FOREST AND STREAM. 
77 7 
Nov. 14, 1908.] 
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Now thoroughly alarmed, the remaining birds 
scattered, one male dropping to cover after a 
half mile flight, the rest keeping on. The river 
from where Wright stood presented a clear view 
up its course for a long distance, so the follow¬ 
ing eyes of the elated man marked where the 
lone male dropped. After pitching into the 
water, the duck swam into a tangle of roots 
for security. Before long his pursuer reached 
the spot where he knew the bird had taken to 
water. Sweeping the banks with keen glances, 
his eyes finally noticed this mass of roots hang¬ 
ing over the stream. “He’s there,” he thought 
triumphantly, for a season before he had shot 
a woodduck that appeared from this same 
thicket. Holding his weapon cocked and ready 
for instant service, the hunter moved noiselessly 
in that direction. The concealed one between 
the rootlets did not dream his enemy was so 
near. The next instant there was a violent 
shock over his head, as the man sprang with 
purpose heavily on his shelter. Uttering a 
quack of alarm, the bird jumped into flight, only 
to strike the dark water twenty-five yards away 
with a broken wing; a shot from the left barrel 
broke the other and the bird joined the last 
killed in the big pockets of the hunting coat. 
“Ten are mine! Now for the other three. 
If I can get them, it’s a good day’s work,” 
muttered the man, who was more than pleased 
at his luck. The Connecticut laws forbid the 
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sale of all game birds within or without the 
State, excepting ducks, which may be sold in 
the open market. Here was five dollars earned 
already, for he could sell all he could bag for 
fifty cents each. But the remaining birds were 
not to be discovered that day. 
Six o’clock next morning found Wright 
tramping along the bank of the same stream, a 
mile above the point where the birds had first 
been flushed the day before. Pausing by a 
wider reach of the river than usual, he scanned 
the water for a long five minutes, as this was 
a favorite haunt of all varieties of ducks. His 
approach to this point had been made with 
great care, and as he looked about, he was re¬ 
warded by the appearance of the handsome head 
of a male woodduck swimming slowly into view 
not far away. As the full body came in sight 
Wright perceived the hea<js of two females 
arching over the back of their lord. An ordi¬ 
nary handkerchief would have covered the three. 
Slowly now, as he felt sure of his prey, the gun 
was aimed. A moment later the last of a flock 
of America’s most beautiful swimming birds 
passed from joyous life to death. With a broad 
grin, the destroyer plunged into the water, say¬ 
ing to himself, “Six-fifty, not bad pay for a 
day’s work.” 
This is not a pleasant tale, but it is a true 
one. For the woodduck a limit of two or three 
a day, or, better still, protection for a term of 
years, like the deer in this State, is much 
needed. I have no doubt this recent tragedy 
among them can be duplicated all over our 
country, while far too few such slaughters find 
their way into print. If they did, brother 
sportsmen might combine to stop it. W. W. B. 
Wholesale Duck Slaughter. 
Game protectors seized a net in Shinnecock 
Bay on Nov. 7, containing several hundred 
drowned wildfowl. The owners of the net were 
not to be found, although they are known. 
Loads for Smallbore Guns. 
Red Bank, N. J., Nov. 7. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Since the use of smokeless powder 
has become general, it seems to the writer that 
the small bores have become more effective. 
Somewhere near the maximum load of powder 
and shot, consistent with the gauge and weight 
of gun, gives the best results, as it insures good 
compression, which is necessary to develop the 
full strength of smokeless powder. 
If a black powder load is cut in two, the half 
will shoot fairly well, but if a smokeless load 
is divided the shot will not be expelled with cer¬ 
tainty from the barrel. Some experiments made 
by me a few years ago with a sixteen-gauge gun 
and reduced loads showed that the smallest 
smokeless powder load that could be used was 
1 % drams powder and 24 ounce shot, while the 
black powder load could be reduced to ij 4 drams 
powder and }/ 2 ounce shot. Probably the mini¬ 
mum twelve-gauge load would be about 2^4 
drams smokeless powder and 1 ounce shot. 
As it is customary to use 1 ounce of shot and 
about 2 y 2 drams powder in a sixteen-gauge shell, 
a good compression is obtained and the gun 
shoots strongly and closely up to the limit of 
its power. But 1 ounce of shot is enough for 
ordinary field shooting, therefore the twelve- 
gauge load has to be reduced to this amount, 
often resulting in inferior shooting. So it is 
with the twenty and twenty-eight bores; enough 
shot is used, 24 or "J/% ounce for the former and 
54 ounce for the latter, to secure good compres¬ 
sion, and strong shooting results. If a twelve 
bore is built fully up to the limit of its bore 
and proportionately or suitably loaded, it will 
develop power and range that is almost astonish¬ 
ing. 
