63 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 24, 1903. 
California Goose Shooting. 
Did you ever enjoy a day's shooting on wild geese that 
stands out prominently in your memory whenever you 
wish to recall the "shoot of your life?" 
If so, it must have been in California, for nowhere 
else in the world is such sport to be found on this fine 
feathered denizen of the air, and only in a limited area 
of that vast State and only during the spring migration 
can it be found even there. Ex-President Harrison, who 
enjoyed a goose hunt here years ago, stated before he 
returned to the East that although he had enjoyed fine 
goose shooting east of the Rockies, he had never seen 
anything to compare with it. The sport and the system 
connected with it, so far as I know, have nothing like 
them elsewhere. 
This State is about 700 miles long and 350 to 400 
wide. Its coast line from Crescent City on the north to 
San Diego on the south embraces • almost exactly the 
same latitude as the Atlantic Coast from Boston to 
Savannah, or approximately between the thirty-second 
and forty-second degrees of latitude. And by the way, 
through a provision of the Constitution which sports- 
men hope to see amended this year, and which prohibits 
any and all special legislation, the game law must apply 
to the whole State, except in such cases as supervisors of 
counties may see fit to shorten the open season. Think 
of trying to have a game law that would be the same 
for the whole Atlantic Coast! 
But this is digressing. The annual southward migra- 
tion of geese from the Arctic regions where they breed 
begins in August, and a few scattered flocks drop in to 
visit California sportsmen during that month. The ma- 
jority of them, with the young_ birds, tarry on the lakes 
and marshes near the Oregon line until the first or mid- 
edges of the holes are set decoy geese on wire frames. 
Around the holes are scattered from 150 to 200 dead geese 
and decoys, also set up on wire fences, besides about 25 
live wild geese. The latter are birds that have been crip- 
pled and captured and kept in captivity until they became 
tame; in fact, so tame that they are more so than the or- 
dinary tame goose. They care nothing for the gun, and 
will treacherously lift up their voices when a flock of 
their wild brethren approaches and help to decoy 
them. 
Of course, it makes a most killing lure, and the success is 
proportionate. They are placed in inclosures formed by two 
very fine nets that are almost invisible to the approach- 
ing flocks. The nets are 2^/2 feet high and 20 feet square, 
and are held in place by stakes of i4-i'''ch wire. The geese 
make no effort to escape, and if one accidentally gets out 
he tries to get back again. They are taken from the 
wagon in boxes, which are placed inside the netting and 
the doors opened and they walk out as if they knew their 
business. One box is of white geese and they are placed 
in a net by themselves. The other lot are brant, which 
are known in California as China brant (Hutchins' 
brant), and large Mexican brant. The outer joint of 
their wings has been taken off and they are unable to 
fly. Stewart has had some of these geese for seven or 
eight years, and they have never been known to breed in 
captivity. 
Often during the shooting a goose drops dead inside of 
the net, but they have never been known to be hit by it, 
and will ruffle up their feathers and show fight. During 
this shoot a slightly crippled goose fell into the inclosure 
and as soon as he straightened up he began talking to 
them, as much as to say, "You got me into this fix." 
When he had had his say, the others all pitched into him 
and he had to be rescued in order to save his life. 
until his suspicions are allayed, and the least movement; 
will send the flock off without a shot. 
Everything is in readiness by daylight, and the shooters; 
are soon enjoying the excitement again. Flock after 
flock swings in, decoyed by the perfect arrangement of 
the decoys, the inimitable calling and the treacherous, 
signals of the live geese, and each leaves its quota to swell- 
the total score. Frank Ruhstatler, of Sacramento, holds 
the highest record for an individual, having killed 240 
in a "morning shoot, and one party of four killed over 700 
in two days. During one week of this season 2,000 were 
killed without any apparent diminution of the supply. 
Holes are dug in other parts of the plain, which extends 
for miles in each direction, and when the geese become 
shy of one locality, a move is made to another. 
The Nevvbert party killed 444 geese during the after- 
noon and morning shoot, and their friends were the re-' 
cipients of much of the game after they returned. None 
of the geese arc wasted. What the hunters do not care 
to take home with them are given to people in the neigh-' 
borhood or shipped to San Francisco, where they find a 
ready market. The terms are $12 per day, which includes 
the best of board, cigars and liquors, in fact everything 
but ammunition. There is a nice cabin, a good Chinese 
cook and everything is clean and comfortable, and as 
Stewart and his partners employ three assistants and have 
their teams to keep, there is but little money in it for 
them. 
It would seem like wanton slaughter to kill so many 
birds, but the season lasts only about three weeks and 
the supply is unlimited. The men employed by the 
ranchers to protect their grain do not bother themselves 
inuch about picking up the geese they kill, but of those 
killed by sportsmen none go to waste. There are very 
few "honkers" or Canada geese in the spring flight, as 
PUTTING OUT THE DECOY HONKERS. 
die of September. The great valleys of California are 
rainless from about the first of May until October, and 
millions of the geese pass on to Mexico and spend the 
winter. Many other millions stop at different places in 
the State and fatten on the grain in wheat fields which 
is shelled out by the north winds. Their favorite feeding 
grounds, however, are in Solano, Colusa and Glenn 
counties, where are found wheat ranches numbering 
.thousands of acres 6ach. Here they are found through 
the winter, and still more so during the spring migration, 
in countless numbers. Flocks of them literally cover 
acres of ground, and such a nuisance do they become to 
the farmers, eating to the ground acre after acre of wheat, 
that they employ men who do nothing but shoot geese 
with rifles and shotguns, to drive, them from the grain 
fields, and even this affords only partial protection, as 
they come back at night to feed. 
