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COURTESY IN THE HUNTING OF DUCK DUCKGood Good Manners Are Fundamentally Nothing More or less Than Fair Play When the oldtime hunter steps into a duck blind he doesnt giveany thought to good manners They are an instinctive part of his makeup and he takes it for granted that his shooting partner has them too Even though the partner is a new man at the game the chances are that he has For good manners m duck shooting are not different from good manners anywhere Fundamentally they are nothing more or less than fair play playBut But even so the beginner at duck shooting may easily slip up on u fcxv points of etiquette he can not always be blamed for doing so For example he may start out with a wrong conception of duck shooting Hefore he knows anything about the game it may represent to him a competition a game in which he and liis shooting companion are rivals the main idea being to see who can kill the most birds birdsIf If this happens to be his attitude it is distinctly to his interest to be set right For duck shooting above everything is a partnership affair If any ¬ bodys interests are to receive first consideration they are those of a partner And with each man in the blind accepting such an attitude of con ¬ sideration for the other there cant help but be general good feeling all around aroundThree Three rules the beginner should remember First lie should never shoot across his partners face Second never shoot at a bird that belongs to his partner Third let there be no misunderstanding so that both men f jre at a certain bird at the same time timeBear Bear iu mind also that singlfc ducks have a way sometimes of coming up persistently from the lee ¬ ward By strict letter of the law such birds belong to the leeward man But here is where good manners or fair play if you wish come in They dictate that the leeward man sit back and allow the windward mqn his share of the shots shotsSometimes Sometimes confusion arises over picking out the lead duck of a string Say your partner invites you to pot the one in the lead ayd then a second later this particular duck has dropped back to second place Through a misunderstanding both may shoot at this duck It is well to remember that tlie lead duck refers to the particular one which is ahead at the Instant the shots ire fired Outing
