DUCK SHOOTING FROM IRON CYLINDERS.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7869, 21 May 1891, Page 6

DUCK SHOOTING FROM IRON CYLINDERS.

A gentleman who has just returned fal, a few days' shooting on Lake gives the following account of the? visions that have been made for k&!L in that favorite locality. He saye '• tffl* lately duck shooting on the bke~ii«. , * 1 ' great amount of trouble and a B |J ' discomforts. People with visitors to X equipped with camping-out gear, could 22 get any shooting worth speaking o f n* Bad to take tents and provision*, fLw? the horses, and m some places one had J? to take water for drinking then one had to devote a motknrta&il, ■ of time to the making of suitable ff? the bed of the lake in which to B it »?£ waiting for the ducks These holes fi only surrounded by banks of mud, leaked a good deal, and was a continuous necessity and no SP , how one bailed it was a case of wwaders and getting covered with mud *8* there was the disagreeable chance of tk wind suddenly changing and cawuj J wuters of tlio lake cither to leave tw\ 7 far up on the beach or compktet fefe them, and besides this choqse to fly over distent narta nfTt, T? W miles from the holes arranged decoys. So many were tb»A J backs attendant on this style oflake I?* that a good many who could not afford to wait until ES? weather brought their quarry within T ing distance, and those who disliked X?l comforts of campuig out irave ,»iT Ellesmere as a koLIL about the only place in Canterbury w£ good duck shooting could be had, tLy& their chance of enjoying tlio favorite ««t Now, this class of men can have sport ffi out very much trouble. Mr AIV. j Lazaretto, of Kaituna, who is a thf° v sportsman himself, has gone to consiSfi trouble and expense to provide Ml sportsmen with the best chances of B ho2 ducks with the least amount of troubk S! Lazarette has a cottage at &«w about a quarter of » mile^ the railway, two hours' journov from €hri 3 tchurch or 1 drive by road. In the cottage he has tw rooms set apart for visitora, and thairoorS men who go to him for their ehootiaS only take their guns aad*2J ridces, Mr Lazarette providing oilskins, decoys, boats and boarf for a fixed sum per day. HβhasthreeboaU on the lake, and in theao he takes hisviaftc to the places where, according to t & weather, the best shooting is likely to * obtained. As it is impossible to mt n a the ducks whilst in a boat, and ac hplee in the sandbanks make very uneomforta k covers, Mr Lazarette has struck on the id I of having iron cylinders big enough to h. 1 & the sportsmeu, and yet light enough to \» transported in the boats to any part of 1 t lake.

A place is chosen where the flights k birds are likely to cross, the iron cylinden are sunk in the lake, pressed into the sell bottom, and then baled out. As a rit they are fairly water-tight, but if tfc bottom happens to be very soft, they can easily be shifted to a betltf place. A platform of boards, a b~S to sit on and a watertight cose for the cartridges are then placed in the cylinder, the decoys aro fixed all around it, and tie sportsmen are left in their covers. Tie j boats sail away, and, if fortune favor, d_dc i shooting begins. If the place do. $1 happen to be a good one, a shift canw made to some other part of the lake; bp all this is done without any trouble to tai sportsman. He has only to sit still a&l fire straight when the ducks come aboijfc, The number of cylinders already in use it five. Two of them aro about 3ft in diameiel and 6ft long. Last week these were uaod *4 about sft of water, and proved thorough!* tight. The other cyUnders are 3ft long, ags are used for the shallower parts of the lab, As these cylinders are strong and light tbm| can (if the water is smooth) be pmm down until their edge is only an inch or Wt above the surface, and as they aro painted $ lead color the ducks cannot see them vwrj well. As a proof of this a sportsman shot eighty-one ducks from one ol them a sttert time ago in one day. He advises that a iisr* and coat of a similar color to the cylinder should be worn. Gentlemen can, with tity assistance of Mr Lazarotte, shoot th< Kaituna lagoon, the beach, or .sandspifc a&4 every other part of the lake as the weatbd rules, and besides this Mr Lazarette has I camp and boat some distance along tiu coast of the Peninsula where blue rock pigea shooting can be had on the cliffs—a rare fora of sport that tests the skill of the best shots, as the birds are wonderfully strosi on the wing. From this boat black iteg shooting can also be had, and if the wo&tN is good deep sea fishing. So Christcburd people and visitors from other countries who would like to enjoy a few days' spd in Canterbury, can have it without tarn trouble, if they choose to take advantage a the information just given.