Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-12-05
Wild Fowl Massacrps.

w HUI FOWL MdSSdcreS.
The decoy-a fac-simile Of the wild
goose or duck-was the first device en-
ployed to allure wild fowl within reach
OF gun. Formerly but SIX or eight
were used. To-day a full set will num-
Der from sixty to two hundred, the larger
number as auxiliary to the battery-a di-
aboical engine of destruction. The ma
chine consists of square box Of dimen-
sions sufficient 10 contain maa PROSTATE
on his hack. To this box is attached
platform made Of cedar boards. The lat
ter varies in dimensions. Some are EIGHT
feet square, Others twelve or fourteen feet.
while many have canvas tenders attached,
the more completely to break the swash
OF the waves. These machines can only
be used during moderate southerlv
weather. They are transported on large
sail-boats to the feeding grounds of the
birds, where they are launched ana an
chored. About and on them are placed
large numbers Of decoys, which are so
arranged as to lie head toward the ma
chine. The largest body of decoys are
usually placed SO that the birds il. pass
Ing shall swing off toward the left bank
We will now imagine the gunner snugly
slowed in his narrow box. The tender
lies off and on to the leeward in readi-
ness to pick up the dead. Criprles are
seldom Tetrived. AS the battery
is placed WIDE off shore, and some
times in the very center of a
sound or bay, the crowds OF decoys
surrounding 1t are very attractive to pass.
sing fowl. The gunner. prone upon his
back on level with the water, is entire
~ invisible. Flock after flock, unsus-
picious of danger, and seeking favorite
feeding ground, will dash In among the
decoYs. The occupant of the battery at
the proper moment rises to sitting pos
ture and pours in among them right
and left hand gun. Possibly at every
shot four or five may be killed outright,
and as many more crippled. The dead
are retrieved by the tender. while the
crippled find their way to the shore, and
they either die a lingering death OF are
destroyed by animals or birds of prey.
When ducks are flying freely, and the
man in the battery is armed with a good
reech-loader, and is moreover expert
enced in that style Of shooting, then the
slaughter is immense. The proportion
of wounded to dead is large. It requires
no very great effort to calculate the great
amount of mischief of which the battery
IS capable. The machine, however, is
available only for certain varieties Of
fowl Geese may be killed from it, also
pigeon, canvass-back duck, red-head, and
all birds whose flight is close to the sur
face Of the water. Black ducks and
spring tails, or birds which fly at d con-
siderable altitude, are apt to look into a
battery, and consequently avoid it. The
use of these machines is not so harmful
IN large expanses Of water as IN small
and narrow bays. Here they are posi-
lively fatal, and should not be tolerated.
Laws are, indeed, enacted torbidding
their use, but no attention is paid to these
statutes, and they are used indiscrimi-
natelv.
The fire-lightiag of geese is done, Of
course, on very dark nights. On the bow
OF boat, a lantern, similar TO that of a
locomotive, is rugged. The boat is slow
ly propelled toward the birds on their
feeding grounds. These, when the light
approaches, sit with heads and necks
erect, motionless, and paralyzed with
fear. They may be approached within
twelve feet. Moreover, in their terror
the birds huddle together, so that when
fire is opened on them, the slaughter is
great. After being shot at, they rise on
the wing, and IN their bewilderment
often dash directly aaingst the lantern.
The effect of disturbing wary bird like
the goose after this fashion may be read
lily imagined. A single experience of the
kind suffices to drive him, panic strick-
en-, forever and finally, from such local.
ties. There is a law forbidding this prac-
tlce; it is seldom or never enforced.
We now come to the dusking Of ducks.
This is likewise a fatal and reckless
way of killing fowl. The black duck,
springtail and teel feed usually close
under the sedgy shores. During the day,
so persistently have they been pursued, it
Is difficult to entice them TO the decoys;
consequently they are shst in the dusk
of the evening, when the shades Of night
obscure objects which experience has
taught them to avoid. In the early even
ing the flash of gun is visible at a great
distance, the effect On birds seeking
their feeding grounds is disastrous.
Laws have been enacted against this
method of killing ducks. They are like
wise never enforced. On every favorable
occasion the shores are lined with gun
ners, who dusk birds far into the night
For days the particular locality is entire
ly deserted by these birds, which, when
they do return, fly high in the air, and
peer cautiously about them. To bring
them within gunshot is impossible =
HGrDer's WeeILy