THE chicken season has opened! So has the duck season, 

 for that matter, but for the time being the chicken is the 

 queen of the day. The ducks can wait, says Mr. Sport- 

 man. There are said to be plenty of duck this year, more than 

 ever in fact, but the reports regarding the chickens are less en- 

 couraging. Anyway the man who shoots wants to get action 

 on the chickens before the first frosts cause them to bunch 

 together. 



So with gun well oiled, packs well filled with ammunition 

 and anxious dogs held in leash, hundreds of hunters from 

 jvery corner of the state have gone into the fields for game, 

 ind they have come from all of the neighboring states. Min- 

 lesota enjoys the reputation of being one of the best chicken 

 shooting states in the United States. Large parties of hun- 

 >rs have come from Chicago and other large centers. 



After October 1, the toothsome partridge will be the ob- 

 ject of many a trip to be made by the followers of the sport. 



The ducks can well wait until after October 1, say many of 

 the old timers. Then the great mallards and the canvas backs 

 and the Canadian geese, winging their way southward, stop 

 off to feed in the sloughs and lakes. 



Several reasons are given for the splendid situation with 

 regard to ducks. The federal migratory bird law which pre- 

 vents spring shooting has had much to do with protecting 

 the birds. The vast amount of rain in Minnesota filled the 

 sloughs and ponds and the birds have nested in great numbers. 



A larger crop of wild rice than was ever harvested in Min- 

 nesota before has been harvested this year. The crop is a 

 bumper one and the ducks are bound to follow the path of the 

 rice fields. 



Sportsmen generally seem to be of the opinion that the 

 prairie chicken crop is only about 60 per cent of what it was 

 last year. The first hatching of young birds was almost com- 

 pletely destroyed by the heavy rains early in the summer, but 



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