
Only One Right Method.
The gunners in the neighborhood occa-
sionally kill one or two. and the farmer
sometimes manages TO slip up on On un-
( suspecting flock feeding in his field and
pots one for his table but this is rot
goose shooting. and with all due respect
to our friends down the river, they don't
( know how 20 hunt geese.
The very finest goose hunting is 20 be
had in the grain fields. where he is ac-
| customed TO feed, not on the river. True.
/ one can occasionally get "A bird on the
river in II manner 20 be described later.
/ but a field having been found where
/ geese are continually resorting, the op-
portunity Is afforded for the finest kind
OF sport
To begin with. one wants a set Of de-
1 coys and these you can either buy or
make yourself With little trouble
and very little expense YOU can make q
/ dozen stools for many dollars less than
store prices. and they will be every bit
/ as good out Of manila paper cut the
/ figure of a goOSe-two or three different
! pOstuves is suficient-and give them TO a
/ timer, who will cut them out OF either
/ tin or thin sheet iron, the last being best.
as not bending so easily. Next take a
/ trip 10 the Zoo. where you can see a
wild goose and get the cOlors. then paint
your tin dummies. a short stick split
! at one end TO receive the edge of the
decoys completes the outfit. Armed with
a heavy ten-bore gun and your decoys
/ you are ready for any flock OF geese you
can hear Of.
shocks Of Corn Best.
/ II your shooting ground is cornfeid
with the shocks stiI standing the thing
is easy, as the birds are already accus-
toned TO them and your blind is already
I built for you. Select a portion Of the
field where by previous observation You
have found the birds to feed and put out
! the deeoys. then arrange "a corn shock
so as TO get inside OF IT, and do not have
D > y
1 from the decOys or course, this must
all be done before daylight
/ II YOU are shooting i'm Old wheat stub
I bic or where the corn has been gathered,
/ then you must resort 20 pit shooting as
practiced in the West, for one thing YOU
cannot do is 20 build blind in an open
! field where previously no blind has been.
\ To dig the pit one must DO Ii under cover
! of darkness, for # the geese once see
work being done where they wart to feed
they VIII decamp instanter and for good.
A hole is dug just long enough and deep
enough for man 10 lie down in COM
/ fortably and be below the level OF the
ground An old blanket placed in the
bottom viii make it more comfortable.
and the dirt dhig must be scattered broad
cast. Two men cannot shoot from one
/ pit; it would be too wide and attract no.
! tice-sO If two are shooting each must
have his separate pit. Everything being
ready. get into the pit by daylight and
| lay close. When geese come. they are
mighty apt 10 be very quiet about it.
and before they alight are going to circle
the ground several times, like all wild
fowl. in order to see If the coast is clear.
The decoys are great assurance Of
this fact and after turn or two they
are mighty aF+ to take safety for granted
Geese Are Mystihed.
While approaching you from any direc-
ton the decoys are plainly visible but
when directly over them they are Of
course on edge and instantly disappear.
The change in the call and actions of the
birds will show that they are wondering
where on earth their supposed brethren
have disappeared to. Now is the time 10
give it to them-but right here is where
the novice. and many an old hunter too,
for that matter, may slip up. Geese are
big birds, and when in the air look much
nearer than they really are. and unless
you are mighty careful you are going to
attempt too long a shot and get nothing
Be very careful about this and try 20
gauge your distance Just right-a good
rule is TO keep cool and see their eyes
before you shOot-if you can.
If you can find such field as I have
mentioned, and can be there on q. foggv
drizzly day. you will probably have shoot
ing off and on all day, and the writer's
best experience was at such n time when
over one large cornfeld, five separate
focks of geese We're circling at one time
After you are through shooting always
fll in your pit. A good hunter always
puts out his fire when leaving camp. and
the experienced goose shooter fills in his
pit If you don't. next day those geese
are going to find that pit and connect the
shooting with it al once-and they will
not stand on the order of their going
neither will there be any coming back.
Get to Windward.
Possibly some time when you try this
method and have lain in your pit until
you are frozen and cramped almost to
death. you VIII find that the birds are