Omaha daily bee., 1920-12-12
Woods. and
Waters %5s4A:9oEk sASaEak
DUCK HUNTING GOSSIP.

"a ASdNSA WIZ oi6Ao iio ASSsSA
Screen Wing" writes: Il have been
a duck hunter for 20 years and am
considered a fair shot, but / have
trouble in getting birds flying across
my deeoys from right to left. Do
you think that this is due to faulty
vision, that could be corrected by
glasses? AT first I blamed it on the
drop and bend OF my gun stock, but
trying several guns showsathe same
trouble"
The answer is easy, think. A
long time ago I had the same trou-
bic, until an old market hunter with
whom ] was shooting told me how
to correct it.
The trouble, Green Wing, is this
"When a bird crosses from left to
right you swing with him and pull
the trigger WHILE THE GUN IS
SWINGING, which is correct, but
when one crosses from right to left
you swing, stop your gun and then
pull, the result being that the bird
is quite bit past the extreme
spread of your shot pattern by the
time the charge gets to where he
was. This is a common fault, even
with old shooters, and it accounts
for the fact that nearly all misses
on c&ossing birds are due to shoot
ing behind them; one, seldom leads
such birds too far.
How About Lead:
All this brings up the interesting aues-
ton, "How far do YOU lead crossing
bird?" 1t depends on how far out from
your blind the bird is, how fast he Is
going and your particular style OF shoot
ing. Last fall was shooting blue bills
with IN old timer who can shoot circles
around me. But this day I was knocking
'IIow far are you leading emp" ;.
I'm swinging four feet ahead OF them,'
replied. :. ;,
'"rhen I'm shooting way behind them" !"
he said. From then on he brought them
down with his customary regularity. NOW,
as a matter of fact. I was not holding
four linear feet ahead Of those birds. !
hunters call four feet when speaking about
shooting ahead Of crossing ducks. Trans
lated into plain United States, I swung
my gun barrel until / saw what looked
atmosphere ahead OF the birds before I
pulled--or rather squeezed--the trigger~"-
Mentions Glasses.
Green Wing" mentions glasses In his
communication. They make wonderful
| shooting glasses these days and no hunter
should lay his gun away because OF de-
fective vision without looking into what
modern spticians--or whatever fancy titles
they sail uLder--have to offer. They
work near miracles in making, shooters
out OF men with pretty poor lamps.
The writer has ,never had any trouble
with vision-business Of knocking on wood
but he has learned q lot about shoot
| ing glasses recently We had tried tho
bought at any drug store for dollar or
| 50, but they dscolored and distorted the
| vision to such an extent that they were
unpleasant to wear.
OF modern shooting glasses. the lenses
! without focus and slightly tinted. They
| were a revelation. With them one car
face a crying wind" all day or sun
| ding tear. and come i45at night with
| the eyes feeling as they should. and
they are so comfortable. mechanically
you have them on. The sportsman, OF
anybody who goes outdoors on blustery
| days. will find such glasses Blessing
| no matter how good his eyes may happen
| to be.
"Painted LADIES'
| Hove you ever noticed a lone mallard
| drake coming into stool of those profile
| folding decoys. Gallant knight that he
\ Is. he throws discretion to the winds and
] sails majestically in. If you do not Shoot
! you will see him get the surprise Of his
| young life
| When he gets directly above the de-
coys he can no longer see them and he
stretches his neck almost TO the point
! OF dislocation, Then he passes over and
! turns. when they again come into view
| He wings once more and puts on more
| speed. This time, by heck. they won'i
| all dive when he gets there! But wher
: he arrives they are all gone again. BY
now he may be ready to give UP in dis
: gust, but one plaintive little feminine
| "wren-n-k" on the call will bring him
| back. and more than likely he will pitch
| right down into your stool.
| Tainted ladiesg he will squawk, afteI
| looking them over. Then he makes hi.
| departure. wiser and sadder duck--pro.
1 vlding that you do not mp and plaster hir
1 with Y ounces. more or less, OF No IS
| At that, one often gets far more fun ir
| Matchluy the ducks than In shooting them