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RECREATION. 



ANOTHER EDITOR HITS THE 

 BULL'SEYE. 



The Rushville (111.) Times thus com- 

 ments on game protection in that State: 



There is a hunters' yarn floating about to the 

 effect that 2 wild turkeys were killed recently in 

 this part of the State. The incredulity with which 

 this story is received among sportsmen helps one 

 to understand how completely the wild turkey has 

 been hunted from the Illinois forests, where at 

 one time it was plentiful. The fate of the turkey 

 was foreshadowed by the extermination of the deer 

 years before. 



There was a time not many years ago when 

 on frosty mornings in the fall of the year, the rail 

 fences, corn shocks and smaller trees would be 

 picketed by thousands of prairie chickens. On 

 bright days in spring the deep, sonorous booming 

 of the cocks could be heard in every direction. 

 Now the prairie chicken is fast disappearing, and 

 the quail is following. It is not true that a dense 

 rural population has driven these birds away, for 

 they are inclined to fraternize with man and to 

 grow tame about the feed lot, and even the back 

 door of the farmhouse in winter. The increase 

 of population in the country districts of Illinois 

 since the '70s has not been so great as seriously 

 to interfere with the game birds. Systematic pur- 

 suit by skilled hunters with trained dogs killing 

 game for the markets is the principal cause of 

 game extermination. Prairie chickens, quails and 

 other game can be bought at any time in the Chi- 

 cago market, except when the weather is so warm 

 as to make the handling of game unprofitable. 

 Therefore the State Game Warden should show 

 more energy in the enforcement of the laws. 



Of the migrating birds, the wild pigeons, which 

 used to darken the sky and break down trees by 

 their countless numbers, are gone and all but for- 

 gotten. An occasional straggler serves to remind 

 old settlers of the havoc that has been wrought 

 by the hunters. Wild ducks and geese are being 

 wiped out by hunters during nestling time and 

 prevented from breeding in the excellent grounds 

 the Illinois river valley affords. When the mar- 

 ket hunter shall have succeeded in destroying the 

 source of his profit, he will himself disappear. 



Illinois needs a more rigid game law and faith- 

 ful game officials. The migratory as well as the 

 resident birds ought to be protected during the 

 nesting time. The professional hunter who meas- 

 ures his success by the havoc he can spread, and 

 by his ability to outwit game wardens, ought to 

 be dealt with as is any other violator of law and 

 held in the contempt that an ordinary vandal de- 

 serves. 



TWO OF THE MISSOURI BREED. 



One of the largest bags of ducks killed in this 

 vicinity in the past 10 or 15 years was secured on 

 an island in the Missouri river last Friday and 

 Saturday by Robert Hyatt, of Florissant, St. Louis 

 county. He brought back 272 ducks and 3 geese. 



J. D. Lucas, who has been shooting ducks 

 around St. Louis many years, says Hyatt's bag 

 breaks all records for duck shooting in this part of 

 the country. 



And here is what Hyatt says about it, 

 in answer to my letter: 



H. Greenway and I took to our boats 

 on the Missouri river the nth of 

 March with a camp outfit and a large 

 fleet of decoys. We floated to the mouth 

 of the river, where we met a good flight 

 of ducks and geese. We hung up 272 

 ducks and 5 geese in the first 3 days and 

 came home to sell them. Mr. Greenway 

 lost 7 in one hour that fell in the river and 

 we could not lose time to go for them. 

 We are still in camp, but have not done so 

 well since. We are both farmers, but have 

 been shooting quails and ducks since No- 

 vember 1st. I bagged 400 quails over a 

 pointer dog, in Randolph, Howard, Boon 



and St. Louis counties last November 

 and December. 



Inclosed find one dollar, for which 

 please mail me Recreation. 



R. L. Hyatt, Florissant, Mo. 



Why didn't you quit when you got 

 enough to eat? Have you not learned 

 that all good sportsmen detest a market 

 hunter? Do you not realize that the mar- 

 ket hunters and game dealers are respon- 

 sible for the scarcity of game everywhere? 

 Then why not quit this brutal slaughter 

 and make a living in some decent way?— 

 Editor. 



TEN DUCKS AT A SHOT. 



Norborne, Mo., March 5. — Two of the Sparks brothers, 

 Kansas City, and Fred Knipschild, of Norborne, had 

 famous luck in duck hunting at Steel lake, near here 

 this morning. When they appeared at the lake it was 

 literally covered with ducks. They fired 10 shots into 

 the ducks and killed 101 ot them. 



New York, March 53, 1901. 

 Mr. Fred. Knipschild, 



Norborne, Mo., 

 Dear Sir: 



I am informed that you and 2 friends 

 killed 101 ducks in a few minutes. Will 

 you kindly tell me if this is true, greatly 

 obliging. Yours truly, 



G. O. Shields. 



ANSWER. 



Yes, Chas. Sparks and brother and my- 

 self killed 101 ducks in one day. 



F. Knipschild. 



You should be ashamed to confess it. 

 You should all sneak away and hide a year 

 or so, till your neighbors can have time 

 to forget about your slaughter. 



It must have taken you at least 20 sec- 

 onds to fire those 10 shots. And you must 

 have done some very humble crawling to 

 get within so few yards of your ducks 

 and pot so many of them on the water. 



Don't ever call yourselves sportsmen. 

 All readers of Recreation will put you 

 where you belong — in the muddiest, filth- 

 iest corner of the game hog corrall. — 

 Editor. 



I congratulate you on the good you are 

 doing through Recreation for game and 

 bird protection. I can see some of the 

 good effects of the Lacey law this spring 



i in the increased number of robins and 

 bluebirds. In this vicinity they have more 

 than doubled from what they were a year 



I ago. 



The League posters have done great 



: good through this section. The men who 

 formerly violated the law are now ob- 

 serving it and helping to see that others 

 do the same. Mr. A. C. Johnson, a mem- 



' ber of the League from this place, took 

 a trip through the South this winter and 

 on his return he told me that at Nash- 

 ville hundreds of robins are killed in the 

 cedar swamps and sold in the markets. It 

 seems to me there is a chance for the 

 League to do some more good work. 

 Dr. F. V. Martin, Westville, Ind. 



