456 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 25, 1911. 
Fewer Wildfowl. 
San Francisco, Cal., March 10 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: With the duck and quail shooting 
season at an end, most hunters have packed 
their guns and will turn their attention to other 
lines of sport until next fall, a few, however, 
planning to continue the season on bluerocks 
as soon as the trapshooting tournaments open. 
The duck season just closed was in many ways 
a rather unsatisfactory one, but weather con¬ 
ditions are to be blamed rather than a scarcity 
of birds. During the first few weeks of the 
season very warm weather prevailed and sports¬ 
men with an eye of conserving game did not 
venture forth to kill unless facilities were at 
hand for preserving the birds secured. Hun¬ 
dreds, however, did not think of this and went 
forth to slaughter and the game secured was 
rendered valueless by the hot weather. Then 
for several months there was no rain and the 
ducks were thus kept away from many feeding 
places that formerly afforded good sport. 
Early in January rains commenced to fall, but 
the downfall was so heavy and so incessant that 
for a long time but few ventured forth, and 
these found the webfeet visitors badly scattered. 
Just before the season closed there was a 
period of good weather and some excellent 
sport was enjoyed, but on the whole the sea¬ 
son has been unsatisfactory. Many experts 
hunted through the entire season and on but 
one or two occasions secured limit bags, but 
this, of course, depended largely on the grounds 
over which they shot. Whether there is an 
actual scarcity of ducks here, or whether the 
incessant shooting of the market hunters has 
resulted in* driving them away is still a question, 
but the fact remains that fewer ducks have been 
seen during the past season on the marsh pre¬ 
serves than in many years past. Market hunt¬ 
ers operated during the season in great num¬ 
bers, prompted by the excellent prices secured 
to make as large bags as the law allowed. 
From two counties in the State more than 
10,000 ducks were shipped to San Francisco in 
two months, to say nothing of those sent to 
other places. Many changes to the present laws 
are being made with the idea of making it im¬ 
possible for the market hunter to operate, and 
many other amendments are proposed, promi¬ 
nent among them is one which would reduce 
the bag limit to fifty birds a week, instead of 
twenty-five a day. That the market hunter is 
largely responsible for the scarcity of ducks in 
the marsh sections is reasoned by some who 
point to the fact that in certain districts where 
the hunters cannot operate successfully there 
are still plenty of birds. 
In the overflow sections of the Sacramento 
and San Joaquin rivers, in the Tulare Lake 
country and in the Colorado River territory 
across the International boundary, the birds are 
still to be found in great numbers, indicating 
that their extermination is not a matter of the 
immediate future. The rapid settling up of the 
coast States, and of California in particular, is 
increasing the number of hunters and decreas¬ 
ing the extent of the shooting grounds, with 
result that new laws are urgently needed. The 
mere reduction of the bag limit is not looked 
upon generally as affording sufficient protection 
to the birds and a law prohibiting entirely the 
sale of duck and quail is advocated by many. 
Following the closing of the active shooting 
season the Gustine Gun Club has elected 
officers, as follows, to serve during the ensuing 
year: J. M. McDonald, President; S. Snyder, 
Vice-President; Jack Linn, Secretary and 
Treasurer: Jack Hazlewood, Pete Ashcroft and 
Arthur Ehrenpfort, Directors. A change has 
been made in the club shooting days, and next 
season these will be Friday, Saturday and Sun¬ 
day. 
The Gabilan Gun Club, of Watsonville, Cal., 
is making attempts to clear its preserves of 
mudhens which have become so numerous that 
the ducks there have been crowded out. It is 
stated that the mudhens have eaten by far the 
most of the feed placed in the ponds for the 
ducks, and this brought about the decision to 
make away with the pests. At the close of the 
mudhen shoot, held recently, a sumptuous din¬ 
ner was served by Mr. and Mrs. George Gray, 
but those who attended state that mudhen found 
no place on the menu. 
A. P. B. 
The Use of Game. 
Bennington, Vt., March 5- —Editor Forest and 
Stream: In my opinion the suggestions made 
by the Game Preservation Committee of the 
Boone and Crockett Club are positively the 
most valuable contributions to the cause of pre¬ 
servation of our wild life which have been issued 
in a decade. I am in hearty sympathy with 
each suggestion because I am certain they are 
“sane, simple and scientific.” They are in line 
and square with my personal ideas exactly. I 
will attempt to call attention to one particular 
suggestion. 
