A Shooting Exersion.

Otago Witness, Issue 1296, 30 September 1876, Page 20

A Shooting Exersion.

WRITTEN FOB, THE WITNESS.

Now that the shooting season is over, and we can only talk about what has been done, I will proceed to give you an account of my first day's sport this season. I had been pretty hard worked for the past few months, so I determinedon having a few days' holidays, and in order better to enjoy them , I had invited a friend of mine from Dunedin to come and spend a week or two with me, and who, for the sake of familiarity, I will call " Sam." He accepted the invitation, and arrived at Temuka a few days before the season came in (Ist April), so that we had plenty of time to look about, and seek out a good spot. We determined to have the first day (Saturday), as we would have a better chance of making a good bag before the game got wild by being continually shot at. I made all arrangements necessary for following out my intention, and having decided upon thelarge lagoon ancl its inlets lying between the mouth of the Opihi river and the Orari, the ducks being prettynumerous about that quarter, we engaged the services of a Maori and his canoej Nothing now remained to be done but to await the Ist April. i On the 31tst Marchj we made up our swags, taking care to provide ourselves with all necessaries for camping out for the. night. " Our horses saddled, we^ mounted, and made tracks for the Maori pah, near the beach at the mouth of the Opihi river, whore the Maori was to be ill readiness at four o'clock that' afternoon! We had not gone more than a couple of miles, when I discovered that Shot (my dog) waa not following us, and as we could not possibly go without him with any hope of success, Sam transferred part of his load to me, and galloped back for the truant. He was not many minutes in getting home again, and having got Shot to see him on .horssback, with the gunj that was quite sufficient' ''to induce him to follow. Sam had not been gone more than twenty minutes when he overtook me,| and having transferred his load back again| we were once more fairly on 1 the roacli We arrived at last at 'our^ destination] where we found the Maori in readiness, To tether our horses and to- embark' on board the canoe was but the work of a very few moments; and seating ourselves as comfortably as we could, we were at last off to our intended camping ground. It was just getting dusk when we emerged out of the inlet that led from the Maori pah into the lagoon, when a nice flock of grey ducks presented themselves as a splendid shot. I had my gun in hand, loaded. My first impulse was to raise my gun ancl take aim. Sam was about to do likewise, but, checking myself saddenly, I cried out, "No ! fair play ; wait till the season is in. We must not fire a shot till it is." Sam, of course, obeyed, and the poor quacks were allowed to escape, only, perhaps, to meet their narrowlyescaped fate on the morrow. A half hour's paddling by the Maori (for he was an expert with the paddle) brought us to tho spot where we were to camp for the night, being about a quarter of a mile from tho centre of our intended shooting ground. i We unloaded the canoe, and hauled her up amongst the flax. Sam and I then se>t about fixing the tent up, while the Maori busied himself ingathering flax-sticks and boiling the billy. We soon had the satisfaction of hearing that the billy was boiling, and having made the tent snug for the night, we proceeded to make the best of our evening meal, which we quickly despatched, and filling our pipes, we proceeded to talk about the good old days in Dunedin, Avhen we were boys together. We lay down to sleep ; yes, I say sleep. Sam lay at one sido of the tent, tho Maori at the other, and your humble servant in the middle. Sleep was out of the question. The number of fleas that nigger brought with him must have been enormous. They must have been thed gnawing at him, and all migrated over to me, as^soon as they discovered there was fresh blood in the neighbourhood, and I can assure you they were not long in doing that. I never wished for morning to arrive more than I did for tho morning of tho Ist April, 1876. From the number of times Sam turned himself, and the diligent way he was applying his hands, I guessed he waa in pretty much the same predicament. As for myself, I looked at my watch, and found it was only two o'clock. Two hours more, and we would have to be astir. I lit my pipe, as I had done over and over again during the night, and Sam, whom I had thought was asleep, followed my example, so we determined not to go to sleep at all if we could help it. But I was the first to break the treaty, and went off into the land of Nod at about

