A Guide for the Duck Hunter - With Chapters on Blinds, Decoys, Making a Hide, Shelter in Open Field, Flight of Birds, Running a Shoot, Trapping, Legal Aspects of Wildfowling and the Gun for the Job

By Read Country Books

This book contains a concise yet detailed guide on duck hunting, including remarks on blinds, decoys, making a hide, shelters, bird flights, trapping, and much more. This book is both informative and accessible, making it perfect for the amateur. A book sure to appeal to anyone with an interest in this avocation, 'A Guide for the Duck Hunter' is well deserving of a place in any collection of hunting literature. The chapters of this book include: 'Wildfowl Shooting – Duck Shooting', 'Guns for Duck Shooting', 'Blinds, Decoys', 'Making a Hide', 'The M. B. Curtain', 'When Inside a New Hide', 'Shelters in Open Fields', 'The Hen-coop Reproduction', 'Miscellaneous Hints', 'The Flight of Birds', 'Your Shoot', 'On Trapping Woodpigeons and Winged Vermin', 'The Legal Aspect of Wildfowling', 'The Gun for the Job', and 'More about Guns'. We are proud to republish this antique text here complete with a new introduction on shooting wildfowl.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Country Books
• Release date: Dec 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781528764490

Book preview

WILDFOWL SHOOTING

DUCK SHOOTING

The charm in duck shooting lies in the opportunity presented of judging the speed, distance and angle of flight of the coming bird. If these estimates are truly made and the pressure on the trigger is correctly timed, the result will be the death in midair of the flying target. The grouse, the quail and other upland game birds fly into the air when least expected, and the direction of their flight is uncertain, often suddenly changed, and no time is allowed to estimate either speed or angles, but in duck shooting the bird is usually seen in advance, its flight is uniform, there are no obstructions in its path, the shooter has time to prepare for the coming shot, and all depends upon the accuracy of his judgment.

JUMPING MALLARDS

Among the shots which frequently present themselves in duck shooting are the rising shot commonly met with when jumping mallards or teal from their feeding grounds; the incoming shot, either high over head or low down, and the crossing shot, as well as innumerable modifications, all of which demand rapid thought and action. In the duck blind or at the pass the gunner meets a diversity of angles and varying degrees of speed to be found in no other form of shooting, and the hits and misses give both the novice and the expert unlimited opportunity for thought and study.

An inexperienced man gauging distance on ordinary or small ducks is apt to be deceived as to the distance of larger ducks, canvasbacks, redheads, geese and brant, and shoot too soon.

Another thing to be remembered is that ducks do not go down when shot at: they go up. They begin to climb on sight of the first movement. This is not gradual but sharp.

There can be no snap shooting at ducks. The sight must be deliberate and in most cases the shot must be thrown well ahead and above the bird at the instant of pull.

Disregard of these precautions is the constant cause of misses.

The Wilbur shotgun sight is a great aid to men who are unable to bring their line of sight down to their gun rib or have difficulty in estimating the lead to be given crossing birds.

INCOMERS

The incoming bird, either high overhead, below the level of the shooter’s eye or straight at the shooter, is one of the commonest shots met with in wildfowl shooting in the blind or at the pass. It appears to be a difficult shot and bothers beginners as well as many old duck shots, but after it is once learned it is one of the easiest shots to negotiate. Success is dependent simply upon giving sufficient lead. In the case of the overhead incomer this necessitates shutting out the view of the bird at the time the trigger is pulled. The accompanying drawing is intended to illustrate this shot. The gun is brought up with a steady swing beneath the flying bird, and the swing is continued until the bird is hidden from view by the barrels; then press the trigger without checking the swing of the gun and your bird comes down.

The difficulty that many men have with the incoming shot is due to their trying to estimate how much lead to give each particular bird. To be sure, birds of different speeds as well as birds of different distances should be given different allowances, but with overhead incomers little conscious estimation of leads is necessary.

The gun decides the question of the bird’s speed as it follows it up in its flight. As it catches up with it and swings by and blots it out of vision it decides the lead that is necessary. In other words, the speedier the mark the speedier the gun swing so that keeping up the swing until the mark is blotted out is all that is necessary to effect a kill in actual practice. It is an easy shot for the first barrel if you know how to make it. If you miss, however, and it is necessary to swing in the second barrel you will have to do fast thinking.

OVERHEAD INCOMERS

There are fast flying birds that have so much confidence in their speed of wing that they do not swerve or tower when fired upon. They simply put on an extra burst of speed. The canvasback and blue-wing teal are conspicuous examples. It will, therefore, follow if you miss one of these incomers with the first barrel and he goes on by you the second shot will be at a going-away bird, and you have to see a lot of him above the muzzle of your gun to get your load of shot in front of him.

A duck can change his direction of flight with bewildering rapidity. They start climbing when fired upon. This introduces a new angle that must be allowed for in the briefest moment of time. There are other ducks that will shift into a towering curve. This is also a proposition that calls for fast thinking and prompt work for the second barrel.

If the incomer is a low-flying bird and its line of flight is below that of the shooter’s eye, the line of aim must be well down and under the bird. In other words, shoot low and see a foot or more of daylight between the bird and the end of your gun, for misses are all the result of firing behind, which in this position would be firing over the bird.

