DUCK SHOOTERS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19610, 4 May 1929, Page 15

DUCK SHOOTERS.

LOST VOTES AND POOR SPORT. DUCKS PLENTIFUL BUT SHY. The absence of Christchurch duckshooters on Lake Ellesmere on May Ist must have made a considerable difference to the polling at the City elections. In fact, unconsciously they very nearly held the key to the position and though as Mr Archers majority has now been increased to 424, they would not hare turned the scale, they would possibly have reduced the difference to somewhere near a hundred. One man estimated the number ot shooters on the lake at well over 400, and thought that most of them would have been votes for Mr Hay ward. Ihe duck-shooters are thinking of lodging a petition to have the next municipal election on another date than the first of May, as in a close contest 400 shooters would make all the difference to the polling. The same man said that the opening of the season had been an exceedingly bad one; there were plenty of ducks on the ponds; but the morning of the first had been a light nor'-west and shooting was good on only two flats on the lake. There must have been very good swan shooting, however, on number two ground in the Halswell. The average bag of ducks on the Ellesmere flats would be about seven or eight a day. "About 4 o'clock yesterday," he said, "I happened to see two of the largest flights of ducks I have seen for many years. They came out of the weeds near the middle of the lake and flew towards the beach of Lake Ellesmere in thousands." The wind made shooting difficult. Paradise ducks were practically a "wash-out," he said, but there were the usual numbers of swans, only they were as wise as ever and swam in and out between the stooks about 150 yards up the ponds. This year appears to be a phenomenal year for cygnets, on account of the late hatching, but ducks, while the present weather holds, are hard to reach. One man between 7.30 on Wednesday morning and 5 o'clock the following night did not shoot a bird. The largest bag so far known is 25 birds. However, those who can get out in an hour after the first sou'-wester comes up, said the sportsman, should get excellent bags, as the ducks have to come up for shelter to the bays, where they are on the lee of the beach.

The shooting during the last few days has produced at least one_ good story. One man who had been in his stook all day saw five ducks fly in and settle in front of him on the water. The occupants of five other stooks near him expected to see him shoot on the water, but being a sportsman, he tried to make them rise. He stood up, he shouted, and the ducks lined up and began to swim out, but would not rise. He waved his hat and at last as they were getting further away in desperation he fired. He enfiladed them with one barrel, killing four and with the other killed the fifth on the wing. In his excitement he got up and trod in a pothole, and "all that you could see was his head," concluded the teller of the story. "A great cheer went' tip, and we all knew that he was a sport."