Evening star., 1954-12-08

able to pick the very best Weatn-
er with the greatest Of certitude.
Just let us go fishing and down
comes the weather. But not
when we go duck hunting. Last
week end was typical.
Royal Carlock. Dr.. Bill Holton.
Don Chamberlain and the writer
journeyed into Virginia for a
two-day shoot on the Pamunkey.
noted for its mallards. black
ducks and geese. We were to
have two members Of the Pa
munkey Indian tribe as our
guides, and remembering our
reading the Leather Stocking
Tales along with The Deer
slayer, ETC., we had visions Of a
couple of Chingachgooks, no less.
who with true Indian knowledse
of the secrets of the wild"
would insure us of limit game
bags of both ducks and geese.
y - y
Spending the night last Thurs
day at the residence Of Mrs.
Helen Hill, whose post Office ad-
dress Is Pals Va. we arose at
the usual 4:30 am. for a break
fast of herculean proportions,
after which we drove 0 miles to
the boat landing on the Pamun-
key River where the guides met
US. Here we met with Our first
disappointment. Instead Of being
named Flying Eagle or Running
Wolf or something, they are
known to the WORLD at large as
Andrew (Andy) Collins and
Clarence Holmes. Both speak
English fiuently. Instead OF
greeting us with show" and
grunting ugh" when asked a
question, proved about as nice
and polite a couple of gentlemen
as we've yet to meet in the guid-
ing business.
We had about a 15-minute
run in outboard motored skiffs
up the river through the dark
to the blinds, but were staked
out in plenty of time for the
opening hour, and chilled to
the marrow from the trip. How
ever. oil stoves soon remedied
that for us. Day dawned bright
and cold, with no wind and the
sun shone all day. 1t stayed
calm, and although we saw hun
dreds of mallards, both grey
and black" as the black ducks
are called locally, together with
literally thousands of geese, we
managed to scratch only one
green wing teel and one goose
among the four Of us. Your
scribe scored zero. Bluebird
weather, as usual!
Saturday was a repetition OF
the day before, only more so.
We helped DR.. Bill Holton blast
down black duck first thing
in the morning. and outside OF
a swell clump Of mistletoe which
grew in a tree behind the blind,
and which we shot down with
the help of Royal Carlock, had
no luck. Another day of blue
bird weather.
Don Chamberlain, in the other
blind. made a perfect score on
the only goose that came within
gunshot all day, so we wound
up the trip with two geese, one
duck and a teal for the four OF
us. Not so good.
X \ 4 \
The game is there however,
and given some duck-hunting
weather, we'd have had no diff
Guilty filling our limits Of ducks
and geese. We muffed some op-
portunities, as is usually the
case when the shooting is SO
thin. otherwise our score would
have been better. Personally,
we're chagrinned at our missing
three shots at a pair Of mallards
that, to our astonishment, sud-
denly swung our way. decoying
perfectly. But our partner In
the blind did so too, which helped
a little.
Any one wishing to contact
Andy Collins, from whose blinds
we shot, can reach him at Lester
Manor, Va. Andy will make ar
rangements for you to stay with
Mrs. Hill, but we'd advise writ
ing her direct. If you are lucky
enough to be her paying guests,
you'll enjoy some of the finest
home cooking you've ever sat
down to. Man, when we con-
template those dishes of sweet
potatoes and rum, fried young
rabbit with gravy, country ham,
hot rolls and butter, home
grown and canned lima beans,
on.,x1 p1,,AJ;,~ 49, 1AL