The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-02-15

kind Of weather, much as a trick cyo
clist cuts. capers with MS "neel. His
,oh is to pick up the dead birds 20
thew drift down on the tide.
The man who Kills them loses sight
Of them on the waste OF waters in g.
few minutes. But the man who is
waiting tor them a mile away senses
them like a turkey buzzard senses his
meal. and what he misses picking up
out of a big days XIII Is not worth
batting an eyelid over.
A lot of ducks and goose shooters
are now using the automatic gun. One
trouble with the automatic Is its La
ability to Jam under a hght charge Of
powder. Approximately "a grains Of
smokeless should be used in the auto
matte to insure enough recoil to WORK
the ejector properly. In case the
gunner has no charge heavy enough
he should remove the extra recoil ring
and all will be lovely.
The natives who shoot for market
favor the pump gun and do some
staggering work with it. One saw q
gulue born and bred on Ocracoke. as
were his father. grandfather and great
grandfather before him, kill Ave hrant
in FIVE shots, all flying fast over and
from the decoys at various angles, the
last bong clean at cAose TO
iseventy-hve yarus. And this was the
" OrA Oh q man who q week previously
on the could not do better
than three out OF ten clay birds. and
" no confessed that it took hum g
whole season and, as he figured, nigh
! 20 400 pounds of lead to learn to XIII
quail as quail should be killed.
AS good a charge for goose and
brant allhe, not forgetting the red
head. as one would want Is thirty
grains Of smokeless powder behind
No. 4 or s shot, according to Ianuy,
Many shooters prefer 6is tor duchs,
their argument being hat As go clean
through the bird. causing too great n
flow Of blood. so hat he can SWIM
away to ole later on. But with the
6s the OrlticeS close uD Immediately
and the ducks drop stone dead.
AS tor the ten gauge, its day has
departed. 1t is too heavy for the
quick work requisite. and the thor
oush sportsman IS apt to sheer at the
man who uses it for luggIng along 81
cannon to BRING down his game.
} In these waters around Ocracokc
there Is such a plentitude Of sweet,
| good feed that h fowl here are en-
tirely devoid Of fishy flavor. Huns
down oy Its feet tor q day or so TO-
drain the animal life" out of it.
there is no finer eating duck than the
: Drant. IT Is both Handsome is and
handsome does" 1t is curious that
it is not better known among eplcnres
3 or IN higher favor on the markets
cooked it would be difficult
to tell it. either for appearance or
favor. from the famous redhead. par
nculariy as on the dish, despite its
1 enormous wing spread. it sizes UP
about the same.
. Roast gosling comes pretty near be-
ing an Oiyn1pian dish, while a gandet
stew a Ia O~cracoke, following a soup
maze mao from Pamlico Sound oysters. SC
s ricn IN the delicious little oyster crabs
.nat I IS red as blood. Is as nifty a
e piopos1ton as a hungry man could
Wei tackle.
O AS 10 the season. it runs from about
e Novemoer Is: when the birds frs;
come IN, to the end of March. Ir
9 feDruary the mated pairs. the ole
ones, leave. Bereft Of those veteran
e Scouts the ounge birds are not 81
e Wary and come to the stools more
freely than earlier in the season
now the season is in full swing.
ano the only limit is the self-imposec
o law OF the shooters sense of decencJ
. and sportsmanship.