“In some parts of New England great com¬ 
plaint has been made by farmers of the dam¬ 
age done to their crops and fruit trees by deer. 
* * * It may be quite possible to push pro¬ 
tection to a point where it will become un¬ 
popular, so that the public favor may turn from 
them and hostile legislation will follow.” All 
of which is precisely so, as witness our case 
here in Vermont. The deer became so numer¬ 
ous here in certain sections, and did so much 
damage to the farmers crops, that the farmers 
presented a united front at the session of the 
Legislature in 1908 and caused to be enacted a 
law removing all protection to the does and 
affording practically none to the fawns. The 
result was, there was a wholesale slaughter of 
deer in the open season of 1909. during which 
time nearly 5,000 were taken. Of course if this 
had continued the deer would be exterminated 
in a short time. 
But this was not the only setback the cause 
of preservation received from over protection. 
It caused the farmers to view all game laws in 
the light of suspicion and disgust. They opened 
up the old argument that they were compelled 
to support the game on their lands throughout 
the year for the purpose of supplying the city 
men with recreation, and they did not think 
the laws were fair and just. As a result they 
withdrew their advocacy of the cause and would 
give the wardens no aid in apprehending vio¬ 
lators of the law. On the other hand the farm¬ 
ers appeared to be in sympathy with the vio¬ 
lators and would do anything within their 
power to protect the latter class. Naturally 
this made the work of wardens doubly difficult. 
We have since learned by this experience that 
the farmers must be consulted before we enact 
any law to protect the game. 
It has been the experience of the entire coun¬ 
try that over protection acts as a boomerang 
to the cause, the returns to us in the way of 
most amazing hostile legislation. This can all 
be avoided by consulting the complainants in due 
time and making arrangements which are fair 
and just to them and their property rights, thus 
allaying their hostility before it is too late. Any 
system of protection by means of legal enact¬ 
ments must first take into account how it will 
affect those harboring and supporting the game 
upon their property. We must recognize that 
human rights take precedence of those of wild 
animals. As a rule, if the farmers are con¬ 
sulted in the spirit of friendship they are only 
too glad to co-operate in an effort to save our 
wild life, but they are sensitive and are 
sure to resent being ignored entirely in the 
matter. 
For this reason, and many more that I might 
enumerate, it occurs to me that the above sug¬ 
gestion of the committee is extremely timely 
and should be well considered by all real sane 
advocates of the cause of preservation of our 
wild life, as distinguished from the sentimental¬ 
ists who wish to preserve all wild animals at 
the expense of human progress. This latter 
class is doing the cause more harm than good 
by their extravagant ideas and measures, and I 
trust they will leave the center of the stage as 
quickly as they can. Harry Chase. 
National Forest Fire Losses. 
Reports based on detailed field examinations 
made by the National forest officers, of the lands 
burned over in the forest fires of last summer 
in Washington and Oregon, which have been re¬ 
ceived by the United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture, show that the National forest timber 
loss in these States is about 700,000,000 feet. 
This is somewhat less than was indicated by 
the provisional estimates made shortly after the 
fires. The reports also show the importance, as 
a means of protecting the forests against fires, 
of the efforts which are being made by the de¬ 
partment to open new range to stockmen. 
Of the National forests in Washington and 
Oregon, that on which the fires extended over 
the greatest area was the Colville, with 160,000 
acres burned. The fires on this forest, however, 
were chiefly surface, which are far less destiuc- 
tive than fires which travel through the crowns 
of the trees. It is considered by the forest 
officers that the fires on this forest point clearly 
to the value, from the standpoint of fire pre¬ 
vention, of proper utilization of the range under 
regulated grazing. Large parts of this forest, 
and also of the Chelan, Okanogan, and other 
forests, are not used by stock because of their 
inaccessibility, although a good supply of forage 
is produced. The dry grass and other herbage 
both spread the flames and made them fiercer 
and more destructive than they would have been 
if the land had been grazed. One of the objects 
of National forest administration is to open all 
available range to the fullest use consistent with 
preservation of the carrying power of the range 
and protection of forest growth and water sup¬ 
plies. 
