THE DUCK SHOOTING SEASON.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3031, 4 May 1926, Page 2

THE DUCK SHOOTING SEASON.

The duck shooting season opened with boisterous weather on Saturday morning. The wind was in tho wrong direction for Robinson’s lakes and drove the ducks down more in the direction of the Round Bush. Sportsmen were out on all the local lakes and water-boles and some had possies along the banks of the Manawatu River. Bags are not reported to be very large for the opening, although some good sport was obtained. Ducks were reported plentiful on Newman’s property. The Levin Chronicle says that the duck-shooting season in the Ilorowhenua district opened with an incident which had almost all the elements of a tragedy. Mr. W. Corner, who is about 70 years of age, and Mr. Hammond Murray, son of Air. J. Hammond Murray, at .about five o’clock on Saturday morning, pushed off in their boat from the landing stage on Bullet Lake. The two had not gone more than four or five chains before a sudden squall swept over the lake, and capsized the boat. Both men and their guns, food, etc., were thrown into the water, and Mr. Corner was in imminent danger of being drowned. They managed with difficulty to reach shallow water and eventually got within reach of the shore, from where they were not long in receiving assistance. The guns and equipment still remain at the bottom of the lake, but the two sportsmen are lucky to have escaped with their lives.