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REDHEADS BY THE THOUSAND Fen Picture of One of the Greatest Flights of Gamy Bedhead Ducks If Nels is in the lobby on the day of judgment waiting to be handed his and I should happen to walk into the room I know that Nels would laugh and yelled out Redheads Judas Priest For this expression is a byword with a few of us who got in on the greatest flight of redheads ever seen in our section sectionNels Nels says it was the heaviest flight of redheads he ever saw and Nels is one of the most remark ¬ able duck shooters I ever knew Not only does he know the species of ducks at a halfmile glance but he knows just how each duck will act under any circumstance circumstanceFrankly Frankly now such men as Nels should not be permitted to hunt ducks with shotguns They would probably get more with a slingshot than the average man would get with a shotgun And why shouldnt Nels be a wonderful duck hunter That was the way he made his living in the old un regenerate days when the law permitted the sale of ducks ducksYes Yes Nels was a market shooter and fisherman How much lie knew that he kept to himself I could only guess Surely some of his pet places and methods were known only to himself but he was generous with his friends and many a time lie shared a good days shoot witli me mePerhaps Perhaps you have been lucky enough to know some one like Nels NelsDid Did you ever see a day when the ducks didnt stop flying when the morning flight should have terminated but kept perversely at it all day in tho face of all established rules rulesThis This day that I am to tell you about was such a day dayOn On this day I came to the marsh an hour late Every good place was taken So I was informed when I hired a boat at Smiths Hotel HotelAs As usual Nels had the best place His decoys bobbed in front of the Big Bend of the channel and every flock of ducks that came up the channel would pass over or around this big bend that winked a smiling welcome from under dropping eyelashes of flags and rushes rushesWhen When the morning shoot was over several hunters gathered at Big Bend to talk it over One shooter named Ferris was kidding Nels about missing a shot at a bluebill that had passed over the decoys decoysWe We were there in plain sight but were so busy talking that we didnt notice a big fishduck that headed for the decoys It was right into us before we saw it and Nels and I both missed it Maybe Ferris didnt rub it into Nels NelsThought Thought you were a duck hunter he said and Nels got Just a bit sore soreGet Get down boys he warned warnedHere Here comes another fishduck down the channel Lets see Ferris try to hit it itFerris Ferris got ready and the fishduck swung to the bobbing decoys Bang Bang and Ferris missed it twice then the man at the left of the blind curled it up dead in the air Nels had his re ¬ venge and you should have heard him rub it in inSomehtings Somehtings wrong with this gun growled Fer ¬ ris Anyway theres going to be a meeting of the Fat Mens Club down at George Smiths as soon as I can get there and if you men will join me Ill etc etcThe The invitation found several takers but one of the boys named Henry and I stayed at the blind blindPLENTY PLENTY OF BLUEBILLS THEKE THEKEThe The others had hardly gone around the bend when five redheads swung in circled and lit south of us then swam in range heading for the decoys decoysHenry Henry watched them Soon he whispered They are right in front of us now Jump to your feet and well get every bird birdWe We raised to our feet and tip went the redheads Four started north and one big drake went south southThen Then it was as if the blind blazed out of a storm of lead the four redheads pitched forward dead and swinging to the right I cut loose on the fifth a big redhead drake whose winnowing wings had taken him almost to safety safetyPrettier Prettier redheads I never saw Four of them were drakes drakesSoon Soon Nels came back Whats all tho shooting at he inquired as he entered the blind Then his eyes rested on the five big ducks and lie yelled Itedheads Judas Priest I wish Id never seen Ferris FerrisSoon Soon my companions went back to the hotel for dinner and I had the blind to myself Against the gale lowered in three ducks with a businesslike swish swishSeveral Several times they circled but didnt give me the kind of a chance I wanted Soon they lit in above the decoys fifty yards up wind from me Realizing that it was my move I tried a water shot shotEvery Every bird jumped unhurt and started away from me up wind I made a triple on them every bird was killed stone dead and the last one was all of seventy yards away Long ago I learned that it was hard tp kill ducks sitting on the water On picking up my birds I found two of them to be blnebills and one was a greater bluebill This duck is about two incites bigger than the lesser blue bills and his head has a greenish iridescence instead of purplish as in the lesser lesserThat That triple didnt impress me as the birds were close to the water and the kill lacked the sensa ¬ tional drop dropYou You know how it is when you drop a duck from a height of a hundred feet or so it makes more of an impression on the memory Why I can remember ducks I have pulled out of the sky that impressed me so I can see the fall yet yetAnd And soon it was that a shift in the wind caused the birds to act