248 



T]ic Ajinrican Ans'lcr. 



Is It Right or Wrong to Shoot Live Birds 

 from Traps ? 



The question has often been asked, "Is it 

 right to shoot hve pigeons?" The writer has 

 taken the trouble to talk with different ones in 

 regard to the matter and tinds that eight out of 

 every ten shooters advocate the use of clay birds 

 only. Stop to think for a moment just what 

 the sport consists of, taking a bird which 

 is of no mean beauty and in no sense objec- 

 tionable and putting it in a trap, then giving 

 a shooter about thirty yards distance to stand ; 

 after the shooter is ready, with his gun at 

 his shoulder, he calls out "pull," and the 

 bird is set at liberty ; then, at the instant the 

 bird leaves the ground, if only for a second, 

 the shooter fires, and if he does not kill with the 

 first barrel he has the right to use the second. 

 What show has the bird? About three birds 

 out of ten are killed instantly, the rest are 

 wounded and have to have their necks wrung. 

 Why not take such a bird as the crow, which is 

 better dead than alive, and use them in place of 

 pigeons. Then there is no closed season in 

 shooting birds from the traps, which is certainly 

 wrong. Why should that be allowed by the 

 state authorities ? 



The question has been asked, "What is the 

 difference between field shooting and trap 

 shooting?" The difference is this: In field 

 shooting the bird has a better chance for his life 

 than the shooter has chances of killing it, while 

 in trap shooting the bird has really no chance 

 at all. Live bird shooting can really be classed 

 with bull fights and is more brutal than a dog 

 fight. When a man with modern and improved 

 weapons starts out to kill a dumb animal or 

 bird he is the stronger, while the animal or bird 

 has only its wits to defend itself with. 



Now, there is another question about live 

 bird shooting in connection with clubs. It is 

 admitted by all that a club shooting live birds 

 is very apt to have its shooting membership 

 tall off. Why ? Because it is so very expensive 

 that the ordinary shooter can't afford to keep it 

 up. It costs a shooter as much in one hour to 

 shoot live birds as it does for an all day's 

 shooting at clay birds. Clubs in smaller cities 

 feel this probably more than those in the larger 

 ones. This fact has shown itself very strongly 

 since the hard times have been with us, and a 

 good many clubs have brought this matter up 

 before their meetings, and we hope they will 

 one and all decide to do away with it. If any- 



one wants to shoot live birds and can aftbrd it 

 let him stock the woods and fields and shoot 

 according to law and in a true sportsmanlike 

 manner. The American Angler and Field 

 Sportsman would be glad to have this matter 

 discussed through its columns. 



Toledo as an Angling Resort. 



In referring to an article written for the 

 American Angler by Mr. John E. Gunckel, 

 of Toledo, the Commercial, of that city, states 

 that anglers at all seasons of the year may en- 

 joy as fine sport in the vicinity of Toledo as in 

 any other reasonably accessible locality of this 

 country. People go to Florida to catch tarpon, 

 and are rewarded with one mammoth fish for 

 the expenses and the labor of a month. They 

 visit the lakes of Northern Michigan or Minne- 

 sota, and if they have a week of leisure they 

 may get one day ot good sport. Or, follow- 

 ing their usual capricious freaks in those inland 

 lakes, the fish may sulk for weeks and never 

 reward the angler with a single bite. 



The waters of the vicinity of Toledo once 

 abounded with all kinds of game fish. They 

 were more abundant here than elsewhere on 

 the American continent. Alter a careful ex- 

 amination of these waters, including the Mau- 

 mee River, Maumee Bay, Ten-l\Iile Creek, and 

 the marshes adjacent to the bay, an expert of 

 the fisheries department of the national govern- 

 ment at Washington pronounces the opinion 

 that they are the most superior in the world for 

 the abundant propagation of all manner of food 

 and game fishes. 



Toledo may be made one of the most attrac- 

 tive angling resorts in the country, and, thanks 

 to the efforts of Commodore Gunckel and 

 other writers, the fame of the waters of this 

 vicinity for that kind of sport is beginning to 

 extend all over the country. A writer who has 

 fished in all the accessible waters of the con- 

 tinent, after a week of variated angling on the 

 Maumee Rapids, in Ten-Mile Creek and Mau- 

 mee Bay, says, that for all-around sport ; that 

 for the exciting pleasure of always catching 

 something, and not knowing just what you are 

 going to catch ; for being constantly employed 

 in taking a string of a dozen kinds of fish ; for 

 the ever-changing scenery of land and water, of 

 green islands, of forest-clad mainlands, of 

 marshes like floating gardens, in which is 

 blooming the most beautiful flowers ever seen ; 



