SHOOTING FROM A SNEAK-BOAT.
Following the birds by boat is sometimes very effective. Perhaps before coming to the shooting proper we should consider the boat. The best kind of boat for this work, where there is a great deal of running up on beaches, is a sneak-box (description of shooting-boat in Harper's Round Table No. 818). The long bow overhang makes it easy to land without running the boat hard aground. We will consider the sailing first. No special equipment is required, but if you are going out alone a yoke-line attachment will be necessary for steering (see sketch). By this device you can steer the boat from any part of the cockpit by simply catching hold of the line at the nearest place, and pulling either way you wish.
If alone, it is best to sit pretty well aft, as you are less liable to be bothered by the sail, but if there are two in the boat, one shooting and the other sailing, the man with the gun should sit as far forward as convenient, and on the side next to the shore. If the sail happens to be on the shore side, if possible sit on the forward deck so as to be able to shoot ahead of the mast; if not, you will have to shoot under the sail or in whatever manner a shot offers.
ROWING AFTER SNIPE.
The pleasure of the expedition may be greatly marred by mismanagement of the boat. There are no particularly new problems in sailing presented, but there are several points that must be borne in mind. Above all, the boat must not race alongshore, but should only drift along about thirty or forty feet off, because, when going at only a fair speed, objects on shore pass so rapidly as to make all accurate shooting impossible; and, also, a boat travelling even slowly in shallow water will kick up such large waves, that these, breaking on the beach, will frighten all the birds within hearing.
There is one peculiarity of snipe that perhaps ought to be mentioned. When the flock is feeding on small beaches broken up by patches of grass extending down to the waters edge, the birds, if approached on the water in a direction parallel to the beach, will run along it until they are all bunched at the grass before taking wing. This affords a good shot, and you can usually bag several. If you prefer to row after the birds, select a two-oared light flat-bottomed boat, and sit in the front row seat, the person pulling occupying the rear. Sometimes the boat is propelled with a pole used over the stern. There is one indispensable article in shooting snipe from a boat—a crab-net. By this, the dead and wounded birds can easily be picked up.
DECOYING SNIPE.