The sportsman's enjoyment and the method pursued 
are best illustrated by a description of a day's shoot by 
three Sacramento sportsmen, Messrs. Newbert, Brinker 
and Geary. A three hours' ride on the cars brought them 
to Norman, Glenn county, where Crump, Stewart and 
Kagee, three professional hunters of many years' standing 
and two of whom are considered the best "goose callers" 
in the State, have prepared grounds and decoys. They 
found Stewart waiting for them at the station, and were 
rapidly driven to the cabin for a change of clothes and 
then taken in a four-horse wagon to the shooting grounds. 
These are a flat plain, as shown in the illustration. It 
is sparsely covered with what is known as pepper grass 
and is full of puddles early in the season, but in March, 
v/hen the shooting is at its best, is dry. The land is 
good only for sheep grazing, and is generally known as 
"the goose pasture." 
At the grounds they found Kagee and Crump. Three 
holes had been dug, two of them about 20 yards apart, 
for the shooters, and a third, about 25 yards away, for 
the caller. The holes are about three feet deep, round, 
and about 30 inchs wide. In these the shooters kneel, 
places being hollowed out for their toes, in order that 
they may be as comfortable as possible. All gtrouncj th^ 
After the sportsmen were in the hole and everything 
was ready, Stewart called "Here comes a lead from the 
west." They hugged the ground closely and he began 
calling and said: "Get on to them, Betsy." The live 
geese take up the call and the distant flock swings in, 
unsuspicious of danger. They change their course and 
come directly for the decoys. "Lie low," cautions the 
caller. At the first swing the ycome within perhaps fifty 
yards and the caller says, "Hold on, they'll swing again." 
With tense nerves and eager eyes the shooters wait and 
they swing in between the two holes, not more than fif- 
ten or twenty yards away. Indeed, they often come di- 
rectly over the holes, so close that the shooter could 
almost spring up and grasp them. Then comes the com- 
mand, "Punch 'em," and the shooter delivers his two 
barrels as well as he can and with a "pump gun" may get 
in three barrels, but shooting at long range is discour- 
aged. 
It seems an easy matter to hit a large bird like a goose 
at short range, but the holes are small and the shooter 
Clamped, and the best shots in 'California have found it 
very easy to "punch holes in the air." 
Flock after flock is decoyed in this way, and as the 
shooters soon learn to remain motionless until the word 
is given, toll is taken from every flock, and the score 
mounts upward rapidly. On one occasion during the 
day 23 geese were killed in 17 minutes. It is astonishing 
how accurately the callers can distinguish the species of 
geese in a distant flock by the shape of the flock in flying, 
and by other indications. The sport went on through the 
afternoon until dark, when all adjourned to the cabin. 
The next morning the sportsmen were routed out early 
and the wagons conveyed them to the ground before day- 
light. Geese killed the day before were set out on wire 
frames again, with sticks to hold their heads up. Some 
were laid on the ground, their heads held up by sticks, 
as if resting or dusting themselves, and so artfully are 
they posed that it is no wonder the wary birds are de- 
ceived. "As foolish as a goose," is a trite saying, but if 
anyone thinks it applies to a wild goose he will soon find 
hipiself mistaken, for there is no bird more suspicious 
most of them have already gone north. The principal 
varieties are the white-fronted goose, known here as the 
"speckled breast" or "gray goose," the white or snow 
goose, the "China goose" or Hutchins' brant, and the 
Mexican brant, so-called. 
Stewart keeps his live decoys at his farm on Grand 
Island during the summer, where he has about an acre 
of ground inclosed and offers them "all the comforts of 
a home." 
The illustration shows how the geese and shooters are 
taken to the grounds^ and disposed of for the hunt. 
Ansek, 
Pheasants in Ohto. 
In his annual report for 1902, President Rogers, of 
the Ohio Fish and Game Commission, says of the im- 
ported pheasants : 
"Owing to the fact that the General Assembly at its 
last session reduced the appropriation for the pheasantry 
at London to the minimum amount required to maintain 
and to distribute young birds of this season's hatch, it was 
necessary in the summer to suspend operations, and, 
therefore, for the immediate future there will be no 
pheasant raising under State auspices. It is to be doubted 
greatly whether it is wise to continue the hatching of 
pheasants, as the reports received by the commission 
from various places in the State where these birds have 
been placed are such as to lead to the conclusion that an 
effort to stock the State can never be a great or even 
a qualified success. In certain sections the pheasants 
apparently have done well, and notably in the marshes 
in Lake Erie in Erie and Ottawa Counties. In other 
portions of the State the birds appear to have suffered 
from some cause, and many counties which have yearly 
received a large quota of pheasants have recently reported 
that they are extinct. A cross between the ring-neck and 
Mongolian pheasant, which has been produced at the 
pheasantry does not appear to be a bird suitable for this 
climate; either that, or they afford too tempting an ob- 
ject for men with guns or to the predatory animals." 
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