In the case of the direct incomer, that is, a bird flying directly at the shooter’s head, lose no time in covering it promptly and pulling the trigger. The greatest danger of missing lies in the bird getting so close to you that the load of shot will not have time to open out and make its pattern, but will be delivered like a solid ball. Under these conditions the bird will probably be missed, or if struck, will be unfit for food. If the bird gets very close it is sometimes better to allow it to pass by and turn and take a shot at it going away, but on the whole it is best to accept a bird coming towards you, because the impact of the shot will be much greater in this direction, and it is also difficult and sometimes dangerous to attempt to turn quickly in a small boat.

CROSSING SHOT

The crossing shot frequently met with in duck shooting calls for nice accuracy of judgment of both distance, time, speed and angles, all of which each man learns only by experience. It is well, however, for the gunner to remember that old duck shots declare that crossing birds are always missed by shooting behind. In fact, it is almost impossible to lead a fast flying, crossing bird too much. A charge of shot does not move in a solid mass, but strings along for several yards and success depends upon placing it ahead of the flying target. The importance of keeping your gun moving after the trigger is pulled cannot be urged too strongly. No man can hope to become a good duck shot who does not do so.

HIGH CROSSING SHOT

It is also well to remember that as a rule birds which pass to the right call for considerable more lead than those that pass to the left simply because most men are right-handed and are unable to swing as rapidly in that direction. In the case of a left-handed gunner the opposite would be true.

TIME TO SHOOT

There are different rules given by the knowing ones as to the best time for shooting at ducks over decoys, the best being, Wait until they are in the act of alighting and then give it to them. It may be added, however, that the best time cannot be decided by rule. The number of the ducks, their manner of approach, their species and actions, whether suspicious or otherwise, all influence the decisions. If single ducks or pairs come in there is no need of waiting until they are ready to alight, as they may see something to alarm them, and instead of alighting sheer off. Much time is also lost in waiting, and others might be coming or arrive in time to be frightened by the wild shots made at retreating birds, and then two chances are gone. As soon as you are sure that birds are within easy killing distance, the opportunity should be accepted. It looks better to see a man kill his pair prettily when flying over or by his decoys than to wait until all headway is lost and then shoot as though at a stationary mark.

JUMPING

In jumping ducks a light, flat-bottomed boat is generally used, and if two go together, one shoots while the other sits in the stern and paddles or pushes the boat along the borders of some small stream. It is along the edges of the rice or at the mouth of some small creek that the birds will be found feeding or resting. The shooter in the bow of the boat should sit with his left side advanced, so that he can more readily draw on the birds that cross to the right. If working alone, the gunner sits in the stern of the boat, with his gun resting in front of him, ready to be grasped the instant birds rise. The boat is paddled quickly, but quietly, as near the edge of the weeds as possible without brushing them. It is necessary to be constantly on the alert, and care should be exercised to shoot only at those ducks which, if killed, will fall in open water or in places where they can be retrieved easily. Those that fall into the marshes are usually lost.

In jumping ducks, the difference between the flight of the mallard and the teal, the two varieties usually hunted in this manner, should be considered. The mallard, when aroused from its feeding or resting bed, lets out a squawk and climbs straight upward for fifteen or twenty feet above the rushes before straightening away. The teal, on the contrary, simply clears the rushes and then goes scurrying away low across the marshes. In the case of the mallard the principal precaution to be observed is to shoot well above the ascending birds. While some men aim at their bills and others shoot several feet above them, the latter system is the only one for the beginner to follow, and he need have no fear of shooting too far ahead, for even if the advance of the load misses the rising bird, the balance of the charge comes stringing along for several feet and into this hail of shot the bird springs. In the case of teal, the only advice is to get on to them as rapidly as possible, and if you miss with one barrel send in the other with as little delay as possible.

DOUBLES

The widgeon also goes into the air with a bound and then goes off at a sharp angle while a pintail climbs steadily, and gradually works off into a circling flight that keeps them within range of the gun for some time. Therefore, the time to shoot at the widgeon is at the end of his first jump of ten or twelve feet, for after that he will quickly change. his angle of flight and get out of danger, whereas with the pintail the gunner can proceed more deliberately.

DOUBLES

In trying for a double always aim to get your birds while they are coming in and not, as frequently advised, one coming in and the other going away. A duck moves so rapidly that there is little time to turn around or shift your position, particularly if you are in a boat or blind where your movements are restricted. This picking off double calls for good judgment but as a rule if the ducks are close in it is well to take the leader first. If they are well out take the rear one as that will still leave you time to connect with those that are closer in. The idea being that if you fired too quickly on the leading bird it would give those farther out an opportunity to climb out of reach.

SECOND BARREL

There are many men who handle the first barrel of a gun with rapidity and accuracy, but are ineffective with the second barrel and unable to get in a good second shot. There are various reasons for this. One of them is that the duck fired at and missed with the first barrel was loafing along at a thirty-mile-an-hour gait, but at the sound of the gun it galvanized into strenuous activity, and almost immediately increased its speed to sixty miles an hour, climbing into the air at an entirely new angle. There is no time to study his intentions; it is all done with such rapidity that