It is a rather difficult thing to determine on what kind of ground you will find snipe; some days they will be found in great abundance in one locality, and the day after hardly a bird will be seen. The weather has something to do with this, and by a careful study of it some idea may be gained as to where to find the birds, though this will not always prove reliable.
When the wind in a storm is not too high, the birds usually remain on the sea-beach, but when it is violent you will run a pretty fair chance of finding them inland. During the southeaster mentioned, if the wind is rather high and there is a heavy tide, Sand-piper likes nothing better than to spend the day paddling around on the flooded salt-meadows, picking up the little worms and bugs that have been soaked out of their homes in the grass and soil. Here you will find him in large flocks, travelling by short flights from one end of the meadow to the other, showing very little disposition to move on. But above all his happiness seems wholly complete if he can find a meadow on which the grass has been cut and not collected in mows at the time of the overflow. The floating grass affords a refuge for all the washed-out bug inhabitants of the meadow, and the snipe make the most of the rare treat offered. This kind of meadow-shooting is very pleasant, as the birds will not fly far when "flushed," and it is possible to follow a flock all around the meadow, securing several shots before it takes flight for good. The sedge islands at the mouths of rivers and bays are great feeding-grounds when the wind is not so high, and tide not sufficient to flood the fields.
Sometimes on the day after a storm pretty good shooting can be had on the meadows that have been overflowed. The soil is usually of a clayey character, and the water does not drain off in the lower places very rapidly, forming puddles and patches of slimy mud around which the birds like to feed. They are usually found on the sea-beach just before or after a storm.
The favorite haunts of snipe in fine weather, at low water, are the little sand or mud beaches bordering the sedge islands and meadows, and in the inlets along the water-front.
There are three methods of shooting snipe: tramping the beach, crawling up on them by boat, and by using decoys.
TRAMPING FOR SNIPE.
Tramping the beach or following up on land requires the smallest outfit of any, all that is necessary being the gun and your equipments. It is best to wear rubber boots, unless you intend to shoot along hard beaches or dry meadows. This tramping of the meadows will afford rather good sport when they are flooded, and although you may not get as many birds as by decoying, the action it necessitates adds much to the pleasure. However, if the birds are plentiful and inclined to move about, I should advise the use of a blind and decoys.
Let us suppose we are going out at low water to look out for the birds on the beaches. You have arrived at the scene of action and loaded your gun. Put it in the hollow of either arm; if there are two shooting, carry the guns in opposite arms. In walking along the water you should not walk on the beach, if there is one, but about fifteen or twenty feet back, going up to the beach at frequent intervals to study it for a distance ahead. By this means the birds behind the sedge-grass will not be able to see you until you are quite near. If when studying the beach ahead you do not see any birds, you should make a careful note of the likely places behind which snipe may be, and use corresponding care when approaching them. The snipe do not take to wing until you get quite near, and there is little danger of frightening your birds by these short examinations. You have been walking along the shore in the described manner for some time, and in one of the above examinations you locate some birds, let us say two hundred feet off. Crouch down in the grass and make a study of the lay of the beach where the snipe are, noting with care the positions of any high tufts of grass, bushes, or anything by which you can locate the place without seeing the beach, and it is best to select two between which the game is. Now strike inland some fifty feet, more if level meadow, and move up parallel to the beach until opposite the marks noticed. When directly in back of where you think the birds ought to be, work up to the beach, cocking your gun, and holding it in a position for instant use. You will probably get within twenty or thirty feet of the edge of the grass, when the shrill whistles of the snipe will let you know the birds are off. It is then only a question of your skill as to whether you bag some. In approaching this way, the birds will usually fly directly off-shore and away from you for a distance, thus affording the best kind of a shot. Taking the birds by surprise, you can afford to let them get steadied in flight before shooting. Do not shoot as the bird first starts off, as his twisting will destroy the aim; but let him get settled, cover him with the muzzle of your gun, following him with it for an instant until your hand is steady, and then pull the trigger.
Perhaps it should be mentioned here that if the wind is at all heavy you will never find the birds on a lee shore; always look for them on the windward. If the snipe is "flushed" on the meadow, or any other place where he has the choice of direction, he will always rise against the wind; so if you approach up wind you will get mostly driving shots, but if down wind good shots will be presented.