■3.45 a:m., and did not wake again till 'l was called by Sam to get up, that the'billy was boiling, and it would soon be daylight. I got up, and found breakfast was ready, and after sundry digs •in the ribs, we managed to waken the Maori. We were not long in finishing our morning meal, so the next thing to do was to overhaul ou.r guns. Sam was possessed of a fine doublebarrelled muzzle-loader, a capital weapon to kill, for I had before tried it myself, and made some capital work with it j while I had the advantage of him in having a central-fire breech-loader. We were provided with plenty of ammunition. We used No. 3 shot, plain, and No. 4 shot wire cartridges. I believe in No. 3 shot for ducks. The wire cartridges are A,l for long shots at a flock, but I can't say much for them at short distances at single birds — they are inclined to go ,too muqh in a ball. „ r We again embarked on boardthe canoe, and were at last wending our way among the inlets up to the intended shooting ground./- About twenty minutes' paddling brought us to the spot. It was. jusfc coming in daylight — not quite light enough to see the game, but we could hear the continued " Quack ! quack ! quaok !" in all directions. We landed at a point juuting out about 50 yards or bo into the lagoon. This I knew was a good spot, as the game in flying up and down the lagoon would be sure to pass over this point. We landed there and hid our canoe as best we could, but we were not destined to occupy our good position in quietness so long as we had anticipated. A man (I think he said his name was Woodenhead) came up in a great bluster, and ordered us off. He said it was his land we were on, he had leased it for so many years, and if we did not clear out, he would summon us straight away. "Summon away, old hos," replied Sam. This' put him in a towering passion, and off he went, soon to return with a couple, of formidable looking sons'; but by this time we had got into the ,canoe and could bid them defiance; While arguing with them, & couple of grey.,ducka came Btraight over head ; they were rather a long shot ; but as it was the first shot of the season, I gave the signal to let them have it. We both fired simultaneously, and down came one of them jn fine style. It dropped in some rushes close by ; but instead of. going, to piqk : it up at once, we stayed to barney with the old man and his sous, so that when, we did go the bird was nowhere to be found, and after a good search. we, gavq it up, and proceeded to pull down to the .island, where we had now determined to,ma,k,e, » stand, as no one could molest us there. On our way thither we espied a large flock of grey ducks squatting in the water, about 120 yards ahead— We were nearing them, and had got within about 90 yards, when I espied a couple sitting, in the water about 35 yards or so straight in our track. I was in the<;bow,,of, ( the, canoe, and, ordering it to be stopped,, I, raised my gun, fired, and, killed the twoat one shot, just as they were raising their wings to be off, much to Sam's disappointment, who was eager to get at the large flock ahead- So much for, No. 2. . I need not say the report had the result of putting the large flock; on the wing, and as; they came past us, en route for the head of the lagoon, we had the satisfaction of giving them a passing salute of five barrels, with the result of adding four more birds to cur bag. We pressed on for the island. This reached, we hid the canoe, Sam going to the other side of the stream, while I stayed on this, about 80,; yards down stream, so that we thus commanded both sides of the stream, which was about 70 to 80 yards wide, and having got nicely settled down, were anxiously waiting for the birds to return from the head of the lagoon, where we imagined they were getting it pretty hot from the , continual firing we heard going on in that direction. I was busy arranging my cartridges, when bang, bang went the double report of Sam's gun, and upon looking up I could see that he had had a splendid chance at a pair of grey ducks comingup the stream, and that he had brought one of them down. The other one was coming down the stream, and would come within shot of my gun. I stooped down for a moment, theh rose, took aim, fired, and had the satisfaction of seeing my shot bring the bird to my feet. I had hardly got time to place a fresh cartridge in my/ gun, when, looking up the stream, 1 could, see a large flock of teal coming up. They came on and past me within 40 yards. . I let them have both barrels, and brought down a couple. Sam also managed ,to bag a couple out of the same lot. I put a couple of fresh cartridges in, and as they came back to have a look for "their missing," Sam managed to bag anuthor couple and I a single bird ; ono of r^y cartridges being bad, hung fire. The game kept flying backwards and forwards all moraine; in this manner, and were pretty plentiful ; and I knew from the number of times I could hear the words, " Here, boy, fetch them out shot !" from Sam and tho Maori, that our bag must bo swelling pretty considerably. Looking at my watch, I found it was just 11 o'clodk, and as there were no birds about just then, and knowing they would not be about again till the afternoon, I proposed an adjournment for lunch, which was quickly carried into effect, and counting our birds,' we found we., had 25 grey ducks and teal and one swamp hen.

At about 2.30 we again took up our position on each side of the stream, and a few minutes afterwards the birds began to make their re-appearance, and flew backwards and forwards from the head of the lagoon and Orari to the Seadown, but

now milch wilder. We made some very long shots during the afternoon (thanks to' Eley's wire cartridges), and we also made some bad misses, principally through firing wire cartridges at close shots. The shooting at the Seadown and Orari was tremendous all afternoon j it just suited us, as it kept the birds always on the move, and most of them in their flight came up our stream, and, at which we had some capital sport.. They slackened off, however, about 6 o'clock, so we determined .to get back to camp before dark-ness-set in, and pack up and be off home. We again counted our game, and found that we 'had just 40 ducks and teal and 1 svjramp hen. Packing up our traps and getting on board the canoe was but the work of a very 'few moments, and we were once more on the lagoon bound for the' Maori, Pah, where we had left our horses.', As we had justj ust emerged from the stream into the lagoon, our attention jwas called by the Maori to a flock of P&raflise ducks ,(aa we supposed) coming down, the lagoon towards us. I ■ had a good look at them ; I could just see them in the dusk, and as Sam's gun was unloaded,'! put' a; pouple of wire cartridges in'mine. They were just about opposite to us. I could now see they were swans. I raised , my gun, let' the -first bird have my .right barrel, but without any effect. I then let the same bird have my second barrel, and down came a fine full-grown black swan, dead as a stone, and never gave a flap." We stuffed it in amongst the ducks, thus swelling our bag considerably, and which I reed not say more than realised our fullest expectations. We soon reached our horses, and about 20 minutes later our destination, where we found a substantial supper in readiness, to which we did ample justice after so successful a day's sport, and which we found out afterwards to be the best bag made in the district that day.