My opinion, based on years of experience with 
a number of different bores, is that for ordinary 
field shooting a sixteen-bore having twenty-six 
or twenty-eight inch barrels and weighing from 
six to six and one-half pounds, is about right, 
and further, that a good twenty-bore properly 
loaded is also a very killing gun for quail and 
snipe. Both are yearly increasing in favor. One 
thing should be kept in mind in buying a new 
gun, and that is that smokeless powder has a 
rqore destructive explosive force than black pow¬ 
der to give the same shot velocity. The gun 
should be a good one, not pared down too fine 
in barrels and breech. Then any kind of ammu¬ 
nition that one is compelled to buy may be used 
with confidence and comfort. T. H. Grant. 
Manitoba Ducks. 
Carman, Man., Oct. 30. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Most of the ducks have left us for a 
warmer climate and most of the gray or Canada 
geese went with the ducks. They generally leave 
before the wavey or snow goose, though strange 
to say we always get the Canada geese in the 
spring.time two or three weeks earlier than the 
waveys. The latter sometimes remain with us 
till the 15th or 20th of May before they all 
leave for their summer breeding grounds to the 
far North. 
Owing to business pressure—the great rush of 
wheat, barley and oats coming in here for sale— 
I was unable to get after either ducks or geese 
this fall, but Messrs. DeMill, Rutherford, Chase 
and other sportsmen went to Snow Lake, some 
forty miles west, on the first of September, when 
duck shooting began, and all report having a 
couple of days’ good sport and good bags. The 
weather was warm, however, and they had to 
leave their shooting grounds earlier than they 
wanted to, as they could not keep their birds 
from spoiling. 
The same party went further west, and at 
Bellview station, on the Canadian Northern R. 
R., about 125 miles west of here, pitched their 
tent near Maple and Plum lakes and had great 
sport at the ducks, which were principally mal¬ 
lards and canvasbacks, pintail and blue and 
greenwing teal. The last, though the smallest 
of the duck family, I prefer to any other duck 
which flies in these parts. The sportsman who 
can bag two or three greenwing teal out of 
every five shots coming with the wind is able 
to go duck shooting to any duck resorts. The 
same party went on a second trip to this last 
named place expressly for geese, but the geese 
had not yet got there in quantities for good goose 
shooting, so they only got five, but one of them, 
shot by DeMill, weighed fifteen pounds, the 
largest gray goose he has ever shot. They had 
great duck shooting, mostly at bluebills, some 
mallards and greenwing teal and gadwall ducks, 
and all fat. On the night of the 27th and 28th 
all shallow sloughs and lakes froze up and I 
noticed large flocks of ducks flying direct south. 
W. H. R. 
Milford Fish and Game Protective 
Association. 
Commissioner Crampton, of the Connecticut 
State Fish and Game Commission, Wednesday 
evening, Nov. 4, attended the meeting of the Mil¬ 
ford Fish and Game Protective Association, held 
in the town court room. Mr. Crampton told in an 
interesting manner of the work of the com¬ 
mission in its efforts to increase the game 
throughout the State and to protect the game 
from unlawful killing. He pointed out how 
much help associations like this one can be to 
the commission and also showed photographs 
of shelters to be put up to protect birds from 
storms and cold. He promised to aid in the re¬ 
stocking of woods hereabouts with game and 
urged the appointment of a game warden in 
place of Constable Mallory who has recently re¬ 
signed. An informal talk followed between the 
commissioner, County Game Warden Clark, also 
of New Haven, and the members of the club 
in which questions relative to the situation here¬ 
abouts were asked and answered on both sides. 
Warden Clark promised to appoint a suitable 
man to the vacant position as soon as one will¬ 
ing to take it can be found and also to appoint 
a reasonable number of special game protectors. 
The meeting was a lengthy one and it was late 
when the visiting gentlemen finally left for 
home. It now begins to look as though the un¬ 
lawful killing of game in Milford was to be 
more dangerous in the future than it has ever 
been in the past, as in addition to the local game 
warden the members of the club are to be con¬ 
stantly on the lookout for violations which they 
are to report to the local officers. Mr. Clark, 
who has an automobile, promises to be in Mil¬ 
ford in half an hour whenever any member of 
the association telephones him that a violation 
is taking place. He will take personal charge 
of the arrest and prosecution of any violations 
of the game laws that are brought to his atten¬ 
tion. 
