Oct. 24, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
655 
Hunting in California. 
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young one gave us a decided surprise by seizing 
it and carrying it half way toward 11s. This 
was what his master was waiting for, and he im¬ 
mediately asked me to hunt Turin for a while, 
that he might take Bizar by himself to where 
u. we had seen four partridges alight. The older 
dog promptly obeyed the order to follow me, 
and so we separated, but I was anxious to see 
how the puppy would act and did not go far. 
It was a revelation to see the way he worked 
the scent once he was put upon it. He rushed 
madly about, pointing, breaking and re-point¬ 
ing, and he finally stood stock still while Signor 
Podio circled rapidly around him, and going 
toward him, flushed the birds and killed one. 
He waited until the puppy had reached it, and 
then running from him, called loudly to fetch. 
Bizar picked up the partridge and at a gallop 
followed his master until the latter stopped, 
and taking the bird from his mouth, patted him 
and caressed him lavishly. 
We joined forces < again after that, and the 
dogs, now working in unison, though the 
puppy could not often be kept from breaking 
a point or running the birds after flushed, gave 
us some excellent sport. It was nearing four 
o’clock when we struck the road again, and the 
cart was waiting for us. 
“We can get the five o’clock train and be 
home by six,” said my companion; “I have a 
dinner engagement at seven and will just have 
time to dress and get there.” 
Until we were comfortably settled in the train, 
with the dogs sleeping soundly on the padded 
seats, we had no chance to count up the bag, 
but then we pulled the birds out one by one 
and, smoothing their plumage, arranged them 
in the baskets. They added up twenty-two 
partridge, seven martineta and three snipe. 
Not bad for two guns in less than four hours. 
Herbert Reeder. 
Cooperation Needed. 
Mr. G. P. Peck, in the Auburn N. Y. Daily 
Advertiser, of Oct. 15, calls the attention of 
local sportsmen to the law on pheasants and 
urges each one to do his part to help in the work 
of game protection. He says: 
“To the limited efforts in the direction of 
protection that one gamekeeper can manifest 
must be added the co-operation of all true 
sportsmen if they are to have that increase which 
will give pleasure afieid during the season and 
satisfaction over the growth of their sport out¬ 
side the season. 
“By co-operation we mean information sent 
to Protector Ferree which is absolutely neces¬ 
sary in order that he may look up violations. 
Every man must be a deputy protector self- 
constituted. Burdens are imposed upon gunners 
in the shape of licenses. Why does not Com¬ 
missioner Whipple ask to have the privilege 
of appointing special game protectors from Sept. 
1 to Jan. 1 to roam the woods and stop viola¬ 
tions? Protector Ferree does as well as one 
man can do, but he must have co-operation and 
that co-operation at present must be the sports¬ 
men themselves.” 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
San Francisco, Cal., Oct. 10.— Editor Forest 
and Stream.: The duck season opened in Cali¬ 
fornia Oct. 1. Since that date sportsmen have 
been busy and from no section is there a report 
of poor sport. Fair weather has been the rule 
and good bags have been secured by almost all 
the sportsmen who have gone out. In the Im¬ 
perial Valley the opening of the season was 
hailed with delight by the farmers, as the ducks 
had become so numerous as to cause consider¬ 
able damage in the alfalfa fields. All along the 
San Joaquin Valley, and especially in the places 
where ducks are usually found, such as Los 
Banos, Newman and Firebaugh, the birds are 
reported to be present “by the millions.” It is 
said that more ducks have come in from the 
North this season than ever before and these 
are in the pink of condition, being rolling with 
fat. The excellent feed that has been found 
has made the birds very sluggish and this con¬ 
tributed much to the size of the bags that were 
secured on the opening days. 
There is an epidemic among the ducks in the 
lakes and ponds in the vicinity of Bakersfield and 
the birds are dying by the thousands. It was 
at first thought that this might be the result of 
ticks or other insects, but it is now declared to 
be due to some contagious disease. Deputy 
Came Warden Alf Tibbet has just been making 
a close examination of the ducks in the Tulare 
Lake district and he declares that conditions 
there are serious. Lie states that there are ten 
or more market hunters at the lake now and 
that they are shipping ducks to the San Fran¬ 
cisco and Los Angeles markets. Tibbet believes 
that the condition of the birds is such that there 
is grave danger to persons who eat them and 
recommends that a quarantine be established 
immediately. He saw fully a thousand dead 
ducks along the shores of Buena Vista Lake 
alone and says that the whole lower part of the 
San Joaquin Valley is affected. Chemists who 
have examined the dead ducks can find no trace 
of poison and the market hunters are of the 
opinion that the death of the birds is due to 
the unusually warm, dry weather that has been 
experienced or to a certain weed upon which 
the birds have been feeding. 
In the Los Banos country there were almost 
a thousand guns out on the opening day and 
everyone secured good results. There are more 
than thirty clubs that have leased preserves for 
shooting in this section and the membership of 
some of these clubs is very large, the Gustine 
Club alone having 150 active members. 
The Family Gun Club has leased the ponds 
formerly controlled by the Canvasback Gun Club 
near Cygnus Station. This preserve is consid¬ 
ered one of the best in the Suisun marshes. On 
Cordelia Slough, Captain Seymour has leased 
the preserve formerly owned by the late Charles 
Fair and Joe Harvey. 
The quail season will open Oct. 15 and curlew, 
snipe and shore birds generally cannot be hunted 
until that date. Quail hunting is not apt to 
prove as good on the opening day as has been 
the case with ducks, as the territory where these 
birds are to be found is narrowing down each 
year on account of the rapid settling of the agri¬ 
cultural districts. In the foothill country in the 
vicinity of Bakersfield, however, some splendid 
sport is promised and a number of San Fran¬ 
cisco sportsmen are planning to make the trip 
there in their automobiles if the weather is 
promising. 
A huge mountain lion was killed a few days 
ago within five miles from the city of Ventura 
by Angelo Tassano, a Los Angeles boy. This 
is the first time that an animal of this kind has 
ever been found so near the city and the first 
time for many years that one has been killed in 
that county. Tassano had been gathering ferns. 
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