WILD DUCK SHOOTING ON PRESERVES 125 



are liberated they spread out in returning to their dif- 

 ferent ponds, and in this way ducks are made to pass 

 over all of the guns in nearly equal numbers. 



I much prefer the shooting of wilder birds on the duck 

 pass and jumping them from before a boat, pushed 

 through the wild rice; but each to his taste. The time 

 for criticising the conduct of others as a means of in- 

 creasing the game has passed. Almost everything that 

 anyone could think of has been tried as a restrictive game 

 law, and for good scientific reasons the laws have failed 

 to stay the decrease of the game appreciably in settled 

 regions. 



The increase of game should be encouraged by every 

 possible means, and we should always remember what 

 one does in one way another may prefer to do in another 

 and that everything making for the increase of game and 

 sport is desirable and much needed. 



We should always bear in mind the fact that the over- 

 flow of game from places where it is abundant is highly 

 beneficial to those who do nothing towards aiding the 

 good work of propagation. Many a stray duck will be 

 shot outside of the game farms and preserves when these 

 places are numerous, and this is the shooting I like best. 



Near a duck preserve where many ducks are shot every 

 season I learned that the gunners in the vicinity had 

 some shooting at the ducks beyond the limits of the pre- 

 serve which they certainly would not have had in the 

 absence of the preserve, since no ducks ever were reared 

 in a wild state in the locality and the place is out of the 

 line of flight of the migratory fowl. There is no danger 

 of our having too many preserves. They are more bene- 

 ficial to free sport than game refuges. 



