GAME LAWS AND GAME SUPPLY 



ing the fall of the year there is practically no water 

 in our lakes; in fact, after a drought like that of 

 1913 there is not one lake in ten in our middle sec- 

 tion that contains any water whatever. On an av- 

 erage we do not have sufficient water for fall shoot- 

 ing more than one year out of five, and it is well 

 known that ducks and geese will not stop unless 

 there is water. In addition, the progress that is 

 being made in ditching, draining, and reclaiming our 

 swamp and overflow lands, as well as lakes, is 

 greatly reducing the area of the hunting grounds 

 in the middle section. 



"Our so-called spring shooting that is, from 

 February fifteenth to April first is not only by far 

 the best shooting but in a great majority of cases 

 is the only time in which we have water sufficient 

 in quantity to attract the attention of the migratory 

 birds, this water coming from the melting of the 

 snow and the overflows following the winter 

 freezes. And will someone please explain the dif- 

 ference in killing a duck in Missouri during Febru- 

 ary and killing one in Texas or Louisiana during 

 February ? 



"The ducks and geese on their travels northward 

 in the spring of the year, coming through this sec- 

 tion during February and March, are not mating, 

 and travel in the same way they do in the fall of the 



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