The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1894-11-26
DESTRUCTION OF THE Wild GAME.
The Class of Men Who Are Chiefly
Responsible For 1t.
Some Interesting Figures on the SUBJ
ject-Marsh Lands That Are
Not Monopolized.
From the Field Sports


The Sacramento Bee, without the least
knowledge of the subject, and with the
same disregard of property rights exhib-
tied by the communist, acquits itself of
the following:
1T is not the professional hunters who
are doing SO much harm in this State as
are the gun clubs and the gentlemen
sportsmen.' Where can the poor man
hunt around the Bay of San Francisco?
There is not an inch of marsh land that is
not leased to some swell gun club, and
none but members thereof are allowed to
shoot on the premises. The same is true
IL Sacramento County, in Yolo County.
and in every county in the State. The
game which the good Lord meant for the
benefit and for the use of all mankind is
being monopolized for the benefit of the
few"
To begin with, the Bee man does not
know what he is writing about so we
will call his attention TO few facts. The
first week of the open season of the pres
ent year, before the real sportsman had
got his gun coupled, the innocent market
hunter Tor whom the Bee is so sOlicitous,
Hooded the Oakland markets with 1Z0
dozens OF ducks more than could be con-,
sumed, and they were thrown into the
bay spoiled. This is in the small city OF
Oakland alone. Last year, III the city OF
Los Angeles, one market dealer handled
l63, 000 dozens of quail and threw away
spoiled 600 dozens, and he probably
handled fully as many ducks. This Is
more birds than all the club men or the
whole State killed during the same sea-
son.
Before the Bee man dips into the game
question again we will give MIN little
problem in mathematics TO amuSe him.
self with. 1t is this: II one market
dealer in Los Angeles, city OF only
10000 inhabitants, handles in one year
IL, 900 dozen quail and as many ducks,
how NAV dozens of these birds do the
rest of the markets in Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Sacra-
mento handle, TO say nothing of the
dozens OF smaller towns? Secondly, how
many club members, shooting not more
than one day in every two weeks-Which
is fully the average-will 1t take to kill
an equal number of birds? His answer
will not be less than $4,000, or even ten
times more than ali the club members
OF the State.
It is very strange that all the evils that
exist are laid at the door of spOrtsmen's
clubs by men who never have invest
igated the subject or stopped to consider
tue law governing the rights of property.
The truth is that were 1t not Tor the
efforts of the spOrtSmen's clubs there
would be no laws on our statute books
for the preservation OF game. Nor would
there be One-tenth part the game in the
State that there is to-day.
The very men that are the loudest in
their denUnciation of the clubs are the
same men that have always fought every
effort to better our game laws. They are
the men who deny the right Of the club To
use its property as 1t sees lit. They may
be honest in this-undoubtedly some of
them are-but they are nevertheless
working against their own interests.
When the Bee asserts that there is not
an inch of marsh il the state that is not
leased by some swell gun club it is, in
the language of the street, talking
through it's hat" The club lands around
the bay of San Francisco and up the val
legs OF the Sacramento and San Joaquin
are but a small portion OF the whole,
while in Tulare and Kings Counties
thousands of acres of the best duck
grounds are leased to market hunters,
and from which tons of birds are shipped
every week. But even il the whole was
under the control of clubs or individual
owners, what right has anyone to COM
plain? Does not the organic law OF this
State and all the States relating to prop
erty guarantee to the owner the use and
control of his property? If man owns
thousand acres OF land, one-half of
which is marsh and the other half good
farming land, will the Bee put itself on
record as claiming that he has not as
much right TO lease the marsh half for
Understanding purposes as he has to lease
the other halt for wheat-raising
All this talk about clubs encroachng
upon the rights of the poor sportsman is
the highth OF nonsense. AS well claim
that the man VINO builds a $4,000 resi-
dence encroaches on the rights of he who
lives in cottage or flat.
That the club member who shoots on a
preserve gets the best shooting no one
will deny. But why? Because only a
few men shoot on the property, and only
a day or two in the week. The destruct-
i've market hunter is kept of, and the no
less pernicious habit of night shooting,
resOrted to by many sO-called sportsmen,
is also barred. The birds soon learn to
know these Ravens of rest and gather
there in large numbers, seeking respite
from the continual fusIllade of the market
hunter and others no less considerate of
the laws of nature which, if obeyed.
would preserve the game in reasonable
quantities tor all.