Wild Ducks to Be 
Shot by Growers 
Official Permission Given 
. Rice Men, According 
to Official 
• ' 
Wild ducks in the rice fields of 
Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Sutter, Yolo and 
Yuba counties may be shot whenever 
necessary to protect the crops, ac- 
cording to an official telegram re- 
ceived 'yesterday from Washington 
by Carl Westerfeld, executive officer 
of the Fish and Game Commission of 
California. This ruling holds good 
until the 15th of this month. Ohly 
rice farmers, members of their imme- 
diate families and employes, however, 
may shoot the ducks, and they must 
shoot in open field. > 
Another restriction in the ruling 
keeps -farmers from selling these 
ducks, and provides that they must 
either eat them or send them to hos- 
pitals or Charitable institutions. 
This ruling is the result of six 
weeks investigation ' by Dr. H C. 
iBryant of the University of Califor- 
nia, who went up to the rice fields 
as economic ornithologist for the Fish 
and Game Commission, and Alexander 
Wetmore, of the Biological Survey. 
Carl Westerfeld also investigated the 
situation for several days and found 
that of the 144,000 acres planted in 
rice not more than seventy-five to 100 
acres have been molested by ducks. 
Westerfeld said yesterday: 
"This ruling applies only to the 
counties named, and only to the peo- 
ple directly .concerned. Hunters may 
not ehoot ducks anywhere until the 
seajion opens about October 16.’ 
