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FREAK SHOOTING IN PLENTY Humorous Reminiscences of a Number of Geese I in the Field No one spending a good portion of their life shooting a shotgun but has seen things hard to ex ¬ plain happen when the trigger was pulled We have all seen comical tilings happen from the same cause and a few of us regret the witnessing of tragedies writes R P Holland in All Outdoors OutdoorsA A pair of bluewings were coming up the lake We had heard shooting to the south of us and this pair was evidently all the other fellow had left My partner was alone in the blind I was some twenty yards behind him in the rushes looking for a crip Of course I stopped to watch him shoot Now these birds were flying fully ten yards apart one directly behind the other they made no effort to decoy but started to bore right on past the blind I saw my partner rise swing on the first bird and from where I stood I could see him pass the mark and go on to a good stiff lead before he fired At the crack of the gun both birds dropped Neither needed overshooting Explain it to me I domtknow how it happened My friend turned around and grinned in a foolish way and I began making remarks about the ope and only original scatterpun Of course I should have picked that bird right there and then and I would have known for sure whether or not lie died from fright or old age I intended picking him but the shooting was pretty good andi lie got mixed up with some more of his kind and well he wasnt picked at least not by me inch barrel 1897 model Winchester full choke It had never performed in tliis manner before and I Uoit suppose ever yill again The ammunition used was factory loaded 3U drams of bulk smoke ¬ less with 1W ounces of T chilled shot At the very outside these birds were not over thirtyfive yards from the gun How did it happen I have two explanations neither of which may be right Witli the ducks thirty feet apart a right angle shot at the first duck with a good sixfoot lead leaves not the slightest chance in the world for the sec ¬ ond duck to get mixed up in the pattern Either the shot in the shells was balled and some of it went off at a tangent and connected with Mr Second Duck or this gentleman was hit when the died from the effects of it as tlie first duck was killed killedFREAK FREAK SHOOTING AT GEESE GEESESeveral Several years ago I was on the river in a goose Pit with two companions One was a real hunter having served his time as a market gunner follow ¬ ing the birds in their flights The other was a man who liked to hunt but who had never had the opportunity to become proficient This last man was shooting a cylinder bore 2tiinch barreled brush gun of a standard make The old tinier and I had exchanged several winks when we saw how he was fitted out to shoot Canada geese in the mouth f Ii ee mber Courtesy only kept us from expressing ourselves ourselvesA A bunch f eleven geese showed coming from the west his up They tumbled then circled us wide all f tllom ducking to the call of our live decoys which were tethered around the profiles Out over the river they went and headed back only to jilitfht in the water They floated down a ways rose and came up the bar not six feet on the sand It looked like a slaughter but they dropped down before they got within the killing circle and after walking around a little they pro vecded to 5lt J WU uud go It sleep VVe tajked U over Nothing to do but wait we couldnt get mit of the pit without scaring them let alone get any closer to them and we figured they were at least 100 steps from us I snid I wasnt going to make any of those hundred yard shots and I am not so dont get excited We waited but nothing happened Finally the oldtimer readied over nnd got the little cylinder bore and began taking the slfclls out of the magazine nnd barrel What arc you going to do I asked him Either whop one of thorn geese or scare them out before another drove comes along and falls into them instead of de ¬ coying to us Witli that he took out a shell loaded with chilled 2s and proceeded to cut it in two where thc wads separate the shot and the powder He then spread the crimp so that it would fit tight in the breech of the gun and inserted the first half of his shell He shoved this on in with the powder end closed the gun and sat there grinning That will sure make them step And then he added If you fellows will just watch now I will show you one thing a cylinderbored gun Is good for forWe We watched as he rose to shoot For an instant he hesitated then up came the necks ot the geese as they located him and the deed was done We distinctly saw that half a shell hit the frozen sand ¬ bar about ten feet this side of the geese as though it had been a single bullet From these the shot spread like a fan Three geese flapped on the bar unable to rise and a fourth fell back out after the flock had risen in the air Now I can step a yard and from those dead geese to the pit was ninety good steps Our cylinderbore friend confided in me about a month ago that he had been trying this stunt ever since and as yet he had never killed anything anythingANOTHER ANOTHER SHOT OF THE SAME KIND KINDWhile While quail hunting once a honk from above caused me to look up to where a flock of big geese were working their way south As I watched them one cut out of the flock and came to earth on a long slant He fell almost a mile from me but knowing the country I was sure I could find him as his direction led me to believe he had fallen in a green wheat field I nearly ran myself to death getting over there and I found him all right but a farmer boy was Just picking him up when I hove in sight That goose was wet with blood under his right wing I didnt think I ever saw more blood on a goose The fellow that fired that shot probably thought there was something queer about it at the time and later checked if up as another miss missThe The ducks had been flying all morning but hadnt been doing us much good We were located on a Nebraska lake one of a chain in a direct line of flight during a migration These birds had been passing straight over us a11 morning paying not the slightest attention to our decoys My companion wanted to let drive at every flock but being a poor hand to shoot at ducks unless they are decoying when I am hunting over decoys and especially when I consider them all too high I talked him out of it Finally more to satisfy him than anything else I told him to let drive at the next bunch that passed straight over us and if he was lucky enough to wingtip one of them he could spend the rest of the morning chasing it around the lake The next flock drew his fire they Avere biuebills and they gave no outward sign that they had been aware of having been shot at When perhaps an eighth of a mile on down the lake one duck left the flock and circling headed straight back for us When he got in range getting lower all the time we saw that he would not need another shot He was wabbling and was simply coasting down a dead duck That duck fell dead within ten feet of the blind blindWhen When crossing Sugar Lake Buchanan County Missouri one morning after the flight was over and we had taken up our decoys my companion called my attention to a lone goose coming into the lake from the river side As he passed over the shore line five shots were fired at him by a man who had a blind in his line of flight As the goose kept on up the lake we saw that he was lowering his flight evidently to light and if he did not veer to one side or tlie other he would surely pass directly over us We shoved in some heavy shot shipped our oars and waited waitedOn On he came He was our goose as he had lowered until he was in easy killing distance My friend was to shoot as lie was in the stern of the boat over which the goose would pass first We raised and the goose was covered but before he could pull the trigger the big wings had folded and Mr Goose was tumbling to tlie water a dead bird There was nothing in this birds flight to lead one to believe lie had been hit He was not sailing but flying steadily along Had the trigger been liulled we would have been positive our shot killed him even though the aim had been bad so com ¬ pletely did he fold Had I fired my gun in the opposite direction no gunner on the lake woull have doubted that my companion killed this goose seeing him with gun to his shoulder hear ¬ ing the report and seeing the bird fall As it was we loaded up our bird and rowed a mile or more up the lake to deliver him to his rightful owner
