BULLETIN NUMBER FOUR 141 



The duck hunters of the western section already named, 

 centering upon Kansas City and St. Louis, complain that 

 in the fall shooting season they can not kill as many ducks 

 as they desire. The reason given is that in the fall the 

 ponds are so low, or so dry, that the ducks will not stop 

 long enough to be shot. For this reason they demand a 

 special dispensation, and a complete break in the regula- 

 tions against spring shooting which for years has been in 

 force throughout the ivhole vast region known as 

 "the north!" 



Their contention is precisely the same as mine would be 

 if I should say to the New York legislature: "I can not 

 kill as many Putnam County deer in the fall as I would 

 like to kill; therefore I demand that the legislature enact 

 a law expressly for my benefit, contrary to all ethics and 

 all rules and laws elsewhere, giving me the privilege to 

 shoot deer in the spring breeding season." Stripped of 

 all extraneous drapery, that is an absolute parallel of the 

 demand and the "petition" of the Interstate Sportsmen's 

 Protective Association of Kansas City, S. H. Ragan, Presi- 

 dent ; W. L. Moore, Secretary ; and of Messrs. Holthaus and 

 Aldous, now in Washington doing their utmost to have 

 the life blood let out of the federal migratory bird law, 

 by the Senate of the United States! 



We are not alarmed by the efforts of the "Sportsmen's 

 Protective Association" as made in Washington, or else- 

 where ; but it is always a good thing to supply a few facts, 

 and a little history, whenever an important measure is 

 wantonly and inexcusably attacked. There are in Missouri, 

 Kansas, Iowa and Illinois vast numbers of real sportsmen 

 who are in no way represented by the Kansas City 

 campaign. 



We willingly grant that the Missouri malcontents do 

 not kill during the fall shooting season all the ducks and 

 geese that they want. The guns of those gentlemen are 

 hard to satisfy! Herewith we publish for general infor- 

 mation a picture which may justly be labeled "The Mis- 



