Excerpt from Duck Shooting and Hunting Sketches

The wild rice dips, the wild bends,

And rustles in the breeze,

As down the marsh the west wind sends,

Its message from the trees.

By Ernest McGaffey.

Duck shooting is a science; likewise an art. The seasoned duck shooter smiles at the quail hunter, the snipe shooter, and the man who eases around in a "buck-board" after prairie chickens. They are mostly "parlor" shooters in his opinion. "Whisper," now - men take their lives in their hands quite a bit who follow the sport of duck shooting. The marshes and lakes take something of a toll of human life in that respect, and more than a few good staunch fellows have gone under in the "sink-holes," perished from exposure, or drowned in sight of shore while following their favorite hobby. You need to be some resemblance to a man to go after ducks year in and year out.

Spring shooting has mostly been cut out; and a good thing, too. Some lively sessions I have seen occasionally, in the Spring time, when the ice came down on the "blinds." Narrow squeaks at times, and rowing aimlessly in sudden blizzards, stiff ringers grabbing at ice-mailed decoys, and squalls that made gathering dead birds no child's play. Well, I've weathered it, but I just make bold to say in passing that you need to be a good swimmer, a good man with a pair of oars, and as tough as a leather hinge to stand the racket.

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