Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1918-01-29

he would flop over onto his back, with
nothing but his little round face ex.
posed, he had every appearance of a
float on the cork line of a sein; if a
duck was wounded he carried sawed
of shotgun out to sea with him,
which he fired most accurately on es-
Gaping birds.
Picked of Male Birds.
With our punt boat made stationary
by the driving Of poles fore and aft,
through the circular hole left in the
boat for that purpose, then sunk into
the mud bottom, our boat blind COW
cred with reeds and tulies and our de-
coys located in such a position that
the ducks, when decoying, came up
against the wind, it was seldom we
sent Tom out after cripple, we usual.
~ snuffed out their duck lives instant
ly. Gilbert was certainly an artist on
those red heads coming down wind
and transacted much business with
those wise and willy birds, much to the
delight and satisfaction Of Retriever
Tom" who had much to tell his asso-
ciates upon his return to the boat,
which was laying short distance
from where we were shooting. The
surroundings and success Of this hunt
was all that any sportsman's heart
could wish or desire. The cabin
cruiser was palatial in every appoint
ment, no little accessory or refine
ment had been overlooked that could
have in any way added to the COM
fort or pleasure of our trip; culinary
department was under Commodore
Merrill's immediate supervision, which
tells the story of how we enjoyed this
phase of our outing; little time was
wasted getting back to the boat when
the grub signal flag was hoisted, in
vitfng us to meals. We came in every
day with our legal limit Of male red
heads; we were playing sex favorites.
by permitting the female to remain on
earth for propagating purposes. The
surface of the bay was bank OF
birds, resting before their flight to the
rice fields for food.
Not Too Old to Shoot.
This is the country selected by Cap
tain Sedan for a permanent home, at
Rockport, Texas It was while enter
tanning Gilbert and I that the captain
spun his duck story, which push
along to you old timers. We were
seated at his table, he was looking
hale and hearty, although he con-
fessed to having passed the three
score-and-ten period and was then
living on borrowed time; he did not
look the part, hale, rugged with
clear eye and ruddy complexion, he
looked the personification of health.
The only thing that savored of age
L, IN that
had given away his gun and hshing
tackle; this is unquestionably sign
of age and declining years, when
man arrives at period OF life when
he fails to banker for day in the
open, the crack of gun or sight OF
his favorite dog on a point; this is
sign of advancing years. This l sug-
gested to the captain. He smiled a.
he turned to Fred Gilbert with the re-
mark: my old implements OF war
are not very far away. / get them
when they are wanted" AS he
started across the floor there was an
unusual spring in his step. He
turned to his wife with the remark,
Honey, mix us a little hot one that
we may all drink to ye olden times"
Tells Some Duck stony.
The captain then told of duck
hunt in company with that old vet
eran trap shot and all around char
acter, Frank Parmalee of Omaha,
who at one time was known to almost
every trapshot in America and was
member of the allAmerican team,
which shot abroad in 1901.
1.-THE hunt took place at Saint Joe
Island, Texas, a few years since; as
third member of the party, we had
the game warden, as a safety PROPOSE
ton. We borrowed a team OF mules
and a wagon from my old friend, Sam
Allyn, then drove about six miles up
through the island, to swale, which
was about $50 yards long and sixty
feet wide, the water ranging from six
inches to one foot in depth. We
chased thousands of ducks from this
smartweed puddle and knew they
would return to feed in the very near
future. Our blinds were built about
seventy-five yards apart, which gave
us perfect command Of the farm. The