168 



THE GAME BREEDER 



says his department is now wholly sus- 

 tained by money received from sports- 

 men be opposed to shooting? When 

 shooting is permitted a good part of the 

 ducks depart, since they quickly be- 

 come tired of the game, and these birds 

 afford sport for all comers in the neigh- 

 borhood and often the ducks are shot 

 many miles away from home. We have 

 had nearly a thousand ducks depart in 

 a season and we have had many gunners 

 thank us for the good sport set on foot 

 or, more properly speaking, on wing. 



Since shooting is a great incentive to 

 wild duck breeding and when sportsmen 

 produce far more than they can eat the 

 result is cheap game for the people to 

 eat, the game commissioner seems to be 

 opposed to the best method of filling the 

 markets with c'heap game. We have said 

 often that a State department should 

 represent all of the people and those 

 who would like to have cheap wild ducks 

 are in the majority. They have saved 

 field sports in some countries when 

 sport was attacked for the reason that 

 they enjoyed cheap food. 



Michigan breeders can sell many wild 

 ducks to sportsmen in other States (a 

 small ad. in The Game Breeder will sell 

 them all) where "the otherwise than by 

 shooting" nonsense has been eliminated 

 from the statutes, but why should a 

 State game officer not favor a plan in- 

 tended to keep many of the ducks in 

 Michigan? They will sell for more alive 

 outside of the State than they will when 

 hatched for market. Let the sportsmen 

 shoot and sport will stand the loss and 

 send the food to the Michiganders to eat. 

 . The "otherwise than by shooting" non- 

 sense only survived for one year when 

 it was slipped into the New York breed- 

 ers' law. It disappeared soon after the 

 appearance in The ' Game Breeder of a 

 cartoon illustrating the sporting method 

 of killing a mallard with a hatchet. W^e 

 will loan the cut to any Michigan paper 

 on request. It is warranted to be effec- 

 tive. 



^ 



Zoo Animals. 



There has been some discussion about 

 the propriety of feeding animals in the 



Zoo large quantities of desirable foods at 

 a time when food administrators are 

 urging the people to save in order that 

 we may win the war. Since the head 

 keeper of the Zoo has collected over 

 one hundred thousand dollars in order 

 to secure more game laws we would sug- 

 gest that sportsmen and game breeders 

 will be well pleased to see, the fund used 

 tO' feed the animals. 



Stocking Streams With Food Fish. 



In continuing its plan to make every 

 stream in the state a productive source 

 of food supply, the State Fish and Game 

 Commission, by a great distribution of 

 fish from the state hatchery at Hacketts- 

 town, is increasing the stocking of 

 streams in every county, this fall. 



The season now closing has been the 

 most successful since the opening of the 

 state hatchery for the rearing of trout, 

 salmon, perch and bass. The present 

 "plantings" are chiefly of large trout of 

 the brook, rainbow and brown species. 

 Other varieties will be distributed later. 



Commissioners believe that the brown 

 trout will thrive in .many streams not 

 suited to the brook trout or rainbow 

 trout. The brook trout needs clear cold 

 water and the rainbows are great sea- 

 runners and often work their way down 

 stream to the rivers and eventually to 

 the ocean unless a dam intervenes. The 

 brown trout, on the other hand, will 

 not leave the stream in which it is in- 

 troduced, except to enter some similar 

 stream in search of spawning grounds. 

 The adult fish weigh from six to ten 

 pounds, with every ounce full of fight. 



The trout and salmon from the hatch- 

 ery are from six to fourteen inches in 

 length when distributed. They are ship- 

 ped by express in car-load lots in cans 

 of iced water to South Jersey distrib- 

 uting stations while in North Jersey 

 they are carried from the hatchery ponds 

 to the streams in big motor fish-cars 

 Large and small-mouth bass will be dis- 

 tributed later in the year, a large supply 

 being available from the hatchery ponds 

 and from canals and city water reser- 

 viors which the state nets annually. — 

 Lakewood (N. J.) Times. 



