T h f Game Breeder 



Published Monthly. Enteied as second-class matter. July 9, igis, at the Post Office, New York City, 



New York, under the Act of March 3, 1879. 



VOLUME VIII 



MARCH, I9J6 



CD 

 SURVEY OF THE FIELD. 



NUMBER 6 



Public Hunting Grounds. 



W. W. Dunn says with the rapid 

 clearing of the forests of this State 

 (Minnesota) and the cultivation of the 

 wild lands, the time is not far distant 

 when practically all small game will be 

 very scarce and future generations must 

 look largely to the migratory water fowl 

 for their game — duck hunting will be the 

 only regular dependable sport. Mr. 

 Dunn suggests public hunting grounds 

 for ducks. He refers to the abundance 

 of lakes and ponds in the State and sug- 

 gests that some be made quiet breeding 

 places and that the gunners be permitted 

 to shoot ducks, not on the breeding 

 ponds, but on public passes between 

 them. 



Some ducks, no doubt, will breed on 

 ponds where they are not properly 

 looked after, but many more ducks will 

 be produced on waters where duck 

 breeding is encouraged. We produced 

 one season 2,500 wild ducks about a lit- 

 tle artificial pond on a rented farm where 

 there were no ducks and where there 

 was practically no shooting at any game ; 

 there was none to shoot. The public 

 had a chance to shoot about 1,000 of the 

 ducks we produced because they left. 

 We heard of their being shot many miles 

 away from the pond. 



Upland Game. 



While we were conducting the wild 

 duck experiment we turned down a few 

 quails, and one morning when we went 

 to see the young ducks on the pond, 

 which was only a few hundred yards 

 from the house, we flushed three big 

 covies of quail without the aid of a dog. 

 These birds were flushed as we walked 

 directly from the house to the pond, we 



were not hunting for quail. A little later 

 in the season we shot about six or eight 

 hundred pheasants in a few fields on the 

 same farm which contained about 180 

 acres; and one day, within a few yards 

 of the house, where a few guns were 

 having some lively shooting at pheasants 

 several ruffed grouse and quail were shot 

 by accident. We had not opened the 

 shooting for our quail and grouse. This 

 farm was not very suitable for game 

 because it was sandy and had very little 

 natural food, especially tender green 

 vegetation, which is highly desirable for 

 young game birds. It certainly was not 

 suitable for wild fowl because we were 

 obliged to make a duck pond. 



Cheap Clubs. 



There are a number of inexpensive 

 quail clubs quite near New York where 

 the members have excellent quail and 

 rabbit shooting and some have many 

 ruffed grouse. The dues are very small 

 and anyone who can shoot easily can 

 procure enough meat to offset the 

 amount of the dues. A member who 

 prefers game to beef or ham, for exam- 

 ple, can use his meat money to pay for 

 his game. He saves a little on a hotel 

 bill also, because he has, for less money, 

 better quarters at the club and better 

 food than he can find at the average 

 country hotel. No harm is done to any 

 one when such shooting is provided be- 

 cause, in the absence of such industry 

 the conditions predicted by Mr. Dunn, 

 occur. The game had become not only 

 "very scarce," but in many places there 

 was none. 



The writer had some excellent quail 

 shooting one day just outside the fence 

 of one of these inexpensive clubs on 



