THE.OREGON SPORTSMAN 21 
COLUMBIA RIVER DUCK HUNTING 
By Warpen E. H. Crarx, Portland, Oregon. 
With the season drawing to a close for waterfowl, the sportsman 
will soon wipe the damp and oil carefully from the “scatter gun” that 
has stopped the swift flight of many a duck, and he will incidentally 
note the deep impression that each duck has made in his bank roll, for 
this has been an off season. 
To begin with, the season opened on the Ist of October with many 
of the best haunts of the birds completely dried up. Gas engines and 
pumps were installed on many lakes and water pumped from neigh- 
boring sloughs. These, and a very few other clubs, had some shooting 
during October. 
With severe storms along the coast to drive the flights inland and 
the lakes becoming normal, excellent shooting was to be had in early 
November. Most of the hunters securing the limit of thirty ducks 
each week, and I am sorry to say a few of them not stopping when 
the limit had been reached. 
Continual rains during November and December brought the water 
to such a stage that most of the clubs were drowned out and the 
blinds which formerly stood on the shores could be seen sticking out 
of the lakes like partly submerged muskrat houses. 
The shooting averages will fall considerably below that of previous 
years, and even so, it was good enough to draw many hunters from 
other states. About twenty-five miles from Portland there is a club 
of twelve to fifteen non-resident sportsmen from Seattle and eastern 
cities. These men come to the Columbia lakes in preferenc to the 
shooting grounds nearer their home cities because of the finer quality 
of the birds to be found here. 
There are more than one hundred duck clubs within thirty miles 
of Portland and these clubs will feed each an average of five tons of 
wheat a season. This, added to the natural feed, will keep the birds 
in the finest condition. 
The principal species to be had here are the Widgeon or bald- 
plate, Mallard, Green Winged Teal, Pintail, Shoveller, Blue-bill and a 
scattering of Canvas-back and Butterball. Of these the Mallard is the 
most common. Many of them breeding along the lakes here during 
the summer and furnishing some of the early shooting during October. 
Arrests for violating the night hunting law are growing less fre- 
quent each year, which I believe is due to the fact that more sportsmen 
are becoming interested and educated to fish and game protection. 
To the man not interested in duck hunting, another good sport is 
to be had near Portland in steelhead salmon fishing in the Sandy 
River. This “winter fishing” is becoming more popular each year and, 
beginning usually in December, good fishing is to be had until the last 
of February. The favorite pools are to be found in the vicinity of 
Bull Run station, about a two-hour ride on the electric, and a one-day 
trip generally brings results. 
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