SNIPE

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 24 (Supplement)

SNIPE

Although but little known as a game bird, the godwit (or snipe, as it is locally called) provides some of the finest, and certainly most difficult, shooting in Southland. The birds are similar in appearance to the English snipe, but larger and and different altogether in habits. The godwit is a migratory bird. It appears in Southland about November in large flocks, and frequents the bays and-"estu-aries, feeding along the shores and 'in the shallow water. It used to be common enough for sportsmen of the Cockney type

to bag lmnion-o nuinbeis of tin -c bud- by coßtructing a blind near -ome -pots where the bird's would be confined in clo-e packs by the rising tide. A few shot- into a pack of this kind would result in, perhaps, 50 to 100 birds being gathciod. This, of course, is mere butcheiy. and i-~ not indulged in by any npoitsinan worthy of the name. In am case, nowadays the birds are much wilder, and the tactics mentioned arc fortunately now not so easily practised. In nearly e\ery locality where snipe abound some place can be found in their line of flight, as they are moved from place to place by the rising tide. In the Estuary at Invercargill the bntls gather on the mud banks out in the ri\er. With ordinary tides and calm weather their long legs enable them to wait on the-e till the tide goes back; but if thoie is a good breeze they are unable to do this, and make for the shore in lots ranging up to 12 The shooter fortunate enough to be in their track must do hi- be-t work to have any success. He must lie behind a tu=sock, and must not haw too big a one or it will scare tho birds. Besides being a. good shot, he mu«t be smart at rising and getting his *hotawa\. W 'i tho wind behind them the bird-* tra\oi at a tremendous pace, and to bag one out of three is not at all bad work. If at all off colour with his shooting, the sjiortsman will ha\e little to carry home. The writer well remember- a hot three-quarters of an hour when he had but two cartridges left out of the 50 he took with him. and had accounted for but a single snipe. When tho bird- are pomp well such a performance is by no means uncommon even among fair -hotat ordinary winged game. Snipe shooting is unique in many ways in the Invercargill Estuary. Tho be-t shooting- ground i-s en some hank of shollabout three or four mile- below the town The shooter makes his way to hi- fa\ount

spot at about half tide, getting together a, few tussocks or rushes to act as a. blind. He selects a. spot that experience has shown him the high tide will not cover. As full tide approaches the wide sandy stretches around him become co\ered with water, till •eventually perhaps the only- dry ground about will be the patch which he occupies. To one unused to it it is apt to produce a feeling of nervousness. He wonders if tho tide is going to rise much higher, and feels somewhat like a contemporary of Noah who ha* neglected to provide himself with an ark. Then the bird* begin to come, and everything- clfo is forgotten.