284 



RECREATION. 



light, so we got into the boat and made 

 ourselves comfortable. Soon we heard that 

 whir so familiar to the duck hunter, and a 

 hock of 30 or 40 teal circled and lit. Four 

 barrels rang out, one duck was picked up. 

 Each of us vowed next time we would do 

 better. \Ve had plenty of chances. Our 

 barrels were kept warm,. As daylight ap- 

 peared it revealed bunches of 5 to 50 each, 

 scattered over the lake. It seemed to me 

 only a short time until we had our share, 

 and I was surprised to find it was 6 o'clock. 

 We decided to stop for lunch. Then we 

 saw that we had only 4 shells left. Each 

 shell, we said, must bring a duck. Our 

 chance came. Against the Eastern sky I 

 discovered a black streak of varying V and 

 W shapes. It came rapidly nearer and be- 

 fore it seemed possible they were down on 

 us. Four clean shots, in quick succession, 

 and 4 ducks gathered in. To our delight 

 we found them to be those coveted Chesa- 

 peake ducks, the canvasback, although 

 Nebraska or Dakota bred. They made_ a 

 total of 27, with which we were well satis- 

 fied. We gathered up the decoys, weighed 

 anchor and pulled for the boat house, feel- 

 ing that we had had a delightful morning. 

 J. P, Campbell, Lincoln, Neb. 



IT DEPENDS ON THEIR NUMBER. 



While I believe in protecting game 

 in general I do not believe in protecting 

 rabbits. They are the greatest pest the 

 orchardist has to fight. A farmer may 

 work 10 years to raise an orchard, only to 

 have the rabbits peel and kill trees. Then 

 if a few farmers organize a hunt and 

 kill 50 or 100 rabbits you call them game 

 hogs and want rabbits protected by 

 law for the pleasure of such fellows 

 as have time to go hunting. I wish 

 I had all the rabbits in this country 

 in a pen. I should like to see how many 

 I could kill in a day. I would put in a 

 full day's work. The man who introduced 

 the Belgian hare into this country should 

 be made responsible for all the damage 

 they will do. See what the rabbit pest has 

 cost Australia and New Zealand. Protect 

 all other game but kill rabbits whenever 

 found. 



J. F. Cooper, Half Rock. Mo. 



ANSWER. 



You, evidently, have not read all, or even 

 half I have said about the hunting of rab- 

 bits. I have repeatedly said that while a 

 man who kills 20 rabbits in a day in one 

 State may properly be termed a game hog 

 a man who kills 100, or 1,000 in another 

 State may be a public benefactor. If you 

 will look through the files of Recreation 

 for 5 years past, you will find at least a 

 dozen articles in which I have expressed 

 such sentiments. In most of the Eastern 



States rabbits are so scarce that a decent 

 sportsman who hunts all day may con- 

 sider himself in luck if he gets a dozen 

 shots.. Yet there are in these States many 

 low, ignorant men who carry ferrets around 

 in their pockets and drive out of their 

 holes all the rabbits they can find. In 

 many cases these men put a gunny 

 sack over the hole, let the ferret chase 

 the rabbit into this, and then beat the 

 rabbit's brains out with a club. In other 

 cases these butchers watch the exit and 

 when the rabbit comes out, they shoot him 

 to death, without giving him any show to 

 escape. These men are hogs. 



On the other hand 100 or 1,000 men may 

 surround a large tract of country in the 

 Southwest where rabbits are so numerous 

 as to be a pest, may drive 5,000 or 10,000 

 rabbits into a corrall, beat them to death 

 with clubs and be doing the country a 

 real service. 



It costs only 2 cents to put a wire cone 

 around each of your fruit trees and thus 

 protect them, not only from rabbits, but 

 from woodchucks as well. — Editor. 



IS PIGEON SHOOTING SPORT? 



Cruelty exists so universally in the world, 

 there is so much suffering in every direc- 

 tion and so much cynical indifference to the 

 torture of animals or men, that it would 

 be foolish to make any special plea for 

 pigeons on the ground of humanity ; but I 

 appeal to the ingenuity and avarice of the 

 human beings who shoot. 



You crack shots are, of course, a neces- 

 sary feature of a fine civilization. It is true 

 you are not practicing with any idea of de- 

 fending your country. Hitting a small 

 bird in the air 99 times out of 100 does 

 not mean a good marksman in war. If you 

 wished to be a useful shooter in modern 

 warfare you would practice shooting at tar- 

 gets the size of a human being 2 miles away. 



You shoot at pigeons just as a billiard 

 player practices his game, with no end 

 whatever but amusement and the display of 

 some trifling skill. The particular sport 

 in which you engage is not noble. It does 

 not even demand sobriety from its best ex- 

 perts except at the time of the match. 



Stir up your ingenuity, Mr. Crackshot. 

 Can't you invent something that will be 

 more difficult to hit than the swiftest 

 pigeon? You are simply thoughtless and 

 not cruel. It is no pleasure to you every 

 time you snap a cartridge to see the mis- 

 erable bird turn its breast up in the air 

 as the shot enters its heart. You do not 

 enjoy the sight of a pigeon with broken 

 wing fluttering beyond bounds to be kicked 

 to death by the first ruffian who can get 

 near it. Would you not really enjoy the 

 sport at least as much and save money if 