entirely different differentInstead Instead of lowering over the marsh to our blind the birds were now coming straight up the channel into the wind which had gone to the north and brought a little whisper of fine snow with it itWhen When Nels and Henry returned to the blind the decoys were tossing in a gale and our chances were all on forty yard high incomers following the strip of open water through the writhing marsh marshDown Down to the south of us Chick was getting the best of it now as the flocks were decoying in to him first His blind was about one hundred yards south of ours oursSOMETIMES SOMETIMES IT BAINED BLUEBILLS BLUEBILLSCrouching Crouching in our blind we could see the flocks fall for his decoys swing with humming outstretched wings then burst up like a bombshell had ex ¬ ploded in them as the crack of his Winchester muffled by the storm would come to our ears earsThen Then would come our chance as the flock would straighten out and coming up wind faster and yet more fast would reach our blind blindThe The channel bent around the point we were shoot ¬ ing on and often the birds would take a short cut straight over us usSometimes Sometimes it rained Wuebills around us usThe The redheads and bhiebills were coming over now in a continuous stream with a sprinkling of canvas backs backsStraight Straight in over us came thirty bluebills bluebillsMy My first shot on the incoming birds tumbled two out of the van of the flock flockSwinging Swinging quickly overhead I dropped another and turning I took toll again as they were going away Honest now thats exactly the way it seemed to me meThen Then Henry ran out back of the blind and picked up the first two twoDid Did you see me drop these two at one shot he asked exultantly of Nels No but I made one swell double replied that worthy pointing to the last two that I fondly thought I had stopped stoppedProbably Probably they were partly and perhaps entirely his yet I would have sworn that the birds fell to my shots shotsThree Three big canvasbacks lit into Chicks decoys decoysThey They are goners groaned Nels Gee look at that bank of redheads coming As Chick plowed into the canvasbacks the flock of over one hundred redheads veered off and passed on onBattling Battling the wind toward us came one of the canvasbacks canvasbacksHe He had taken out of the Valley of the Shadow a souvenir that was making him stop hover and fan the air like a kingfisher but he was on the way He seemed ready to drop any second Shoot quick Nels whispered Henry or hell drop Then the stricken fowl moved over the dead line trigger The big drake collapsed in a heap heapThat That evens up for one Chick got away from me yesterday chuckled Nels NelsSoon Soon I had a spectacular chance on a redhead He came with a flock of bluebills traveling along beside the smaller fowl Nels saw them first firstGet Get down he warned Here they come Ill take that redhead redheadThen Then noting something his nimble brain changed the plan planNo No yon take him he whispered in my ear Then the air above us filled witli ducks ducksThe The big redhead coming to the left about forty yards high wilted as I nailed him and a roar of wings whirred his requiem as the bluebills poured TWENTYEIGHT DUCKS IN BAG BAGThat That is duck shooting supreme To see them coming to grip the gun until they are so close that they cant swerve wide to raise and hand it to them then to see your dead birds plow a long rakish gasli in the air and fall with a soul satis ¬ fying sploush when they hit the water waterHow How many have we I asked askedTwentyeight Twentyeight replied Nels NelsNumbed Numbed by the cold of the days exposure I took my share and tramped over the hills back to Akron AkronNext Next day I couldnt stay away and went to the marsh again againA A sleepylooking clerk greeted me as I stopped at the hotel to rent a boat boatYou You went too soon yesterday he yawned Nels and Henry killed eighteen redheads in five minutes after you left They had a great celebra ¬ tion last night he continued continuedA A celebration I asked suspiciously Are they sli that is to say have they had Yes said the clerk They are areWhen When I arrived at the blind I found Henry He regarded me unsteadily and said Why didnt yon stay aroun yeshdy yeshdyWhy Why was there anything doing I asked as I entered the blind warily watching Henrys hand ¬ ling of his cocked Winchester WinchesterWazzer Wazzer anthin doin he mocked Wazar Ill say there was wasI I was making up my mind whether to stay in the blind or not and to be sociable I asked what they got after I left leftHenrys Henrys eyes turned glassily to mine mineRedheads Redheads Judas Priest You never saw any redheads yet Why they came in swarms Hundreds and hundreds of them Nels he said Dont shoot yet Let em light and when they did we got twelve all redheads Then in came another flock and we got sir more redheads Judas Priest PriestHis His head nodded forward his eyes closed and as his gun slid from his lap he went to sleep sleepSweetly Sweetly as a child he slept for such is the way of those who wear themselves out shooting all those redheads redheadsHis His lips moved in his sleep sleepWhats Whats he trying to say Nels I asked askedThen Then I laughed for as I leaned forward and looked I saw that his lips again framed the medi ¬ tative exclamation Redheads Judas Priest Walter Barber Haynes in Outers Book
